Recently the Illinois House and Senate passed gun control legislation which was signed into law by Governor Pritzker. This legislation seeks to define the words “assault weapon.” The United States constitution says in part that the Second Amendment shall not be infringed. Meaning the good people of the United States ought not act so as to limit, undermine, or encroach upon that right. This new law also limits magazine capacity for law-abiding Illinoisans. “Law abiding” being the qualifying terms. I’m going to share an apparent secret (not really a secret): Bad guys couldn’t care less how many laws you pass! As a retired police officer I can tell you that unjust “criminal” aggressors are not losing any sleep over this new legislation. Talk to a young gang member and ask him his five year plan. Don’t be surprised if he admits to you he’ll be rich, in prison, or dead.
In 2022 there were 665 people shot and killed in Chicago, Illinois (heyjackass.com). Experience has made very clear to me that the vast majority of those unjust murderers led lives as scofflaws with no shortage of criminal records. By some great mystery our generation doesn’t find those kinds of facts newsworthy today (sarcasm). I support the founding fathers principle of states rights. That then moves me to ponder a question: As Illinoisans at what point do we consider moving our families to a red state that is more in line with our family values and beliefs?
On the left, gun control has become a knee jerk solution to the evil (sinful) violent acts we watch or read about daily. On the surface level this solitary solution trumps the left’s other solution of redistribution of wealth. What we don’t hear on the left is a call to strengthen the family structure of the poor. We don’t hear about the presence or absence of an authentically masculine father. We don’t hear about the need for a father who’s willing to forgo the immediate gratification of acting like a permissive parent. We don’t hear about those fathers who reject the idea of immediate gratification in exchange for the delayed satisfaction that results when a child is raised to strive to actually be a good man or good woman. We need to hear about the kind of father who lovingly institutes and models self-discipline and accountability for bad actions. We need to hear about the kind of father who cares enough to accept being very unpopular within the walls of his own home for insisting upon doing the next right thing! We need to hear about those kinds of fathers as a solution to what ails us, our communities, and our nation.
Here are some questions I’d be interested to know about the 665 unjust murders in Chicago last year:
- Did the known suspect have a father in the home?
- Did the father have a criminal record?
- Where no father was present, how many men lived with or frequently visited the mother in that home? (Access and influence over the child)
- Did those men have criminal records?
Why? We don’t have a problem with law-abiding citizens. We have all kinds of major problems with unjust “criminal” aggressors. We have a problem with the breakdown of the family. To excel children need to learn the importance of self-discipline. Young men crave discipline so desperately that they will even look to the harsh disciplines of a gang to fill this need. If you think that’s fantasy, send me an email via the contact page and I’ll share lessons learned from an advanced gang course presented by officers working in the Chicago metropolitan area. In short, young men have a need for a father who strives to be a good man. If the men who come in and out of their lives sow bad ideas then those bad ideas will bounce around in that child’s mind and when temptation gives way to action… Here’s a quote that pretty much says it all:
“Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
In thinking about this legislation a theory began to form in my mind. So I did a little research and noticed a trend. What three states have the largest populous cities? New York, California, and Illinois; in that order. Not counting the metro area; New York city roughly 9 million, Los Angeles about 4 million, and Illinois approximately 3 million. Weird, right? When “we the people” of a state fall into what the Bible calls madness, blindness, and confusion of mind (Dt 28:28), then those 51% begin electing people just like themselves. We might need to move to a state with a “we the people” more in line with our values and beliefs.