The cognitive dissonance is almost beyond comprehension: to be able to tell yourself a story that you believe in defending the “sanctity of life,” while actively championing the single most common tool used to commit mass murders.
Republished with permission from John Pavlovitz
Monday, a man walked into a Manhattan office building with an AR-15 and murdered four people before turning the gun on himself.
I wrote and recorded this piece the morning after, knowing full well that soon this story will have vanished from the news and slipped from public consciousness. In a matter of days (if that), it will be replaced by yet another mass murder, the specifics of which will shift to one degree or another: the details of the shooter, the location of the horror, and the names and faces of the victims. In very short order, this particular massacre in broad daylight, which took four lives, irreparably disfigured four families, and left a lifetime trail of grief and trauma for untold numbers of people, will very quickly be forgotten.
This is the stunning regularity of gun violence in America.
These assassinations are commonplace here.
And today, in the aftermath of the murders in New York City, as always, there are efforts by Conservative media and voters to craft a narrative around those killings that places the blame on politics, nationality, mental health, pigmentation—everywhere but where it belongs: in the hands of those who love guns more than the people assassinated with them.
All violent crimes require means, motive, and opportunity, and the truth is, all angry and unstable people with the motive and opportunity to murder will always have the means, as long as Republicans hold power, because they work tirelessly for shooters to have access to AR-15s.
They emblazon their lapels with them in Congress, they adorn their chests with them, and affix their pickup truck bumpers with them.
And of course, they relentlessly craft legislation to sustain them.
Despite being the weapon of choice for all sick and hateful people wanting to inflict rapid carnage upon human life, Conservatives insist that AR-15s be readily available, for no other reason than the inherited, irrational gun lust that makes them feel strong and secure. Because they find their identity in the weapons, the weapons, not the lives taken with them, are sacred.
So, today, as always, these supposed pro-life Christians will cut-and-paste hollow, heartless thoughts and prayers platitudes for victims’ families and engage in performative mourning, while continuing to ensure that a steady stream of military-grade instruments of destruction never stops flowing, ensuring other families will soon walk the same painful path of early funerals, mutilated bodies, stolen childhoods, and severed relationships.
The cognitive dissonance is almost beyond comprehension: to be able to tell yourself a story that you believe in defending the “sanctity of life,” while actively championing the single most common tool used to commit mass murders, one that no other civilized nation is burdened with.
The theological gymnastics, intellectual acrobatics, and steadfast self-delusion necessary to make that make sense in one’s head must be incalculable, and honestly, that’s a place most of us simply can’t go.
From the outside, though, the rest of us see what a farce it is to self-identify as a defender of human life while simultaneously trafficking in the source of so much preventable bloodshed and death.
Conservatives, you can’t love AR-15s and be pro-life, and that’s just how it is.
Please, don’t shoot the messenger.
John Pavlovitz is a writer, pastor, and activist from Wake Forest, North Carolina. A 25-year veteran in the trenches of local church ministry, John is committed to equality, diversity, and justice—both inside and outside faith communities. When not actively working for a more compassionate planet, John enjoys spending time with his family, exercising, cooking, and having time in nature. He is the author of A Bigger Table, Hope and Other Superpowers, Low, and Stuff That Needs to Be Said.
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