No type of gun law will keep wicked people from committing evil

By Ray Carr

People all over town are talking about what happened in Aurora, Colorado.

No one will truly ever know the why for sure, except that it was pure evil.

Some people say that evil is an abstract thing, that it is not real.  Some people say, well he that this wrong as a child or this happened in his life, or there wasn’t a program to help him or they were just misunderstood.

Some people say we can just reason with killers, or that we can talk it out, or others say we did something wrong – not the killers.

The only thing we did wrong was being alive and/or thinking differently from them.

For this they will kill you, your family and your friends.

Because evil has no compassion.  It lusts to kill, to destroy, to end.

It cannot exist unless it is fed:  by our callousness to one another, our lack of compassion for others, our laughter at the weak or by turning a blind eye to evil and hoping it will just pass us by to feed on others instead.

By not understanding or believing that evil is real, we permit it to enter our lives.

I would like to relate a personal experience with evil that I continue to replay in my head after news like the Aurora shootings.

In July of 1984, I was working near the Mexican border crossing at San Ysidro, CA.  My company was doing the data and communications for this new crossing.

Our comm center was about two blocks from the first Interstate 5 interchange.  At the exit were a few stores and a McDonald’s.  Driving back to LA on a hot day in my personal car, an MGB convertible with the top down, I decided to stop at the McDonald’s for a bite to eat.

It was very busy so I got a drink and left.  As I was leaving the parking lot, two little smart-mouthed boys, riding bicycles, were heckling me about my car.

Pulling into traffic, I noticed through the rear-view mirror, the two boys wipeout on their bikes in front of the restaurant.  I smiled to myself.  “Smart-ass kids.”

Now back in traffic, I hear the DJ on the radio start yelling, “Get away from the McDonald’s at the Interstate 5 interchange!”

The cop cars and border agents started passing by, headed back the way I had just come a few moments ago.  There was a shooter in the McDonald’s.

The two little boys, 8 and 9 had actually been shot, just as I pulled away.

The shooter walked up to the same girl who had waited on my only moments earlier, pointed his gun at her head and pulled the trigger.  It didn’t fire.

He told her, “It’s your lucky day!  Run!”  She and several other staff fled to a cooler and survived.  The killer began with the boys outside and killed 15 more inside.

At the time, I knew nothing was going on.  Those boys died 20 feet from me.  I sometimes have nightmares.

What if I had ordered food?  Would I have changed the outcome or just died waiting on a burger and fries?

The killer was shot and killed by the police.

The McDonald’s was torn down and replaced by a memorial park, and life goes on.

How has this experience changed me?

I observe my surroundings, people’s actions, seek out all exits, look around for improvised weapons to defend myself and try not to sit with my back to doors or crowds.

When legally possible, I am armed or have access to arms.  I also have an abiding faith in the Holy Spirit, that God will give me the strength and knowledge to deal with the evil that surrounds us.

This type of evil, the killing of innocent people in seemingly safe places can happen anywhere.

No type of gun law will keep wicked people from committing evil; gun laws only hinder the innocent citizen from protecting themselves and others.

Gun control is not about guns; it’s about control.  Only a government that is afraid of its own citizens tries to control their right to bear arms, but killers don’t care.  They can’t be controlled by these laws, they will continue to kill.

Only law-abiding citizens will pay the ultimate price in the end.

Stand up for your freedoms and fight for what you believe in.  Be aware of what is going on around you, and don’t let apathy take over your life.

The government can’t take control of what you’re willing to fight for.