Posted by
EFuller on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 9:36:07 PM
The slaughter of innocents at Virginia Tech has raised the gun-control debate into public awareness again. Key to the debate is how each side answers the question, "What is evil?" Each side wants to control the evil it sees.
One side sees the gun as evil. They seek greater control over access to guns. They marvel and comment on the fact the Virginia Tech murderer bought his guns legally. Control of guns is the control of evil, they believe.
The other side sees the killer as evil. In fact, because this side sees the evil possible in others, it wants access to guns for personal protection. Guns are a tool that can be used for good or evil, they believe.
Reality favors the pro-gun crowd. Evil dwells in the hearts of many. Controlling the legal purchase of guns will never control the real source of the evil. However, this argument will not persuade the anti-gun crowd. For they fail to see the reality of human evil.
Until agreement can be reached on the reality of human evil, the disagreement on gun control will continue.