Franklin Graham – the well-known evangelist and son of equally famous Billy Graham – chastised President Barack Obama for executive actions announced at the White House this week that seek to further restrict the purchase and sale of firearms. Graham wrote an open letter on Facebook that Obama is “looking at the wrong place when it comes to the root cause of gun violence.” The real problem, wrote Graham, is in the human heart.

 

Graham wrote in the January 6 missive, “You can take all the guns in America and put them in a pile on the Mall in Washington D.C., and those guns will stay there and will eventually rust and decay.” He continued, saying, “Not one gun will crawl out of that pile and shoot or harm anyone. It takes a human being, and a human heart bent on evil, to pick up a gun, load it, and pull the trigger.”

 

Graham has begun his 'Decision America' preaching tour of the United States, promising to visit every state capital during a crucial presidential election year. The evangelist asserted that government has taken God out of its decision-making and that the whole country is assailed by sin and sinners.

 

Graham echoed other critics of Obama’s proposals, who have called on Hollywood and videogame producers to rein in violent movies, song lyrics, and videogames. “Our founding fathers certainly did not intend this to happen. Your proposal will do nothing to stop the violence that is being glorified by Hollywood,” he said. “Every night the networks, movie channels, and theaters are filled with programming that glamorizes gun violence — guns are used to shoot, to kill, and to splatter human blood all over screens across America.” He called for legislation to curb the depiction and glorification of violence.

 

Graham, who is president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, proposed that significant taxes be placed on the makers of films and games that include graphic violence. He ventured to predict the following: “If violent films and games were taken off the shelves, I believe we would see a dramatic drop in gun violence over the next few years.”

 

The result of having “turned our back on God,” said Graham, is violence and bloodshed.

 

Here follows the text of Graham’s letter:

 

Mr. President, you’re looking at the wrong place when it comes to the root cause of gun violence. Your executive actions will do nothing to change this horrific problem. You can take all the guns in America and put them in a pile on the Mall in Washington DC, and those guns will stay there and will eventually rust and decay. Not one gun will crawl out of that pile and shoot or harm anyone.

 

It takes a human being, and a human heart bent on evil, to pick up a gun, load it, and pull the trigger. The problem we have in this country is sin. We have a government that has taken God out of society. Our founding fathers certainly did not intend this to happen.

 

Your proposal will do nothing to stop the violence that is being glorified by Hollywood. Every night the networks, movie channels, and theaters are filled with programming that glamorizes gun violence—guns are used to shoot, to kill, and to splatter human blood all over screens across America.

 

There needs to be legislation to curb this. I would propose starting with a heavy tax on the manufacturers of any film or game that graphically depicts violence. If violent films and games were taken off the shelves, I believe we would see a dramatic drop in gun violence over the next few years.

 

As a nation we have turned our back on God and this kind of violence and bloodshed is a result. The Bible tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). The only cure? Jesus Christ. That’s what will make a difference in our nation.