There’s a new idol in town. No, not Billy Idol. To tell the truth, this idol isn’t all that new. The idol is the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America. The god behind it is Gun—especially the semi-automatic kind. How in the world did the 2nd Amendment become an idol? How did Gun get to be a god?
Gun used to be happy just being a thing—still is. Gun didn’t like being used to hurt or kill people, but Gun took comfort knowing that most people didn’t misuse him. Gun enjoyed hunting by the rules. Gun liked being used at the shooting range and in contests. Gun also liked the way he could intimidate lawbreakers, especially when law enforcement officers didn’t have to pull his trigger. Gun even enjoyed being used to shoot cans and such.
But Gun had a fear that has come to fruition.
Since the mid-1900s Gun started being used to hurt people more than in the past. Gun was used to kill presidents and leaders who were working hard to bring peace to the world. Gun didn’t like that—not one bit. But Gun was helpless to stop it.
There were people who saw Gun’s plight and passed laws to regulate him. He was happy about that. But things still got worse. In the late 1900s Gun was being used in more violent crimes than ever before. He begged for people to help him. Many tried. People rallied to put controls on Gun so that he would be less lethal in the hands of civilians, but others started worshipping at the idol of Gun’s dear friend: the 2nd Amendment. They focused on literal interpretations of the 2nd Amendment, but ignored the spirit inside it.
These people spread lies about how the protesters were going to do away with Gun altogether. They had great crusades in which the people chanted, “2nd Amendment rights!” striking fear in the hearts of many. They angered others so that they were ready to use Gun to kill those who simply wanted to put limits on Gun. Intoxicated with religious fervor and zeal, the crowds made Gun a god against his own will.
Gun didn’t want to be in the hands of killers. Gun didn’t want to go to schools and shoot students. Gun wanted to be handled by responsible adults and used for sport. Gun wept, and the greatly misunderstood and misused 2nd Amendment wept with him.
Gun and the 2nd Amendment prayed that peacemakers would prevail. They prayed that people whose faith taught them to love and to do good to others would triumph. Gun knew that nearly all people in Congress said they followed such a faith. But, alas, most of them were taking a knee before the god and its idol.
Then something happened.
Seventeen people—mostly students—were murdered by a man using Gun. The students who survived were furious. They were furious that so many had died in school shootings and that very little had been done about it on a national level. They started shouting—crying out for something to be done about the misuse of Gun. They wouldn’t shut up. Gun was pleased and so was the 2nd Amendment.
The students marched on Washington, D.C. Some of them met with the president. He sympathized with them. Then he turned around and said that the answer to the misuse of Gun was more misuse of Gun. Once again the students were infuriated. Gun and the 2nd Amendment wept. But the students were not to be deterred.
As of today, the students are still shouting. Gun is behind them. The 2nd Amendment is behind him. Peacemakers who were felled by the misuse of Gun are behind them. So Gun and the 2nd Amendment are hopeful once again. They are hopeful that common sense and the cause of peace will prevail. The 2nd Amendment is hopeful that he will once more be understood as he was meant to be. Gun longs for the day when he can go back to shooting cans, targets, and being used in sportsmanlike hunting in the hands of responsible people. But until then, Gun and the 2nd Amendment weep. With every drop of innocent blood they weep.
Let us refuse to allow their weeping to be in vain.
…and that’s the view from The Balcony. 
