Garth Rattray | Thoughts and prayers

American television sportscaster Dale Hansen deviated from his sports broadcast to speak to the frequency of high-school shootings in America. He was lamenting that the recent school shooting in Florida was the 18th high-school shooting this year alone. He said that the USA has had 290 high-school shootings since 2013, which, he said, is an average of about one each week. He said that America has five per cent of the world's population but 31 per cent of the world's mass shootings.

His message was that there would have been a lot more effort and money spent to thwart future shootings if the shooters were Muslim, but since the shooters were 'white kids', nothing can be done about it. The government has not been willing to legislate stricter gun laws although that has been proven to significantly reduce or even eliminate mass shootings/killings. The gun lobby is extremely rich and powerful and always argues for the sanctity of the Second Amendment of the USA Constitution, which "protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms and was adopted on December 15, 1791 as part of the first ten amendments contained in the Bill of Rights."

People conveniently forget that in those days, citizens felt the need to have an unofficial militia, just in case they were needed to repel enemy forces. Nowadays, the military, National Guard and the police have taken over the role of protectors, but many citizens still want to own - not only handguns, but also extremely powerful assault rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Heroic efforts

It is easy to own any weapon, especially if you attend a gun fair. Former President Obama made heroic efforts to rein in the gun lobbyists, but to no avail. This new president (I can't call his name) is totally against any gun control and has been stoic in the face of all these recent massacres. So, any nut of almost any age can buy any number of guns and any number of bullets and decide to kill any number of people, anywhere at any time.

A friend of mine suggested that the USA would quickly enact very strict gun-control laws if Americans of African descent were to go out and purchase large numbers of guns and bullets. I think that the same thing would happen if Muslims followed suit.

So, instead of actually doing something about the guns in the hands of all and sundry, many politicians and regular citizens offer their thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families. Note should be made of this anonymous quote, "Thought without action is abortion of the thought". In other words, thought needs action to achieve results. Well wishes alone are empty and useless.

Bloodthirsty

And, (regarding prayers, James 2:14-18 New King James Version) says: "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds".

Here in Jamaica, we have our own problems with bloodthirsty criminals. Whenever news breaks of people being killed, especially when there are multiple murders or murders of little, innocent children, politicians and regular citizens all say the same thing, "We extend our thoughts and prayers to the family of the victims". And that's it.

Sure, we have great plans and we are making efforts to fight the crime monster, but 'we' does not represent 'us', it represents the government. Until we the people make every effort at the individual level, 'we' have a serious problem that will not go away with just our thoughts and prayers.

Thoughts and prayers require commitment and action. We must take responsibility for the crime situation and play our part to solve it. There are more of us than there are of them; when are we going to take our country back?

- Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com