Facts About Firearms
Gun
control issues are topics that my friends have been passionately talking about
again and again from both sides of the political views. Even after so many tragic incidences
involving use of guns and automatic assault weapons, I was perplexed that
people still asserted that they wanted guns. Originally from another country, it boggles my mind
that according to Times Magazine, there were 88.8 firearms per 100 persons in
the US, 70% higher than the second place, country of Yemen with 54.8 firearms
per 100 persons, followed by Switzerland at 45.7 and Finland at 45.3. No other country has more than 40
firearms per 100 persons. Despite
such high rate of firearms ownership, gun homicide rate in the US is 30 times
that of Britain and Australia, 10 times that of India, and 4 times that of
Switzerland. (Source: http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2121660,00.html
Before
writing about my feeling and experience related to weapons and guns, I decided
to do a little research on why people are so passionate about owning firearms
in the US, and found two main arguments:
-
2nd Constitutional Amendment
right- “A well regulated
militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the
people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." A fear that a
Hitler like figure will be holding absolute power that makes it necessary for
an ordinary citizen to possess such weapon to stand against the demonic figure. It boggles my mind that people still
feel that way about a democratic government that has worked well for over 200
year.
-Self
Defense against crime especially women’ self-defense-The problem, according to
Jason Asahi’s website, research like that
of Arthur Kellermann and Donald Reay has shown that a gun kept in the home is
43 times more likely to kill a member of the household, or friend, than an
intruder. http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zj5j-gttl/guns.htm.
Gun Control Laws
Since
a lot of people are passionate about owning guns, even if they are legal,
thousands of guns could be moved to be sold illegally by unlicensed firearms dealers on
classified ad website, which is like Craiglist of gun trade. This is where criminals or crazy people
can get firearms without any background check. Politician like Bloomberg had campaigned against this
type of website before his term as Mayor of New York expired in December of
2013. He vowed to continue to work
with his successor when his term was up.
The political pressure and lobbyist make it hard to guess he will stay
strong in his fight.
The
illegal sale and market for firearms make it more dangerous and cause people to
want to own gun, a vicious cycle.
The powerful and firearms manufacturers campaign to support their view by
making and posting video interview of people telling stories of their frightful
situations, with the conclusion that, guns saved their lives. But as statistics tell us, the odd of
guns injuring or kill family members rather than the intruder is great. As for me, I chose not to own any
firearms, and chose to be “meek” because that is what Jesus told me in the
Sermon on the Mount~ “The meek shall inherit the earth”, and as Apostle Paul
said “Be wise as serpent but gentle as dove”!
My Encounter with Firearms
There
were quite a few times that I would have been in great danger if not for God’s
protection and leading that took me out of the extremely dangerous situations
such as student demonstrations that ended tragically, for many were killed. I was out of town or country at the time
of the sad events. During the
beginning of my teaching career at the university in Bangkok, sounds of minor
explosion due to Molotov cocktails were usually heard near the campus. Nothing that I encountered during that
time was too serious comparing with the time when my family was out in the countryside.
We
went to Surin province in the Northeastern part of Thailand close to the border
of the Thai-Cambodia. There were
four of us – The young driver who was my colleague’s brother who also worked as
office assistant in our home business. My husband at the time sat as passenger
in the front; my seven-year-old son and I slept in the back seat after the
fair. My little boy was exhausted
and I had a stomach cramp. We just attended for the most part of the day
a big elephant round-up festival, an annual cultural event in Surin with fun
and elephant games and performances.
After the fun day, we were heading, so we thought, back to the hotel in
Nakhon Ratchasima, a bigger Northeastern City of Thailand. I was half awake when the car, our good
old green BMW stopped. I got up
from my reclining position in the back seat to see why the car stopped. There
was a fence and big sign in front of the car and it read “Cambodian Border, Do
Not Proceed Any Further”. It
was eerily quiet, with only us in the middle of nowhere. All the sudden, the whole car jolted and
I heard a boom sound. After that,
it was dead quiet for a moment, my son’s father opened the car door, but the
sound of a few rounds of machine gun shots hitting the ground, quickly turned
him back inside!! He switched the
seat with the employee to the driver’s seat like magic, turned the car around
quickly and raced away from there like a rocket. We all (except the little boy who slept through everything)
fixed our eyes ahead, but after a couple of miles down the road the new driver
had to slow down, because there was a band of non military men in the middle of
the road. They looked fierce and
dressed like bandits with bandanas tied around their heads; they stood with rifles
in their hands. We had no choice
but to stop the car. We thought
they were the Kmer Rouge from the other side of the border, but when they spoke
we knew they were not Cambodian but Northeastern folks. They asked us what we were doing here
coming from the border, we explained that we got lost after coming from the
Elephant round up festival in Surin.
They said probably we were shot because our car was green like military
car. They told us that the place
was a minefield, and they asked what Buddha charm we had that protected us from
the gunshots and helped us escape from the land mine. We told them it was God’s Angel who protected us against all
kinds of weapons!
Home Invasion: Safe In
the Arms of the Angels
Fast
forward to America, we came home and saw the devastation thieves left
behind. Fortunately, none of us
was at home at the time, so the frightful encounter with the thieves was
avoided. For one of my colleagues
and her family, it was another potentially frightful story.
This
happened a couple of years ago, but I just asked my friend the detail of what
happened recently after thinking about posting in the blog about my stand on owning
guns. The colleague and husband
came originally from Taiwan, strong Christians with adult children. The youngest child was still in high
school. One day, either it was
weekend or a holiday; every one in the family was at home relaxing or doing
household chores. My friend was in
the kitchen preparing meals; her husband was in another room. Some one was at the door ringing the
doorbell, so her youngest high-school aged son went to open, the person at the
door asked for a person by name.
The son said there was no such person in this house, so the man
left. Then later, the same man
came back with another man, asking to use telephone to call the person they
were looking for. When the son was
about to bring the phone, the father came out, and my friend heard from the
kitchen her husband’s loud cry of pain.
The home invader hit him with the handle of the gun. My friend ran to the living room from
the kitchen. The two home invaders
forced all members in the family that were there to come together and tied them
up. They asked where the other
child was, when they noticed picture of another child that was not there (not
sure if it was their son or daughter).
They said that the child was on a trip overseas. They turned the house up side down, so
to speak, to find valuables and asked where the family kept the cash. They said Asians liked to hold cash, and
they demanded them to give them cash.
They explained that, they were not doing business but were just employees, so they
did not usually hold cash, the only substantial cash they had was still in the Red
Envelopes at $100 each, that a houseguest brought for the four children. I asked how they reacted to the
situation, she said that every one in the family submitted to the home invasion
robbers, and found the red envelopes for them. While one of the robbers went around ransacking the house,
the other one who watched the family with gun pointing, asked when he saw a
picture with the writing of Bible verse-“As for me and my household, we will
chose the Lord.” He asked the
husband “Are you a Christian?”, and my friend's husband answered yes. The robber asked further if it was true that Jesus would
come back in a million years. The husband answered that Jesus told us in the
Bible that no one knew when He would return except God the Father. (Come to
think of it, Jesus said, just as we don’t know when the thief will come, we
don’t know the day or hour Jesus will come back until He comes).
Even
in this dangerous situation, the family was calm, and even said to the robber
that no matter what, Jesus loved them and wanted them to be good and do well.
When
the robbers were ready to leave after finding no valuable except the four red
envelopes, the family members present were ordered to go into the walk in
closet, but were not harmed.
I
asked my friend if she wanted to own a gun after the incidence, she said no,
but would put up security and surveillance system that they had not had, so
they could sound alarm for the police to rescue.
Painting By Kathy M.
No Gun for My Friends
and I
With
experience in the providence, mercy, and protection from God, I would, like my
friend, not own a gun. What can
man do to us? We all have to die, but we know where we will go when we leave
this world and after Jesus came back to call us home-A place where the wolf and
the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox (Isaiah
65:25). May God’s Kingdom come
even now on earth as it is in Heaven..
