We are failing our children.

The latest reminder of our failure happened in Uvalde, Texas. A troubled young man, Salvador Ramos, took two semi-automatic rifles he had purchased into Robb Elementary School. He proceeded to kill nineteen children, most of them nine to ten years old, and two teachers described as the “cornerstones of the school.” Prior to this act of violence, he shot his grandmother in the face and posted on Facebook his intentions.

People all over the world are offering “thoughts and prayers.” This is important. We should pray. But James, Jesus’ brother said, “Faith without works is dead.”

According to one news report, Salvador Ramos’ favorite video games were “Call of Duty” and “Fortnight.” While science has not proved a causal link between violent “shooter” games and gun violence, is this really what you want male adolescents to learn? It is one thing to take a child into the woods with a gun and hunt. Such lessons are valuable; a child learns about life and death. Blood is real. Death means no return. I learned those lessons as a child. It was hammered into me a gun is an effective but dangerous tool. But a video game creates a fuzzy reality, where death only lasts until the next game. If you have a point-of-view shooter game in the house and your children are under the age of eighteen, take a hammer and smash those games. Endure the whining and the fits that will follow. Your child’s mind is too precious to damage.

Salvador Ramos was known as a troubled soul. He was bullied in High School. His mother was a drug user. Though politicians claim there is mental health treatment available for kids like Salvador, those who have tried to access public mental health treatment know the long waits for appointments, the overloaded caseworkers, and the lack of follow-up care. No one wants higher taxes, but if we do not fund public mental health adequately, we can expect another kid like Salvador to fall through the cracks and kill people.

News stories have made no mention of Salvador Ramos’ father. So far, no youth group leader, no pastor has stepped forward to say, “Salvador attended our church.” I am not trying to blame the churches and pastors of Uvalde, or even his dad. But where, exactly, do we expect our children to learn to make moral decisions? In school? We flood our screens with violence in the name of entertainment and then expect children to know right and wrong. If you are a parent, and even if you are not sure there is a God, can I beg you to please take your children to church? We cannot undo the eight hours a day your kids spend in front of a screen, but we can teach them about moral decisions, about right and wrong. If you won’t take your kids to church, then figure out a moral framework you can teach them yourself. One thing the Uvalde shootings proved again: if right and wrong is not taught by someone, right and wrong will not be lived out by the one who needs to be taught.

There are now simple devices that can prevent entry into a classroom by an active shooter. Every classroom in America should have one. Every school in America should have a school resource officer for every 200 students. Will it cost more? Yes. Is the cost worth the lives of children? Yes. You cannot claim to be pro-life and stop protecting children as soon as they leave the safety of the womb.

Our teachers deserve to be protected. My daughter-in-law teaches school. She does not receive hazardous duty pay. No matter your opinion on public or private schools, can we agree that every child and every teacher in America deserves a safe school to attend. We cannot cut funding for education, place teachers in harmful environments, and then wonder why teachers are abandoning their profession in droves. Our children deserve teachers who can teach without fear of attack.

A few days after his eighteenth birthday, Salvador Ramos legally bought an AR-15 style semi-automatic weapon and 375 rounds of ammunition. I do not wish to argue second amendment rights, but can we agree an eighteen-year-old has no business owning a gun like that? Science tells us the male brain does not fully mature to the point of understanding long-term consequences until age twenty-five. The right to bear arms is matched with the responsibility to bear arms. If you are gun owner, like I am, make sure your guns are locked up and inaccessible to those who should not have them. If you buy and sell guns, foreswear a sale to someone who has no business owning a gun.

Some of you reading this may think a simple Baptist preacher has no business writing about such things. “Stick to the Bible,” you say. Okay, I will. Jesus said, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” To theological nitpickers, I am aware that Jesus is talking about those who believe in him. But as the context of Matthew 18 makes clear, he is also talking about children. Killing a child, being complicit in helping someone kill a child, causes them to stumble, don’t you think? The thought of a millstone being hung around my neck and being cast in the sea is enough to make me stop and think about my actions, my words. I do not want to fail the children anymore.

There is much division in our country. I cannot pretend to fathom how to heal all the fault lines. But for God’s sake, let us stop failing the children. Whatever it costs, whatever we must do, let us stop failing the children. I know that is what Jesus wants us to do.