Last week American school children once again became the innocent victims of yet another senseless shooting rampage. Whenever these atrocities occur, I believe society should respect the victims and their families by giving them a few days to grieve their losses, to memorialize their children, and to bury their loved ones. However, it will take many Americans a long time to heal from the Uvalde Massacre.

Now that the dust is finally beginning to settle, we can begin to ask why these shootings keep happening. These kinds of mass shootings have been increasing ever since Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold first attacked their fellow classmates at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado back on April 20, 1999. In 2013 the USA averaged two mass shootings per month, but this year we are already up to 27!

Evil does not exist within a gun. A gun is simply a tool which can be used for good or for evil. Guns do not cause people to kill any more than forks cause people to eat or books cause people to read. To help illustrate this point more clearly consider that in 2016 more people were murdered in Nebraska with knives (9 people) than were killed with rifles (0 people) or shotguns (0 people), according to the FBI’s own crime statistics. This is an important statistic to note because Salvador Ramos is reported to have purchased two AR-15 rifles before the shooting.

Because God has gifted every human being with a soul, we should ask why people are committing these violent acts. It is time for American society to honestly grapple with the question about why so many people, especially young people, are committing these shootings in the first place. What has changed about our society that some young men now feel prompted to go out on a killing spree?

The self-evident answer to this question lies within the fact that American society has failed to instill the true value of life within each member of each new generation that has come along over the course of the last 30 years. When children are taught to properly value, respect, and appreciate life, they do not entertain the thought of killing their peers.

Instead of promoting the value of life, American society has been in the business of devaluing it. This occurs when we celebrate the release of horror movies which graphically show the dismembering of human flesh, when video games virtually depict the realty of shooting other people (sometimes even friends), and when television shows glamorize those who [almost] got away with it. Engaging in too much of these kinds of activities numbs the soul to reality and teaches children that life is meaningless.

Evil exists within the mind of the one who pulls the trigger. Therefore, we are in a battle for the hearts, souls and minds of the next generation. Instead of teaching our children how to win an extra life in their favorite video game, shouldn’t we be teaching them to live by the Golden Rule? It was Jesus who said, “Do unto to others what you would have them do unto you” (Matthew 7:12), and “Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you,” (Luke 6:27). Children with innocent hearts who embrace these kinds of values and who make it their mission in life to love their neighbor, never give any kind of serious consideration to the temptation to go out and murder their classmates.