The Problem With the World is ME: Thoughts on the Shooting at Oregon's Umpqua Community College

I am amazed whenever a mass shooting happens like the one at Oregon's Umpqua Community College, people in government, on both sides of the aisle, rush to the podium and proclaim, "We need new laws to ensure this never happens again." Or, "If only more armed citizens had been present this act could have been prevented." 

Really? 

If government can solve the world's ills, then like Jesus, it can also walk on water. If armed citizens can apprehend criminals before they commit crimes, then we are living in a pre-crime state. Welcome to MINORITY REPORT.  

We do not need new laws. We have plenty on the books, and many others that are together incomprehensible, or ineffective; enforced by fallible, morally flawed people. Government can legislate. It can enforce. It can even confiscate and incarcerate. But it can’t change hearts. Government has a role to play, sensible legislation has a place, regulation can be a good means to a better end, but it will never make a people moral. 

We do not need more guns. There is no shortage of firearms in this country. There never has been. I have no issue with guns. Guns are a-moral; it’s the hand and heart holding the weapon that animates it. I trust law-abiding, trained, responsible citizens to look after each other. The 2nd Amendment needs no defense from me. But "more guns, less crime" won't fix this problem.   

The issue isn't guns, be it too many or too few. The primary solution isn't legislation. Laws will only ever be faithfully followed by law-abiding citizens.
 
The root issue is flawed people. The real war isn’t on guns or crime. It’s between good and evil; the human heart stands at the crossroads. 
 
The best defense against evil is a strong, moral people. And that's built person by person, one soul at a time, by mothers and fathers who raise their children with a clear understanding of good and evil; not just external evil. I'm primarily speaking of the evil that resides in every human heart. Growing up, my parents taught me that my biggest obstacle in life wasn't some inequity or wrong committed against me, but rather, my biggest obstacle in life was William Carl Bauers. ME. William was William's biggest obstacle in life. He still is. 

My greatest challenge, daily, is to bring the darkness within me into the light, and put it to death. Some days I die more than once. Darkness manifests itself in many forms: unkind words spoken to a loved one in the heat of the moment; an out-of-control temper that lashes out; a proud spirit that puts another down; an absent or emotionally distant parent; a workaholic who sacrifices his family for the pursuit of material wealth; a friend who looks the other way; a hardened heart that refuses to help another soul in need; and a sick, ill, or embittered soul that takes the life of another.
 
People are flawed, everyone. You only need to look around the globe, or in your own backyard, to see that something is desperately wrong with the world.

There is good and evil in this world. Bad things will continue to happen. All the government in the world won't change that. A gun in the hand of every American citizen won't stop the bloodletting. 

But I do know what can change, with one hundred percent clarity: ME.  

I'm raising my sons to be a force for good in this world, by understanding how evil operates, by knowing how to kill it: 

1. Drag it into the light and it loses its powers
2. Evil doesn't like company, it likes isolation. So don't isolate yourself; do life with people, people who will live for your good (that’s love – I’d point you to the example of Jesus Christ, the one who best exemplified what love is) 
3. Walk humbly and confess your faults to trustworthy friends
4. Consider others better than yourself
5. Serve a cause bigger than yourself (for me, that’ s the Maker)
6. Know when to turn the other cheek
7. Know when to use force; sometimes the bully needs a lecture and hug, and sometimes he needs a bloody nose   
8. Defend the weak
9. Do good, hard thing 

I grieve for the family's who lost loved ones. They are in my thoughts and prayers. I grieve for our country. Something must be done. But the answer isn't guns or legislation. The answer is a hard look in the mirror.

The problem is not guns or laws.

It's you. 

It's ME.