During the summer of 1212, thousands of young people took “Crusading” vows and set out from Europe to recover Jerusalem from the Muslims. Lasting only from May to September of that year, the “Children’s Crusade” lacked official sanction, and ended in failure because none of the participants reached their intended destination. Tragically, many were sold into slavery, having been duped by unscrupulous merchants, who put them on ships that the young people thought were bound for the Holy Land, but indeed turned out to be slave markets.
Jump ahead 806 years to 2018, and we see a similar situation developing here in our country. After the tragic school shooting in Parkland, FL a youth movement has sprung up, to “finally” end all gun violence in this country. When you peel back the layers of this movement, you discover that the movers and shakers behind most of the events and protests are none other than the same unsavory cast of characters like George Soros and his various left leaning organizations, whose ultimate goal is to topple the Second Amendment and disarm the citizenry of our nation.
They want what dictators always strive to achieve, a nation ruled by an armed elite, and cowed by the power of the very government which is supposedly there to protect them. Countless examples of this concept being used in the last century alone should give pause to the gun banners, including the new “Children’s Crusaders”. However, since unbiased history is no longer being taught in our educational institutions, they are being swayed and driven by rhetoric supplied by leftist leaders and emotionally driven idealists. Don’t try to confuse the issue by debating the facts.
In calling for more laws to achieve “gun control” they just add more layers to the onion, which has grown rotten at it’s core. It is interesting to note that our youthful “Crusaders” have received support from youth around the world, including some from Israel, which is by necessity one of the best armed nations on the globe. After a series of attacks on Israeli schools in the 1970’s the government of Israel came up with a plan to “harden” their schools against these terrorist attacks, including arming some, if not all of their teachers.
Our country should be looking to the Israeli methods as a blueprint for protecting our students rather than striving to accomplish an unworkable system of so-called “gun control” laws which are unenforceable in anything other than a police state, a perilous road we don’t want to go down. We need to debate these matters calmly and unemotionally, which is of course nearly impossible for those who have lost loved ones or friends at the hands of murderous assassins. The entire concept of “Gun Free Zones” needs to be first in line in these discussions. They don’t work, will never work, and can’t be made to work. They have in the past, and will continue to be, merely “Free Fire Zones” for criminals, terrorists and crazies, who of course ignore the signs and rules.
No amount of well intentioned debate will ever change that fact, and no amount of new legislation will correct it. The adults in this country have to start being just that, ADULTS! It is our job to “harden” not only our schools, but our places of worship and everywhere else that significant numbers of people gather together. We can’t have armed police on every corner, but we can allow responsible individuals to carry concealed weapons to defend themselves and those around them. That is one proactive, not reactive, method to achieve the security we need in an increasingly dangerous and insecure world environment.
To all you new “Children’s Crusaders”: Learn from the original group. Don’t be enslaved by following bad advice from those who would seek to use you as what Vladimir Lenin called “Useful Idiots” to further their own agenda.