An Army of Children

Carlos Caso-Rosendi

I have a friend who lives in a country far away, a mother of several children , a teacher, a good Catholic, someone acquainted with suffering, someone who walks close to God. It was near January 31, when the Church remembers St John Bosco when she shared with me a vision she had. She was visited by Don Bosco. You surely remember that St John Bosco rescued many poor children from the streets and turn them into good Catholic men. But that was long ago. Nowadays, a good Catholic priest cannot even play ball with a child thanks to the work of Maciel, Geoghan, and company. But I digress … My friend told me the last message Don Bosco gave her:

“The devil is gathering his army. It is an army of children.”

I mentioned that message to a friend. I am glad I did because otherwise I could be accused of making this up! Only a short time later we had the Ash Wednesday shooting in Parkland. Not long after that I was surprised to see high school students marching all over the country for … gun control.

I do not expect children that age to be intellectual giants. I do not even expect them to have common sense but I wish I could ask those kids a few friendly questions to test their grasp of the situation. I grew up in a country where it was nearly impossible to buy a gun. It was not always like that. My own grandfather owned a long gun, (possibly a Colt Peacemaker) a shotgun, and a rifle. He lived most of his life in Western Patagonia where he was a frontier policeman, and a judge. In those days anyone could buy a gun but after the first military coup in 1930, that freedom gradually evaporated. By the 1970’s the freedom to buy guns was greatly curtailed by laws, limitations in caliber, and price. Law enforcement and criminals had guns but most regular citizens didn’t.

Living in the US I was surprised to hear that laws were passed to have schools declared “gun free zones” — “Not wise” I thought, remembering that the children of rich people go to school and they would be a target of kidnappers. I knew of many cases of kidnapping rich kids in Argentina, Italy, France, and Spain in the second part of the 20th century. I remembered the Frank Sinatra Jr kidnapping of many moons ago. Yet it never crossed my mind that some child would obtain a gun and kill other children indiscriminately.  Sadly, it came to pass. The children and teachers in those schools were sitting ducks waiting for some mentally deranged individual to come and shoot them. In time, another “gun free zone” –a cinema theater in Colorado– was the scene of another senseless massacre. Argentines have a popular proverb: “He is crazy but he won’t chew broken glass” or “He may be crazy but he won’t burn his money.” The moral? Even someone who is completely nuts still has some measure of the instinct of self preservation and self interest. None of those crazies tried to shoot the Marine Headquarters in Quantico, or the Main Police Precinct in their hometown. They had enough sense to guess that if they go to a gun free zone instead, they would have enough time to kill some people before they themselves were killed or arrested.

So, let me see if I understand this correctly. The lawmakers of the mighty United States, who are all protected by several rings of nuclear weapons, armed forces, law enforcement, security guards, the U.S. Secret Service, etc. though it was a good idea to remove even the doubt that someone may be armed to protect the students in a school zone. I don’t see the Pope sending the Swiss Guards home, replacing them with a “gun-free zone” poster. The mayors of the big cities of this world, go to work surrounded by a sizable retinue of armed men. The same goes for most members of Congress, even movie stars. If declaring some place a gun free zone was truly expected to deter violence effectively: why weren’t Congress, the White House, and the Pentagon declared gun-free zones. Imagine the savings!

Back to this army of children that materialized all over the country chanting and marching for the elimination of the 2nd Amendment and guns in general. Let me see how they reason:

a) “Schools, theaters, etc. were declared gun-free zones. As a result, we were shot at by crazies. They had enough sense not to go shoot someone who could shoot back at them.” b) “Let us turn the whole country into a gun-free zone.”

I imagine they want to “spread the risk” like insurance companies do. The bigger the pool the less chances they have to get shot. The problem with that line of thinking is, that it may invite the appearance of an even larger pool of crazies who then would have their choice of targets! Who is teaching those kids to think? Could it be the prince of darkness? I wonder if they would accept a glass-shard sandwich for lunch.

During the Iraq-Iran wars, the Iranian army was accused of sending kids in droves to self detonate near the Iraqi army positions. The Iraqi soldiers were forced to kill children to avoid being blown up and that drove many of them insane. It was a mind-boggling diabolical strategy. And now the Progressives have found a way to use kids in a similar way.

I am inclined to believe that we haven’t seen the last of this evil use of children. I am almost convinced that my good friend the visionary, received a true warning from St John Bosco. We have lost enough children to abortion, prostitution, drugs, cults, porn, and a myriad of other vices. We have to try to rescue those who can still be rescued. And we have to guard them well not only against crazy shooters but mainly against the darts and snares of the devil. We have to teach this entire generation to put aside those smart phones and try some smart thinking instead. God help us.

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
Mark 10:13-15

Please remember to pray for (and if possible donate to) this ministry during Lent season.