Columbine Father Darrell Scott's Gun Control Testimony

April 10, 2013

A friend posted the following on Facebook and the 'conversation' carried into the comments. This is both a statement about religious freedom and gun control.

PS:

WORTH THE TIME TO READ, PLEASE DO SO:

Guess our national leaders didn't expect this. On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.
They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good &evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact.
What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws.
Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him.

To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"
- Darrell Scott

Do what the mainstream media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech. Please share this with your FB friends! I've copied this from my cousin's page because, as usual, facebook will not allow me to "share" it. The stupid thing will not even allow me to tag her in it.

• JS1: sorry PS, don't take this the wrong way but i completely disagree. I think that's one of the worst conclusions to come from the events of columbine.
• ME: Which conclusion is "one of the worst", JS1? That the murders weren't the fault of guns? That they weren't the fault of the NRA? That it was the fault of the people - the murderers? That gun control legislation will not stop future mass murders? That God is the answer to our problems? Something else?
  

  
  

  PS, the testimony is factual but the attempt at creating outrage around it - that it wasn't expected or accepted well or that it wasn't covered by the media - is not. Both Snopes and Urban Legends have written about it and mention that the media did cover it at the time. The video of the testimony shows that Darrell Scott was recognized before his testimony for skipping a memorial service for his daughter in order to testify instead. He was thanked afterward.
  
  http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/scott.asp
  http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bldarrellscott.htm
  
  Here's an 8:43 YouTube video of Darrell Scott talking about forgiveness, if you're interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtXdrJkwCsY
  
  And here's the video of Darrell Scott's actual testimony where you can see and hear him deliver it: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4259689
  
  And here's a blog I recommend that covers many 2nd Amendment topics: http://us2ndamendment.blogspot.com/
  

  
  

  snopes.com: Darrell Scott Testimony

  www.snopes.com
  

  Darrell Scott's statement before a House subcommittee on crime.
• PS: okayyyyy
• JS2: Your rights to pray in school have never been removed. If you as an individual feel the need to pray in school you are free to do so. The schools themselves cannot force anyone to pray though or preform any religious practice. Im sorry but the argument that restrictive gun laws wont help prevent these tragedies is propaganda spread by associations such as the NRA who feel its necessary for them to be allowed as a citizen to purchase military grade firearms and ammunition. There is no valid reason for nonmilitary personnel to own these types of weapons. We continually misquote the second amendment by cutting off "in order to form a well armed militia." This amendment was created when our country had no standing military and needed to rely on its average citizen to defend its borders. We have a standing military now, and anyone who still feels the need to form a militia is suffering from paranoid delusions. Now I dont have an issue with no military grade weapons being kept for hunting and home defense, but when you can purchase massive quantities of 5.56 NATO rounds (military grade ammunition) on the internet, theres something wrong with our countries mindset. When it comes to the religious side of this post, I have no problem with any person who wants to pray in school. I have an issue with people thinking we are a Christian nation. Our founding fathers left England so they could practice their own religious beliefs. They specifically wrote a segment in our founding documents that allows any citizen to practice any religion they want. So to sit there and say god is the answer and we need to put god in our schools through law goes against everything American. This conservative outlook on rights wants to have any and all freedoms that go along with their beliefs but restrict or stomp on the rights of those who believe in other things.
• 
  ME: JS2, you're showing your ignorance as well as proliferating inaccurate propaganda like you're accusing others of.
  

  
  You misquoted the 2nd Amendment. It doesn't mention a "well armed militia" as you just stated. It's "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." First, "regulated" doesn't mean today what it did back then, but most people aren't focused on that right now. Second, it has been ruled by the US Supreme Court that the word "people" is meant to mean common, ordinary citizens, not uniformed soldiers of a standing army. Third, the purpose of the militia is to keep us free and that includes from its own tyrannical government. You're quick to point out there was no standing army at the time but you're ignoring the fact our Founding Fathers wrote it on the heels of having fought for freedom from a tyrannical government. They were guaranteeing in the Bill of Rights that no government, including our own, could disarm the population as was attempted by the British in the Colonies. Fourth, "shall not be infringed" is pretty clear.
  
  Estimates are that there are between 270-310 million firearms in circulation in the US. That number has only gone up while crime has been on a steadily downward trend for 20 years. Gun buybacks and confiscation from criminals doesn't measurably reduce the overall number in circulation. People who commit crimes with guns, and especially mass murder like at Sandy Hook Elementary, are already breaking multiple laws. Adding another one won't convince them to do otherwise. Restricting certain firearms is useless. So-called "assault weapons", a politically invented term, are used in an estimated less than 1% of gun crime. Equal destruction can and has been done with pistols - Columbine and Fort Worth. The proposed background checks would not have stopped Sandy Hook, Fort Worth and other mass murder events. Either they already owned them through background checks or they stole the firearms from others. Anyone who is determined to commit murder or mass murder can do it. If it were even possible to completely remove one tool from their selection they'd just move to the next - rifle, pistol, knife, machete, bomb. Cartels and guerillas hack people to death by the dozens with machetes. Oklahoma City and 9/11 showed us tremendous violence and body counts with no guns at all - box cutters, fertilizer, jet fuel and a missile (the planes themselves). The Barefoot Bandit, as a teenager, stole a private plane from the Pacific Northwest and flew it to the Midwest. If he had wanted to fill it with gasoline and crash it into a school or shopping mall, he could have. The same day as Sandy Hook there were ~20 kids knifed in a school. People argue that no one died but I've recently heard it said it wasn't the attacker's intent to kill. He was intentionally maiming them - cutting off small body parts. And earlier this week there were ~15 people stabbed and cut with a utility knife (also reported an an Exacto Knife or scalpel) near Houston. Early reports are that this college student has fantasized about stabbing people since grade school. These people will always find a way to pursue their sick fantasies or terrorist plots. In the UK and Australia, countries where guns have been almost universally banned, violent crime has increased, and in Australia even gun murder has risen since their ban. Magazine capacity limits won't slow down violent crime or mass murders. Crime stats show that an average of 3-4 rounds are fired in crimes. There are already millions of so-called "high capacity" magazines in circulation. They're actually "standard capacity" magazines. And 30-round magazines can, and have, been made using 3D printers. There are demonstrations of them on YouTube. Again, even if you could magically confiscate every 11+ round magazine in the world, all anyone needs to do is purchase or lease a 3D printer, download the free plans available on the Internet, and print as many as they want. It's actually cheaper to do in mass production that way for any criminal organization. Designs are already underway to manufacture plastic guns through the same technology. I've seen those demos too.
  
  Anyone trained in a profession of arms - law enforcement, military, security - knows that security is more perception than reality. You can make a person or place safer but you cannot make them safe because you cannot control all the risk variables. The NRA's position that 'a bad guy with a gun can only be stopped by a good guy with a gun' holds true and has been demonstrated. It can't prevent these incidents. But it can dramatically reduce the response time and damage that otherwise would have occurred. These mass murders are often killed or kill themselves when they're met with equivalent force - a person with a gun. If the outspoken gun control advocates were serious about reducing gun violence they'd listen to actual experts and develop workable solutions instead of demonstrating their own incompetence and lack of knowledge while they pursue their own agendas. These solutions would include hardening schools, providing security in schools, removing so-called "gun free zones" (a.k.a. soft targets), allowing administrators, staff, teachers and parents to carry in schools and FIXING the broken background check system, NICS, before trying to broaden its use. They need to get names of the mentally ill INTO the system before it can prevent a single gun purchase that shouldn't be made.
  
  
• Your argument completely falls apart when you try and discuss "military grade firearms and ammunition" unless you're suggesting we ban all firearms except .22 caliber and smaller. What do you think you mean by "military grade firearms and ammunition"? At a minimum, our military has used .38 caliber, .45 cal and 9mm pistols. .380 car is the same as 9mm but with a shorter shell casing and a different shape to the round. 10mm, .40 caliber and larger are even bigger than some of those "military grade" pistol calibers. For rifles we use 5.56mm (exactly the same as .223 caliber), .30 cal, .50 cal and probably a few others. You say you're okay with non-military grade firearms for hunting? 5.56mm / .223 caliber rifles are NOT allowed for hunting big game in many states because they're NOT powerful enough to ensure a clean kill of the game. They are used for hunting small game - coyotes and smaller. Standard hunting rifles are MORE powerful than 5.56mm / .223 cal. NATO = North Atlantic Treaty Organization and has nothing to do with anything in this discussion except that countries belonging to NATO attempted to use similar military supplies, including ammunition, for logistical purposes. A NATO spec or MILSPEC (military specification) only refers to specifications for any product the military might buy. It can literally apply to almost anything from office supplies to missile systems. MILSPEC does not mean ammunition is any more powerful than any other like item, including ammunition. 5.56mm / .223 caliber ammunition typically comes with either 55 or 62 grains of powder in the shells. It's not necessarily to make the round more powerful, although it can have that effect. When a firearm is designed, the ammo is matched to the rifling of the barrel for performance purposes, so it doesn't tumble in the air prematurely and become inaccurate. In a gun show I recently attended, the 55 grain was sold out and the 62 grain was still available.
  

  
  You think there's "no valid reason for nonmilitary personnel to own these types of weapons"? That's an empty argument. It's not for you or anyone else to determine what firearms others can or should use or to assess their need. It's a choice. It's a freedom. You don't "need" 1st or 5th Amendment rights. People in places like China, Iran and North Korea don't have them. People are persecuted, imprisoned and killed for their speech and religious observances and "due process" sometimes means being tortured until an accused person self incriminates themselves. We could live like that. Women and minority men don't "need" to vote. They didn't always have a vote in this country. These are all equal civil liberties. Keeping and bearing arms of choice is one of them. The US Supreme Court has ruled that firearms that are not "dangerous and unusual" cannot be limited. Yes, all firearms are inherently dangerous - just like knives, cars, etc. There's no basis in an argument there when talking about 100-year old semi-automatic firearms technology. These firearms are not "unusual" because, as determined by SCOTUS, they're used by millions of people for lawful purposes. That would apply more to fully automatic firearms (machine guns), rockets, mortars, etc.
  
  You criticize the "propaganda" or the NRA and other organizations. While some of what I've written here is in line with that, there's some here that comes from multiple independent sources - sources that I've sought out because of the recent, aggressive and varied attacks on our 2nd Amendment by gun control advocating politicians and media. Other parts of what I've written are from my own training, reading and decades worth of conversations with professionals in law enforcement and military operations. While propaganda isn't strictly a negative term by definition, it is usually used with that connotation. If you want to be honest about where the negative, untruthful, lying, inaccurate propaganda is coming from - you need to focus squarely on people like President Obama, Senator Feinstein, Mayor Bloomberg, Piers Morgan and many others who are pushing their agenda in spite of the facts, statistics and trends that work decidedly against their arguments. We can have a serious conversation of reducing gun violence and about providing safety to school children AFTER these people stop blatantly lying to the American people.
  
  What's un-American is trying to tear down any of our Bill of Rights - including the 2nd Amendment. The 2nd Amendment, in combination with the 1st (the conspiracy to overthrow British rule), is what gave us our country.

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