New Study Shows That Typical Claims for More Gun Control are Based on Myths — The study confirms what many gun advocates have been saying all along. Those who are well armed, are well protected and stricter gun laws never produce safer societies. The founding fathers truly understood the nature of sin. Without restraint or fear of consequences, the more sinful in society will impose their brand of justice upon those seeking to live quiet lives. Therefore they added the Second Amendment so those of us seeking to live quiet and peaceful lives can fight back when the wicked show up at our doorsteps. It’s not a matter of “if” they will in our present day culture, but a matter of “when.”
The study, “An examination of the effects of concealed weapons laws and assault weapons bans on state-level murder rates,” conducted by Quinnipiac University economist Mark Gius, examined nearly 30 years of statistics and concluded that stricter gun laws do not result in a reduction in gun violence. In fact, Gius found the opposite – that a proliferation of concealed carry permits can actually reduce incidents of gun crime.”
“Using data for the period 1980 to 2009 and controlling for state and year fixed effects, the results of the present study suggest that states with restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons had higher gun-related murder rates than other states,” the study’s abstract reads. “It was also found that assault weapons bans did not significantly affect murder rates at the state level.”
“These results suggest that restrictive concealed weapons laws may cause an increase in gun-related murders at the state level,” the abstract concludes.
24 Things to Do Instead of Getting Married — Given that I’m sound down on marriage here of late, I liked this article. The article is on the premise of another writer who wrote 23 Things to Do Instead of Getting Married. The first author is 23, Taylor is 24. She points out the shallowness of the first article:
I recently read this article titled, “23 Things To Do Instead of Getting Engaged Before You’re 23″. Normally, I don’t read these as they are usually written in an in-your-face-I-can-do-what-I-want tone. For whatever reason, I read this article, perhaps because I am 24 and not married and I was curious as to why 23 was the magic number. Unfortunately, the article is pretty much the same, lame advice for twenty-somethings, written by twenty-somethings whose sum total of advice is “17. Eat a Jar of Nutella is one sitting.” I didn’t think much about it until I saw at least 3 people repost it on Facebook.
I don’t know about you, but if the highlight of my life (outside of marriage???) before I’m 23 is to eat a jar of Nutella or “22. Be selfish” then I think marriage to anyone sounds pretty good.
My goal for life as a single or married should not be “22. Be selfish,” “2. Find your ‘thing’,” or “10. Cut your hair.” If any of those are my goals for an hour, day, or a year then my life is going to be very empty. However, the emptiness is not because I don’t have anyone to “cuddle and talk about my feelings” or “18. Make strangers feel uncomfortable in public places.” With or without a partner, my life has greater meaning than this entire list.
Then she gets to the main point of all our lives, whether married or not.
I am created to worship. I will worship, whether I worship marriage, a boyfriend, Nutella, or the Creator of the Universe is up to me. Instead of purposing myself to “16. Watch GiRLS. Over and over again” maybe the secret to happiness with or without someone is to die to myself. Over and over again. Maybe instead of “11. Date two people at once and see how long it takes to blow up in your face.” I can sponsor 2 orphaned children so they’re not separated from their families. Instead of “20. Hangout naked in front of a window.” I can hang out for an hour a week mentoring an at-risk child.
I think Taylor is on to something. After all, we know that marriage never satisfies. It wasn’t intended to. Only Christ can satisfy our deepest longings, and even then, on this side of glory, we may never experience satisfaction. I point this out because I don’t want to paint the picture that once someone trusts in Christ, life is rosie. It’s not. Life is hard. It’s not meant to satisfy and it is filled with hard work, disappointment, and discouragement. The point of worshipping our Creator is the joy of knowing these things that ail us wil come to an end at some point and we will experience the great satisfaction of being with Christ in His perfect Kingdom. No more disappointment, death, sin, heartache, etc. THAT is the payoff. THAT is the silver lining, the ship that comes in, etc. This life… sucks. But the hereafter does not if we are in Christ.
So 24 things to do before you get married is quite appropriate because marriage is not the end all, be all of life. I might add to her list: know Christ and be known by Christ!
OK, only two items that interested me. That will have to do for today.
Filed under: Round Up
