Finally! There is a governor who voices the truth about crimes committed with guns. Texas Governor Greg Abbott spoke a couple of weeks ago at the National Rifle Association convention in Dallas and during his speech, he said what many of us have been saying for years and that is the problem we face as a country has nothing to with guns, but hearts that are not filled with the Spirit of God.
“The answer to gun violence is not to take guns away, the answer is to strengthen the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,” Abbot said during his speech. “The problem is not guns, it’s hearts without God.”
The Texas Observer reported:
Beyond installing the Lord in godless hearts, the only policy endorsed by the conservative leaders who spoke at the convention was putting more guns in the hands of trained teachers and school guards. Abbott pointed out that Texas lawmakers “already authorized our teachers to be armed in our schools.”President Donald Trump even found his way to the same talking point. “We want highly trained teachers to carry concealed weapons,” said Trump. “When [attackers] know there are guns inside, they’re not going in.” (The arena itself was a gun-free zone — a safety precaution under U.S. Secret Service orders.)
So, pay attention here. Abbott is not saying just to sit around and pray and read the Bible. Those are things one needs to do for sure, but he also talks about putting feet to your prayers. In other words, often God uses us in accomplishing the very answer to the prayer we pray. After all, prayer is simply aligning ourselves with God's revealed will in His Word. We aren't manipulating Him or turning Him into some genie to do our bidding.The idea of letting teachers carry concealed in schools is a good one, actually. It's one I support far above putting more police officers in schools since all that does it grow government, which in turn, dips more into our pockets to fund something that is our duty as citizens.
Abbott also presented 22 ideas that could be done to help make schools more secure.
1. Adding "more behavioral counseling with increase of staffing" at schools.
"Creating threat assessment teams." Abbott said the development of a statewide threat assessment program received universal support during the roundtable.
Mandating "better coordination between school and law enforcement officials."
Creating "programs that reward students for sharing information" about potential shooters.
Implementing strategies that "make it easier to share information."
Upgrading "physical facilities, especially entryways, exits and cameras" to protect schools.
Creating "a statewide intelligence-monitoring service concerning social media of students."
Encouraging schools to hire “early intervention counselors starting even as early as kindergarten, certainly elementary.”
"Hardening our schools" to make them physically more secure against school shooters.
Ensuring school administrators better share information about potentially dangerous students among schools across the state.
Mandating "collaboration between law enforcement and schools" to create emergency action plans.
Creating "comprehensive training, informing students, parents and teachers how to relay information."
Putting officers at “the front” of schools.
Improving "training for the school marshal program," which trains teachers and staff to carry firearms on campus.
Boosting funding for the school marshal program, to make sure every school can participate if it wants to.
Increasing parent accountability. "How in the world can a parent either not know about or not be accountable for a situation where a student may be bringing a gun or a knife to a school?" Abbott said. "Parents are partly responsible for this and need to be held accountable."
"Mandating parent training."
Intervening with students who "have demonstrated challenges, probably through a more robust school counselor process – intervening into behavior that could lead to school shootings."
Developing threat-assessment programs for all schools in Texas.
Putting more metal detectors in schools. "They work for some schools, in other settings they may not work," the governor said. "It needs to be one of the strategies on the table."
Identifying mental health challenges for students and helping respond to those challenges and get students the counseling they need.
Creating an app to view streaming video of school security cameras. "Why can we not allow parents, students and law enforcements and others to be able to monitor, basically on a 24-7 basis, the cameras in these schools?" Abbott said.
However, when it comes to the spiritual aspect of the situation, Abbott is right on point.
Following the shooting at Santa Fe High School on Friday, Abbott tweeted, "This Bible verse was on t-shirts at the Santa Fe Texas church service I attended today. They truly are #SantaFeStrong. #SantaFeHighSchool #txlege."The verse mentioned came from the New Testament Book of 2 Corinthians:
"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed."https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/998314818468708353In fact, several people took to social media to support his statement. One person tweeted, "Governor @GregAbbott_TX is 100% correct. His views are very unpopular, but moral/spiritual truth always is. Proud of him for stepping up with a politically incorrect yet spot on diagnosis."
https://twitter.com/jeffschreve/status/998215505369534464
- jeffschreveOf course, there were many who simply will not do their duty before God and follow what He has said, even as our forefathers exhorted us to do. Rather, they mocked Abbott's comments.
https://twitter.com/jbaldoni/status/998394142580445186
- jbaldonihttps://twitter.com/palomacreative/status/998400588718145537
- palomacreativehttps://twitter.com/K1Lawren/status/998615424035164160
- K1LawrenThese people are the same people Abbott is talking about. They don't have a biblical worldview. They have a humanist, Communist worldview, and thus they believe that dealing with inanimate objects is what should be done rather than dealing with the criminal who committed the crime with the object, and dealing with that criminal justly.
They whine and they cry about "the children," sort of like the guy in this video, who utters some of the easiest lies to debunk from gun grabbers.
Well, the commenter who posted the video has it partially right. Only in the case of the shooter at Santa Fe, he didn't own the guns, and the sins of the son do not apply to the father, nor vice versa (Deuteronomy 24:16).
No, put simply, the one who commits the crime of murder should be the one who is punished and punished justly, ie. the death penalty.
So, the question I have for these people is, how many of them show more mercy towards the criminal than the victims when it comes to bringing justice in the matter? I would suggest that since they are so easily manipulated emotionally and are willing to both tell and believe lies about guns, rights and the law, that they would not be in favor of putting someone to death for the crime of murder. They would rather hold you and your property hostage for taxes to feed, clothe and house the criminal for the rest of their life rather than bring justice.
Governor Abbott's words need to be echoed across our land. When Americans turn back to God and begin to repent before Him, He has promised He will heal our land, and a lot of that healing will come through true justice, not more gun confiscation.