Wedge Exploitation: Utilizing national tragedies to promote wedge issues.

RALEIGH— The sadness of the events in Colorado is impacting the lives of everyone. These events are truly a tragedy and my prayers are with the victims and their families. Exploiting the tragedy to promote wedge issues should be avoided. Unfortunately, it appears that the hoopla surrounding the wedge issues is arising out of the far left.

The shooting in Colorado was a tragedy. A tragedy perpetrated by a lunatic. While it is true the lunatic acquired his guns and ammunition through legal avenues, it is also true he created bombs and traps in his apartment which are illegal. The rampage this man went on would not have been stopped had guns been banned. The availability of guns did not make him come to his conclusions and set out on this rampage. His motivation and reasons for taking his actions came entirely from within. This point seems to be lost on many who insist on fighting the wedge issue.

The murderous lunatic is responsible for his actions. His actions were his choice and were born from his own mind and his own free will. He was not forced or coerced into taking these actions, he exercised his own free will. The legality of guns and ammunition did not prompt him to take these actions, his own free will did. The weapons involved were merely the tools he utilized to accomplish his goals.

A stricter ban on guns would not have stopped this lunatic. From the reports we have on the events in Colorado, it appears this lunatic took strides to go about building his arsenal legally. Had there been no legal means to acquire the tools he utilized, his apartment displays the fact that he would have found alternative methods to engage his goals.

The presence of guns did not make this “easier” for him. A lunatic with this type of goal could have legally procured any number of weapons to destroy the lives of countless more people in an even shorter amount of time without the use of fire arms. Timothy McVeigh purchased fertilizer and rented a moving truck to accomplish his evil deeds.

Many will argue that outlawing guns may very well have prevented this attack. But the simple truth of the matter is, this attack was already illegal and yet it still occurred. It is illegal, against the law, outlawed, to murder people by any method and with any tool. One may have their heart in the right place in calling for actions to be taken to “prevent this in the future.” The truth of the matter though is much more disturbing when confronted. The truth of the matter is, the lunatic acted of his own free will. His own free will. This very free will is what he utilized to break the law. No amount of law would have stopped him from breaking the law. There is no way around this. Law breakers break laws, and this lunatic broke the law when he murdered people.

This tragedy is truly sad. But I fear that the sadness will only continue to grow if this tragedy is exploited to promote wedge issues and to reassign blame. James Holmes alone is responsible for his own actions. Not movies. Not guns. Not video games. He and he alone. If we as family, parents, friends, and neighbors refuse to hold accountable those who are actually responsible for acting on their own free will to bring horror and suffering, we only perpetuate an environment which breeds more tragedies.