“Train up a child in the way he should go …”

Outrageous? Absolutely. This photo and the full biblical quote, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6) are from a Daniel Defense ad. Daniel proudly manufactures and sells AR-15-style firearms and produced the weapon used by the Uvalde, Texas, shooter. Their ad appeared on May 16, the same day the shooter turned 18.

The picture is horrifying. Using the Bible to justify it is disgusting beyond words. And yet … this is what’s happening in the United States today. The Second Amendment certainly wasn’t intended to protect an as-yet-unimagined weapon. And heaven knows this weapon never appeared in the Bible. And yet this is where the most perverted among us have gone.

The bodies of those children in Uvalde were so mutilated by this weapon that authorities needed DNA samples from their parents in order to identify them! How does a parent even begin to process something like that?

In addition to withdrawing from the NRA convention held in Houston Friday (because they feared a public backlash?), Daniel’s response to the shooting appeared on their website:

Well, there you go. Thoughts and prayers. Twice, even. Keep selling those guns, and offer lots of thoughts and prayers when they are used.

The problem is not “evil,” as those at the NRA gathering said. It’s not mental health issues; other nations have similar rates of mental health problems. And it’s not violent video games; video games are even bigger in Japan, for example. Nor is it trouble at home or bullying at school. Other nations have all these problems, but they don’t have mass shootings.

The difference, and source of the problem, is glaringly obvious.

It’s the guns.