Mountain Views News          Saturday, October 10, 2015

16

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, October 10, 2015 


MICHAEL Reagan Making Sense

OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

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Views

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Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Dr. Tina Paul

Rich Johnson

Merri Jill Finstrom

Lori Koop

Rev. James Snyder

Tina Paul

Mary Carney

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Greg Welborn

Renee Quenell

Ben Show

Sean Kayden

Marc Garlett

Pat Birdsall (retired)

TIME FOR SENSIBLE 
BACKGROUND 
CHECKS

In the wake of the recent homicidal shooting 
rampage at an Oregon community college, 
I'm forced to come to the conclusion that 
it is high time for common sense national 
background checks for journalists.

It's time we closed the political loophole and prevented biased, 
ignorant political operatives from getting their hands on a 
dangerously misleading national microphone.

RedState has a perfect example this week. Former Bill Clinton 
White House aide, and current Clinton Foundation donor 
George Stephanopoulos, is the host for ABC's This Week. He uses 
his "bully pulpit" to bully conservatives and Republicans.

During an interview with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 
Stephanopoulos interrupted Christie to assert, "But there's no 
question the pace of mass shootings is accelerating, happening 
more frequently than anywhere else. If it's not the gun, then what 
is it?"

This is a perfect example of leftist thinking. As Dennis Prager 
points out, the left always blames the inanimate object and never 
the user. 

During the Cold War the left wanted to ban atomic weapons 
rather than condemn and work to overthrow totalitarian regimes 
that could use The Bomb to further their ends. Leftist—in—Chief 
Obama continues to be fixated on nuclear weapons and behind 
the scenes is working to render our nuclear deterrent impotent.

Now the left is fixated on the gun. Blaming the user of the 
gun is out of the question, because that involves individual 
responsibility. 

Once America starts thinking in terms of individual responsibility 
again, it has the potential to open up a line of questioning that is 
very uncomfortable for big government leftists. 

For example: Why can't you find a job? Where is the father of 
your children? How did your home enter foreclosure? What do 
you spend your money on? Why have we lost the War on Poverty?

After demonizing the gun, leftists like Stephanopoulos use false 
data from anti—gun pressure groups to contradict defenders of 
the 2nd Amendment. 

First they change the definition of "mass shooting." Before the 
numbers started to trend against them, the definition was at least 
four deaths NOT counting the shooter. Now gun grabbers use 
three deaths as a minimum or they include the wretched shooter 
in the total.

Naturally, as if by magic in a cloud of cordite, there are more 
mass shootings, but even doctored statistics can't support the 
"accelerating" claim. 

The RedState graph shows mass shootings peaked in 2004 and 
have not reached that peak since. Since 2008, mass shootings 
have been trending downward.

I'm certain rabid Democrat defenders of media bias will block 
my common sense background checks for journalists bill in 
the Senate. So in the meantime I can only advise you to beware 
leftists bearing statistics.

Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political 
consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. 
Martin's Press). 


I AM SO DONE WITH SUMMER!

You know when you have had enough of 
something and you do not want to see any of 
it anymore. Well, that is what I think about 
summer. I’ve had enough of summer and I want 
to move on with my life.

 It’s not that I dislike summer. I love summer. 
I just don’t want summer all the time. As far as I 
am concerned, a little bit of good weather goes a 
long way with me.

 Don’t get me wrong here; summer is my 
favorite time of the year. However, the reason it 
is my favorite time of the year is that when it is 
over I have some jolly wonderful memories of 
summer. I have those memories of summer still 
lingering on and I want to share them.

 When you get my age, memories are very 
important. At my age, I can have what is called 
“selective memory.” I am not quite sure who 
come up with that phrase, but I think they need a 
Nobel Peace Prize of some sort.

 As a young person when I forgot something it 
was rather embarrassing and my mother or father 
would scold me and tell me I need to remember 
things if I was ever going to grow up. Now that I 
am older, it is not in the same thing, but rather an 
enabling thing.

 Forgetting something enables me to handle life 
as it comes at me.

 For example. The Gracious Mistress of the 
Parsonage will at times ask me, “Did you 
remember…?” Of course, it does not matter what 
the subject is because I will look at her with one of 
“my looks,” and she will return it with one of “her 
looks.” She has both hands postured on her hips 
and I have to back down. I can’t find my hips.

 “You know, my dear,” I always try to explain, 
“at my age I can’t remember very many things.”

 She will stare at me for a moment and then say, 
“I think it’s rather strange that you can remember 
what you want to remember but you can forget 
what you want to forget. I’m not sure age has 
anything to do with it.”

 I refuse to get into that tussle because when the 
wife of the house wins the argument there is a 
sense of peace and serenity about the house. I like 
peace and serenity.

 I am afraid she has me figured out. If I am not 
mistaken, she had me figure out the first day she 
met me. That is the difference between men and 
women.

 That aside, I am still so done with summer. 
I want to be able to share my memories of this 
summer while they are still fresh in my mind. Of 
course, I can always doctor up those memories to 
fit any occasion.

 I was sharing one of my summer memories 
with someone one time when my wife stepped in 
and said something like, “I sure don’t remember 
it that way.”

What is a husband to do? I am in a position where 
I can either embarrass myself or embarrass my 
wife. Now if I embarrass myself, everybody 
will have a laugh at my expense. If, however, I 
embarrass my wife, I am in for some real trouble 
when we get home, still at my expense.

 This past summer I kept a journal of some of the 
things that happened. I was having a wonderful 
time jotting down what would hopefully turn out 
to be marvelous memories to share with anyone 
who would listen.

 I just cannot wait for summer to be over so I 
can go dipping into that little journal and share 
some marvelous memories of my summer.

 My journal was of such a nature that only 
I could read it. I did that on purpose because I 
wanted nobody else to read it. This is my journal, 
and it should be a private thing. So, during the 
summer I tried abbreviated and used code words 
so nobody could figure out what I was journaling 
about.

 One problem. I kept it so private that when I 
went back over my journal I did not know what 
I had written. I could not figure out anything 
in that journal. Nothing made sense. I was a 
little disheveled about it until that phrase came 
dancing into my mind, “selective memory.”

 One thing I have learned through the years 
is, not very many people are interested in the 
truth. If a memory sounds likely, you can sell it to 
anybody.

I want it to be clearly understood that I always 
tell the truth, but not necessarily in chronological 
order. I think the one who is telling the memory 
has the privilege of arranging the memory to suit 
himself. After all, it is my memory and I should 
tell it the way I want to tell it.

 All I can say is, I am just about done with 
summer and I cannot wait for it to get over so I 
can begin with my memories of this past summer. 
Old boy, what memories I have.

 Solomon understood this when he wrote, 
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy 
youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years 
draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure 
in them” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

 I may be done was summer, but thankfully, 
God is not done with me. And what memories I 
have about Him.

 Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of 
God Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, FL 34483. 
He lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs 
Shores. Call him at 1-866-552-2543 or e-mail 
jamessnyder2@att.net. His web site is www.
jamessnyderministries.com.

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HOWARD Hays As I See It


“Our thoughts and 
prayers are not enough.”

- President Obama, 
responding to the 
shootings that killed nine 
at Umpqua Community 
College in Roseburg, 
Oregon

 “Stuff happens.”

 - Jeb Bush, responding to the same incident

 Anybody who’s taken Poli Sci 101 (I might’ve 
gotten more than a “B” had I not argued with 
the prof) knows that “politics” is more than a 
derisive term. At times over the past couple 
weeks, though, you’d hardly think so.

 There was the “politics” represented by 
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who’d been 
presumed to be the next House Speaker, on 
Fox News. McCarthy admitted the Benghazi 
hearings (set in the wake of the killings of 
four Americans serving their country), going 
on now for longer than Watergate’s, have 
been all about politics. “Everybody thought 
Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we 
put together a Benghazi Special Committee”, 
he bragged to Sean Hannity, “What are her 
numbers today? Her numbers are dropping.” 
The Clinton campaign is set to air a 30-second 
ad this week featuring McCarthy, opening 
with “The Republicans finally admit it.”

 In responding to the Roseburg shootings, 
though, President Obama emphasized the 
broader definition of “politics”; as a means of 
doing good for people and holding accountable 
those who don’t. “This is something we should 
politicize”, he explained, “it is relevant to our 
common life together, to the body politic . . . 
to change these laws and to save lives, and to 
let young people grow up”. 

 Democratic candidates specified laws 
they’d change. Clinton proposed expanded 
background checks (according to Bloomberg, 
supported by 92% of Americans, 92% of gun 
owners and 86% of Republicans), revoking 
immunity for “negligent manufacturers 
and dealers”, strong penalties for “straw 
purchasers” and taking guns from domestic 
abusers. In addition, former Gov. Martin 
O’Malley (MD) wants required licensing of 
gun purchasers and to make gun-trafficking 
a federal crime, while both he and Sen. Bernie 
Sanders (I-VT) have called for reinstituting a 
ban on assault weapons.

 But on the Republican side, it’s the other 
kind of politics. Donald Trump and Mike 
Huckabee blamed gun-free zones, with Carly 
Fiorina flatly stating: “This campus was a 
gun-free zone”, which it wasn’t – the Oregon 
legislature having prohibited them in 2011 
(Fiorina, again, choosing talking points over 
the truth). Jeb Bush warned against laws that 
“make it harder for people to protect liberty”.

 Ben Carson blamed the victims, saying 
“I would not just stand there and let him 
shoot me.” (Army vet Chris Mintz didn’t 
“just stand there”, and was shot seven times 
trying to protect fellow students.) Gov. Bobby 
Jindal (LA) blamed “cultural rot”. Gov. John 
Kasich (OH) explained, “the deeper issue is 
loneliness”.

 Republicans weren’t the only ones who 
objected to the president’s remarks. For 
his citing the examples of other countries 
, “Great Britain, Australia, countries like 
ours”, Michael Pascoe of the Sydney Morning 
Herald complained, “Australia is not like 
the United States. We decided not to be. We 
decided to grow up instead and become a 
more reasonable, rational society . . . The US 
is too immature a society to be allowed to play 
with guns.”

 (Following a mass shooting in 1996, the 
conservative-led government pushed through 
a measure tightening licensing and ownership 
rules and banning assault weapons, with 
a buy-back of those already in circulation. 
There have been no mass killings in Australia 
since; there have been 294 in the U.S. – so far 
this year. The Australian measure was passed 
and enacted less than two weeks after the 
shooting took place.)

 We have by far the largest per-capita 
ownership rate in the developed world (a 
gun for every man, woman and child in the 
country) and by far the largest gun homicide 
rate (30 per million people; other developed 
nations are all in single digits). Harvard 
studies make clear: whether in states, 
communities or households; the more guns 
there are the greater the rate of gun-related 
suicides, homicides and risk of being a victim 
of a homicide – especially for women with a 
gun in the house. States with the most guns 
had an accidental firearms death rate 7 times 
higher than those with the fewest. Kids 5-14 
in the U.S. are 11 times more likely to be killed 
by a gun than in other developed countries.

 Roseburg is one of those places where they 
love their guns. Douglas County Sheriff John 
Hanlin, who led the response to the shooting, 
was one of those gun nuts who bought into 
the notion those 20 six-and-seven-year-olds 
“allegedly shot” (as he put it) at Sandy Hook, 
and scores of grieving family members, were 
part of some conspiracy to create a pretext for 
“disarming the public”.

 The killers of Sandy Hook and Umpqua 
College had things in common; both were 
young men with documented histories of 
mental and emotional issues, both lived at 
home with single moms with whom they 
shared a passion for guns, both had ready 
access to several – including assault weapons 
– from home. After the Roseburg shootings, 
the estranged father noted that if his son “had 
not been able to get ahold of 13 guns, it would 
not have happened . . . Someone has to ask 
themselves, ‘how is it so easy to get all these 
guns?’” 

 Ben Carson characterized President 
Obama’s trip to Roseburg for private meetings 
with victims’ families as “politicizing 
something”. Dr. Carson’s statement itself 
shows the worst kind of “politics”.

 The president referred to the other kind 
when he when he said, “This is a political 
choice that we make to allow this to happen 
every few months in America. We collectively 
are answerable to those families who lose their 
loved ones because of our inaction.” In voting, 
he reminded, we are “making a determination 
whether this cause of continuing death of 
innocent people should be a relevant factor in 
your decision. If you think this is a problem 
then you should expect your elected officials 
to reflect your views.” 

We do, Mr. President.


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