No More Prayers

Susan Orfanos’ 27 year-old son, Telemachus, survived the Las Vegas mass shooting last year. He did not survive the shooting in Thousand Oaks, California, on November 7. His mother’s emotional words, spoken before a television camera the next day, were powerful. She said she does not want people praying for her. Here are her exact words:

“My son was in Las Vegas with a lot of his friends, and he came home. He didn’t come home last night, and I don’t want prayers. I don’t want thoughts. I want gun control, and I hope to God nobody sends me any more prayers. I want gun control. No more guns!”

I agree with her. I am sick of people sending “thoughts and prayers” as their sole response to mass shootings. Don’t misunderstand me. I am not against prayer … or thinking. I pray. But I am tired of people using prayer as a substitute for action. Prayers are nice, but they are only genuine when they are backed up by an intention to change the situation. 

Actions speak louder than words, even words spoken in prayer. To paraphrase the apostle James, prayer without works is dead. If praying people really care about dying people, they would do something to stop people killing people. As Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits.”

Also I am REALLY sick of slogans. They are too often used as an excuse to do nothing. Especially the slogan “Guns don’t kill people ― people kill people!” Everyone knows that is not true. Guns do kill people! Guns do not kill people by themselves, of course, except in those tragic cases of accidental discharge. But people with guns kill people. Take away the guns and you eliminate most of the killing.

Sure, people without guns will still kill people, but far fewer will die. There are other ways to murder, but they are much less efficient. What if that ex-Marine had come into the bar with a knife instead of a .45 caliber Glock with a high-capacity magazine? Sure, he might have killed people, but not many people. He probably would not have gotten past the armed security guard.

So let’s stop the hypocritical prayers and the senseless slogans and work to find a viable solution. I wish I knew what the solution is. I don’t. But doing nothing is not a solution. It is surrender. It seems to me that any solution to the mass shooting epidemic must be multi-faceted. It must include campaign finance reform, gun control legislation, better security in public places, education of the public, and mental healthcare. 

I live in New Hampshire, which has the state motto “Live Free or Die” - with an emphasis on the latter option. Our state legislature routinely rejects any gun control legislation but proposes no alternative solutions. Unfortunately the state motto is becoming a fulfilled prophecy on the national level. Innocent people are dying on the altar of the Second Amendment in order to protect the right of mentally ill and morally depraved people to purchase firearms.

Something more must be done than maintain the status quo and pray. So – paradoxically - I offer this prayer. I pray I will do more than write a blog post. I pray I will act. I pray you will act. I pray that legislatures will act. I pray that people will balance their right to bear arms with the right of others to live free without fear. That is my prayer. Do I hear an “Amen”?