Guest Editorial by Samara

 

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

-C.S. Lewis

Like many individuals, I awoke Sunday morning to horrific news of a senseless slaughter in Orlando. It was ironic that I had met with a gay couple literally hours before the event transpired in order to celebrate the birthday of one of the gentlemen(nowhere near Orlando, but still). We had talked about the nature and structure of government over drinks, many social conservatives should bear in mind that many in the LGBT community are not uniform when it comes to political views despite what the social “justice” revolutionaries would like to portray it as on the internet.

Many in the LGBT are hurting form the sheer shock that someone would violate a safe space(some have called it a sanctuary) in such a profane way that would result in 49 people being taken from this earth far too early. This is the area where they feel free to express themselves as what they are. There is justifiable anger in what happened, as much as there is grief and sorrow. The real question lies in what direction must the anger and reforms be structured. Some see it on a prima facie level that there is a radicalized group of “Islamic” individuals that would kill them, as evidenced by the marauding savages known as the Islamic State in the Middle East that have finally made good on desires and promises within that community.(I am not an expert on Islam, I have quite a few Muslim friends, dear friends, who serve others with compassion in medicine and are dedicated to upholding the justice of the community and its laws in law enforcement, hence why I put the quotation marks around “Islamic”). It is reassuring to see that groups like Phoenix LGBT and Pink Pistols serve as an outlet for many LGBT people who do not agree with the “leaders” of the LGBT movement in all areas to join with other like minded individuals.

There are others, who see it in quite a different view. They see this incident as a result of heteronormative cis-gendered patriarchy propagating masculinity culture by means of “out of control gun culture”, promoted by society at large in their vestigial traces to Christian worldviews. This position isn’t hard to find in the aftermath of Pulse.

A Patheos writer that goes by Libby Anne can be quoted as saying:

“And now, today, I have seen many evangelicals decry the Orlando attacks—many of the same evangelicals who have spent years fighting gay rights. And I have seen some LGBT individuals respond with a stern “we don’t need your sympathy, nor do we want it.” Not after everything they’ve done. I mean what is this, really? It’s as though these evangelicals are a-okay with discriminating against LGBT people and denying them equal rights, totally fine with stereotyping queer people and promoting lies about them, but draw the line at actually killing them. And we’re supposed to be grateful to them, thankful for how good, and kind, and forward-thinking they are? We’re supposed to pat them on the back for not also wanting to kill gay people, for just wanting to deprive them of their rights and say horrible things about them? “

The comment section of the article contains not so diplomatic language:

“But when Christians want to saunter in and pretend that this somehow makes them different or better than Muslims… I lose my mind. In no way do I want to detract from the horror of the 50 people killed in yesterday’s bloodbath. But if they want Islam to take credit for that, then they had better take credit for the roughly1500 LGBTQ children and young adults that die every fucking year due to Christian-supported homophobia. Suicide is the leading cause of death among LGBT youth. In case you missed it, suicide is the leading cause of death among LGBT youth! And Christians are directly responsible for that.

FUCK them and their self-righteous, disgusting charade that Christians are love while Muslims are violence. FUCK them and their prayers to a god that they use as a weapon against their own children. FUCK them and their self-serving use of bodies of dead LGBT men and women to further their crusade of bigotry, racism, and Islamophobia. Muslims are not my enemy. Christians are.

And I’m probably pushing the boundaries of the comment policy here, but I don’t have the patience to #notallchristians right now. While I hear wide-spread, nearly-unanimous condemnation of this attack from American Muslims, I hear no such thing from the majority of the American Christian establishment. Instead, I see widespread hatred, trampling of our rights, disregard for our lives, dehumanization, and the blood of a thousand of our little brothers and sisters each year on their hands. I hate Christianity. Let it go to its hell where it belongs!”

The moderator responds in kind:

*** Moderator Hat On. ***
And I’m probably pushing the boundaries of the comment policy here, but I don’t have the patience to #notallchristians right now.
Don’t worry, (redacted). You’re good because … context, obviously.

Rage on.

*** Moderator Hat Off. ***

While there are numerous examples of this on the internet, I feel the intensity of the verbiage serves to illustrate this point.

To them, the issue lies in the culture. While many seem ready to condemn “Islam” when it arises, they seem to believe the real enemy are Christians. This author does not hold to a “Left Behind” view of Revelations (for more on on my view, please research partial preterism), but the words being echoed by many on the internet would seem to indicate that cultural persecution of Christians is coming, despite the genuine concern of LGBT people of all faiths by Christians. Christian persecution is not the scope of this piece, but rather to demonstrate that many in the SJW community have drastically different views as to the causation of this horrific incident.

As with any shooting, the issue of Gun Control arises, each time with a shorter interval between the event itself and the cries of the politicians themselves. President Obama, particularly since San Bernardino, has called for individuals who are part of a “No Fly List”, now a “Investigated by the FBI for terrorism” should be prevented from buying a firearm. This is simply political fodder, unless the laws were to change regarding what is done regarding a background check before one purchases a firearm from a FFL Dealer(regardless if it was purchased at a brick and mortar Store, online or a kiosk at a gun show, everytime you buy a firearm from these guys, you are having to fill out ATF form 4473). Even if this was to be changed via law, this would immediately be challenged in the courts on the grounds of due process.

Recent articles are complaining that buying a gun is too easy in the United States and that additional restrictions should be in place. Currently the form asks applicants several questions, which includes:

b. Are you under indictment or information in any court for a felony, or any other crime, for which the judge could imprison you for more than one year?

c. Have you ever been convicted in any court of a felony, or any other crime, for which the judge could have imprisoned you for more than one year, even if you received a shorter sentence including probation?

f. Have you ever been adjudicated mentally defective (which includes a determination by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority that you are a danger to yourself or to others or are incompetent to manage you own affairs) OR have you ever been committed to a mental institution?

h. Are you subject to a court order restraining you from harassing, stalking, or threatening your child or an intimate partner or child of such partner’?

i. Have you ever been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence?

With that being said, the form by its very nature cannot prevent you from doing heinous acts in the categories mentioned with a firearm if you have actually not committed said acts. Due process must be followed, given that (at least since Heller explicitly ruled, but that is for another time) firearm ownership is a right granted by the US Constitution. Due process has suffered greatly, starting recently in the Clinton years, savaged by Bush, and given feint lip service by Obama, all in the name of Counter-Terrorism.

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson can be quoted as saying:

“We have to face the fact that meaningful gun control has to be a part of homeland security, We need to do something to minimize the opportunity for terrorists to get a gun in this country.”

While this may be desperation by lame duck administration officials to shame their opposition into submission, this issue is not to be dismissed. The National Security Apparatus of the United States should give anyone pause, especially given the Snowden revelations about how complicit tech companies were in cooperating with government officials prior to his disclosures, and the ability to monitor forms of communications across the globe. The documented cases presented by Ralph and others about Twitter and Reddit users being censored should be well known to the audience, but only demonstrates the first part of this problem. The executives of tech companies feel it is their mission as a socially conscious company to help further diversity goals. Couple that with a responsibility to comply with law enforcement requests to prevent heinous acts from ever occurring again, the union of the Social “Justice” zealotry with the immense power that is associated with the ability of the United States government to prevent terrorism should give anyone pause, particularly if due process is to be set aside in favor of helping marginalized groups not be victims of terror, especially those generated by the power structures mentioned by the Patheos writers and commentators.

This is especially true if due process is not adhered to in such a fundamental right as the right to bear arms. It would be a dream for the Social “Justice” Zealots to strip any means of resistance by those who oppose their views, and they be the ones left with the guns by virtue of occupying the monopoly on force in a given area, government. This would not be limited to gun ownership, as free speech is obviously a concept they do not value and seek to shut down discourse and it would certainly not stop at that. As past can be considered prologue, their zeal comes at the cost of fully fleshing out their ideas to their full extension, but perhaps not seeing that they believe White Hetero Cis Male culture is dependent upon exploitation of women, minorities, and the LGBT community. It is perhaps then, that they finally have the tools they require to launch the revolution they desire. Under such a regime, “thought crime” would be monitored in real-time, possibly evaluated based on a pre-crime basis.

It is this authors hope that these concerns are nothing more than paranoid delusional thinking, but given the events of the past few days and the reaction by many, it may be but a harbinger of things to come. The only proper and sure response in times like these is to follow the advice given to the Ephesians:

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. “ It may be hard, but those genuinely hurt and simply wish reconciliation need to hear this and those who wish to seek to continue with a revolution will find themselves increasingly isolated