On the morning of July 30th, a tragic, cold-blooded attack was carried out on a gay pride parade through the streets of Jerusalem. In a sharp detour from the rash of other hate crimes that have devastated us, enraged us, and ignited debate among us recently, this bigot used a knife to commit his crime instead of a gun. Gasp! Who know this was even possible? One can be prejudiced and bigoted without terrorizing people with a firearm? Unfortunately, yes. While I agree with those that say we need to make it tougher to acquire a gun, a gun is not the only way for hateful people to carry out their terrible deeds. I am a firm believer that hate is not confined to the physical entity of a gun, a knife, a baseball bat, or any other weapon. Hate is of the heart and the soul and the mind, and one who hates will find a way to inflict pain, devastation, and heartbreak through whatever medium they can get their hands on--whether it's a gun, knife, or their own two hands.
Some folks argue that we should make it tougher for convicted criminals to get guns. Great! I agree. But, in the case of Yishai, this man committed literally the exact same crime at the exact same event 10 years ago. Yes, you read that correctly--this sick man stabbed three people at a gay pride parade 10 years ago and did 10 years behind bars for it. And he still wasn't deterred from doing it again.
Assailant Yishai Shlissel as he attempts to attack a parade-goer.
Again, to those that say convicts shouldn't have access, or at least restricted access, to guns: I wholeheartedly agree. We must do anything and everything in our power to keep these sick and violent people from getting their hands on a weapon. But we can only do so much, we can only restrict their access to so many things. But this man is living, breathing, hateful proof that all the background checks and regulations in the world will not prevent hateful people from carrying out these sort of attacks if they really want to. One would think that maybe 10 years in a cage would soften this man's stance toward homosexuals , or at least make him stop and think, "hey, maybe I shouldn't go do the same thing that landed me in here."
My point is that we must stop treating the weapons as if they are the ones at fault in these acts. Guns are not firing at their own accord. It is a thought, rooted deep in the heart and mind of a hater, that tells an eye to take aim and orders a finger to squeeze the trigger that takes the life of an innocent churchgoer in Charleston. Knives do not slice murderously through the air toward the vital organs of their targets-- it is a thought, warped and twisted by our slandering of and prejudice toward minority groups and communities, that tells a hand to clench a knife and orders an arm to swing it at an innocent activist walking in a gay pride parade.
I fear that as time passes, we will look back on these tragedies-- Aurora, Charleston, Lafeyette, this stabbing and lose sight of the big picture. These massacres are more than just keywords. I mean, the Lafeyette shooting is already out of the news. Hell, some of you reading this may not even know what I'm talking about and that is part of the problem. Just because some loss-of-life quota wasn't filled doesn't mean these attacks are not worth our attention. Aurora is not more tragic than Charleston because more people died, and Charleston is not more tragic because it was racially charged. Lafeyette is not more tragic than the stabbing in Jerusalem because people lost their lives, and Jersualem's stabbing is not more divisive because it was directed at the gay community.
These incidents are about more than just how easily people can get their hands on a weapon. Stopping these people from acquiring weapons is the short term problem, but going forward, I hope that we focus more on condemning the hateful thoughts of the people who commit the crimes. If we can snuff out the biased causes these haters shed blood for, if we can eliminate the thoughts that pull the triggers of hate as well as the opportunity that trigger presents, only then will we truly know peace in this country and in the rest of the world.
