Crime is raging across the country. Crime is not only soaring; it is becoming commonplace. Crime is occurring with such regularity it actually and sadly seems to be routine. Even worse is the senseless violence that is pervading even petty crimes. There is a recent gruesome video of a cell phone thief callously shooting his victim when the victim refused to give up his password. The dread of crime and very real fear of random violence is compounded by all too frequent mass shootings. Remorseless killers blithely slaughter innocent people for ridiculous slights, gang rituals, greed, racial hatred, or just apathetic evil.

Crime is worst in blue cities and states with the strictest gun control. Mass shootings are also worse in areas with strict gun control because an unarmed populace are simply sitting ducks; they can't defend themselves and there are no good guys with a gun to intervene. Crime is certainly less in areas where the citizens are armed, but leftist politicians ignore that reality and clamor for gun control with every tragic incident.

Despite the failures of gun control, the cries for more gun control are incessant, but those calling for it are the same political hacks who enthusiastically support corrupt district attorneys that insidiously refuse to enforce the law and prosecute lower-level crimes. Those DAs literally allow and even facilitate lawlessness and then despicably feign shock when crime increases, but then they cynically twist the carnage they fostered as an excuse to impose gun control. It’s quite apparent that law and order is not their objective. The leftist goal always has been gun control.

The unceasing crescendo of crime and vile random violence is shaking the foundations of American society. Americans are acutely afraid and rightly restless for solutions, so with pervasive and persistent crime, could Americans at some point resign themselves to gun control as inevitable? That’s the unvarnished leftist goal. Create enough chaos so the people demand relief at any cost.

At some point, does gun control make sense? The short answer is a qualified yes. When the people themselves become so corrupt and hopelessly immoral that they can no longer govern themselves, they need a heavy hand to maintain order and protect them from one another. When the citizens become irresponsible, they neither deserve nor can they handle freedom and all its requisite privileges.

As John Adams wrote: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” A free people can only manage freedom if they are moral and imbued with the sense of justice prescribed in the Word of God. God created us to be free, but He gave us commandments on how to maintain our freedom. If we ignore His divine guidance, an immoral, unruly people require masters. That is the path to servitude; and that is the sinister strategy of American leftists.

It is no coincidence that leftist DAs are promoting lawlessness by not prosecuting certain crimes. It’s also purposeful that our mental healthcare system has been eviscerated, putting a multitude of mentally troubled people on our streets. Drug legalization efforts are intended to encourage self-indulgence over self-discipline. This is about usurping the power of free people to govern themselves. To attain tyrannical power, leftists must enslave the people, and only an immoral, unvirtuous people will submit, so leftists are actively and aggressively cultivating moral decay and the decline of American society. That’s the plan.

The Second Amendment is the cornerstone of American freedom. It enshrines the right of a free people to defend themselves because they can regulate themselves. To surrender the Second Amendment is to forfeit freedom; it is essentially giving up on Americans as being moral and capable of self-government.

Do not be fooled. Do not accept the leftist ruse that gun control is the only path to peace and security. Leftists can only be right if We The People abandon our morality and faith.

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13).

Pete Riehm is the host of Common Sense Radio heard 8 pm every Thursday on FMTalk106.5 or streaming at fmtalk1065.com. Email him at peteriehm@bellsouth.net or on MEWE @PeteRiehm or read all his columns at http://www.renewamerica.com/.