The punishment for mass shooters needs to be extreme and immediate. They need to die by a firing squad. This will be a way to help curtail the number of shootings versus putting the shooter on the front page of Time, Newsweek and every major news outlet. Without all the infamy, they will cease.
I no longer feel safe in my own house of worship.
The recent synagogue shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue hits close to home.
I am a member of Chabad of Kauai. Chabad is small, it’s like ohana. Any Chabad house, as they are referred to, welcomes Jews of all denominations for any Sabbath service and a free meal called an Oneg after services to kibbitz (talk story) and to enjoy the Sabbath. Members become Mishpachah (ohana). Chabad is also known as a home away from home for any Jew no matter what their affiliation.
Although I do not frequent services as much as I once did, the recent shootings not only at Chabad but the Easter Sunday shootings at the Catholic church in Sri Lanka, and the recent mosque killings in New Zealand, are signs of the times that terrorists and crazies are out for us all.
Shopping malls where children are thrown off balconies, mass shootings of our youth in our schools and running cars into crowds and killing people is now accepted as just another day in America. According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, a total of 340 mass-shooting incidents occurred in the U.S. in 2018 (that’s nearly one mass shooting a day).
If the Lord can’t protect us in our own houses of worship, I am happy to watch religious services streamed on the Internet. The stress and anxiety from sitting through a two to three hour service is too much for me.
It’s a different world these days, and just like Amazon.com has shut down many department stores, I believe the new church, synagogue and mosque will live in cyberspace, and most people will go to services the same way they shop, via the internet.
Many will say that by doing this we are raising the white flag and telling the terrorists and nut cases they have won, or is this just part of a new world order and inching closer to the end of times?
•••
James “Kimo” Rosen is a Kapaa resident.
James: “The punishment for mass shooters needs to be extreme and immediate. They need to die by a firing squad.”
Kauaiboy: Immediate? Do not question them to determine their motives and provide them with due process under the law?
James: “Without all the infamy, they will cease.”
Kauaiboy: Do you believe that they are all simply motivated by being named in the papers?
James: Yes, I believe that, just as much as I believe the Lord our God, cannot protect us from these crazies.
Kauaiboy: Then why do you worship a God? Why does anyone worship a God? Worship is a lame crutch used by people who want to bow down to some invisible entity instead of confronting their humanity and the humanity (or lack thereof) by others. Worship has nothing to do with solving our problems. Mo bettah to spend your time doing community service and connecting with others who share humanity, although not your version of a God, with you.
The world is a dangerous place and always has been. If you enjoy your freedoms and rights here in the US, danger will always be present. You can’t have it both ways. Who decides if an alleged mass shooter or criminal is to be immediatly executed? You? The President? Someone else? Who determines this? If a mass shooting occurred in North Korea, for example, the perp would be immediately executed (or worse) with no trial, no due process, no lawyer, no defense; nothing. That’s how dictatorships work. If you don’t want that, you have to let the system or rights and freedoms we have here in the US run it’s course. I empathize and understand, but I’ve never seen a better justice system we have in the US anywhere else in the world, flaws and all. For the system to work, everyone, even the worst scumbags, has to have their day in court or we are no better than some two-bit dictatorship.
“If the Lord can’t protect us in our own houses of worship..”
Kimo… there is YOUR problem right there.
Kimo needs attention again.
Thank your fearless leader for stirring the pot of fanaticism…
Why should he be afraid to worship in his “house of god”, when he believes his “god” is all so powerful that he cannot provide safety for those fools who worship “him”?
Only goes to say the fallacy of such religious non-sense.
If I die worshipping it will be the best way to enter the gates of nirvana. But you James are never going to make it. I pity your faithless existence. Alhamdullilah
Kimo, stop the drama-queening. You’re life isn’t in danger. The “children” thrown off balconies was ONE child thrown off a balcony, and the church shootings and bombings are distant, isolated incidents. You don’t feel safe in your house of worship because you simply don’t want to attend services any more, so you’re looking for lame excuse like “my life is in danger.” Believe me, it’s not, and if you think it is then religion isn’t going to help you out of that psychosis.
No mention of your favorite president who constantly foments hate and division? I guess you have a lot to answer for Kimo!
I feel for you, but don’t believe the hype.
The good people of this earth far out number
the crazies. Very much unlike the world view being
perpetuated by unethical press and the severely ill
among us. One answer, isn’t to hide behind
live streaming substitutes for fellowship, if this
isn’t what you truly want. Another answer, is to stand-by,
seek out and fortify these good folks. Lucky you
live Kauai!
Aloha.
No, no, no, Kimo, “die by firing squad”? You’ve got it all backward. What you need to do is get the shooters BEFORE they commit the crime, à la Tom Cruise in “Minority Report.” That way no innocents are slaughtered and only the guilty are punished. I’m a little surprised that a man of your intellect didn’t think of this before.
Threw the baby off the balcony? That’s easy. Starts at the thought life. Only they or he or she followed through on the thought. What now? Stop that thought from occuring. As the bible says so. Right? Sure. But that’s where it starts.