Tim Mannello

Williamsport

It’s become a routine. There is a mass murder with an AR 15. Political leaders and news anchors invariably say: “We will keep you in our prayers.” And other voices predictably chime in, “We don’t need more prayers. We need action.”

As I see it, we still need to keep praying… but for the right thing. We don’t have to pray for God’s help with the problem. He has already sent it. We need instead to use the solutions God has enabled us to fashion. As John F. Kennedy once said, “Here on earth God’s work must be our own.”

Reminds one of that old story: A man climbs to his roof during a flood. He turns down a boat rescue and a helicopter rescue saying “God will save me,” and he finally drowns. When he gets to heaven he asks God why he didn’t save him. God replies, saying “I sent you a boat and a helicopter and you turned them both down.”

We are the God-given answer to our own prayers. God has given us the wisdom to come up with ways to reduce the slaughter. They are in plain sight for all to see. And we have large majorities who say we are in favor of them. More than 70% of Americans continue to tell pollsters they support laws that require background checks for private and gun show gun sales, institute a national red flag law, ban the sale of assault weapons and of high capacity magazines and which require a license before gun purchase.

So what is keeping us from making things a little safer by implementing the solutions which God gave us the wisdom to identify and most of us support? Legislators who keep blocking the passage of these sensible, popular gun laws. So our prayers should be for ourselves. We should pray that we have the will to vote out the legislators who keep blocking the passage of laws like “The Protecting Our Kids Act” that reflect the reasonable will of the majority.

You can’t get rid of all of the sensible gun law obstructionists by yourself. But you can do your little part. Two of these obstructive legislators are popular political figures around here: Glenn Thompson and Joe Hamm. Answer your own prayers. Vote them both out. My guess: God would be pleased. “Anyone who has ears, let him hear.” If not, quit bothering God with your empty prayers. He’s busy consoling the parents of murdered children.