Hooked on firearms

The sad story of Pastor Wayne Creach’s death at the hands of a sheriff’s deputy puts me in mind of a YouTube video that’s gotten 13 million views.

In it, a marksman seated behind a tripod fires his .50-caliber rifle at a steel plate far away. A second later, the shooter almost eats it when the bullet keens back toward him in a ricochet that knocks his earmuffs off. He recoils and responds, “Woo, that’s the last one of them we’re doin’. Am I bleeding?”

The video and the Creach story both contradict the NRA platitude, “Guns don’t kill people – people kill people.” It’s a sound bite we tend to chew without scrutiny. It’s a facile answer to a complex problem, which technology has proved wrong. Had Pastor Creach not had a gun, perhaps he’d be alive.

A headline in the Sept. 15 Spokesman put it well. “Reports detail pastor’s gun use,” it said, suggesting that guns and drugs both lead to addictive behaviors. The book of Matthew put it well, too. Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back in its place, for all those who take up the sword perish by the sword.”

Paul Lindholdt

Spokane