To hear Republicans tell it, the cause of American gun violence is crazy people, and they have called for renewed emphasis on mental health treatment. But it’s going to be a long haul. We can’t even keep crazy people from running for office.

Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee, where several more grade-schoolers were recently sacrificed to freedom, pins the blame squarely on Evil, so we’ll need prayers and legislation to get God in on the fight, although He has shown no particular interest so far.

I would have assumed the percentage of homicidal maniacs in any given society would be about the same worldwide, but evidence shows we have far more than our share. There’s no other possible explanation for our marked superiority in the field of citizen carnage. Is there?

No. Our chronic little problem with child massacre may be regrettable but it’s a natural consequence of our blessed freedoms. In America we are not told what to think or do, unless we’re in school, or unless we’re pregnant, or both. Mandatory childbirth, in fact, is a valid public health stratagem, since pregnant women and girls are rarely implicated in mass murder events.

In fact, women in general underperform in violent crime, which leads some to suggest that men are the problem, but that is faulty reasoning. Women need to smile more and demand less because when young men lose their natural channels for domination and aggression they’re more likely to express their rights in an uninfringeable manner.

So the only thing we can possibly do to prevent mass murder in the land of the free is focus on mental health, and in order to do that we must start with the very young. To raise healthy adults we must make sure our kids aren’t taught anything icky that might make them feel bad or inferior, unless of course they’re queer, or in some other way actually inferior, and the less said about that the better.

And they must never be taught about climate change, which only makes them anxious; reassuring them we’ll never run out of coal and the heat will always be on will make them feel secure.

And under no circumstances should they be allowed to think for themselves. Their little brains are not equipped for reason; it confuses them. Their minds belong to their parents lock stock and barrel until they’re eighteen, and sometimes to one of their classmates’ parents. The key is to keep it simple, starting with the Ten Commandments. (Exceptions for grownups can be made later for #2, #3, #4, #8, and sometimes #7 if they’re not getting any at home.)

The woke mob believes the key to mental health is empathy, and that’s what they say they’re trying to develop in young children when they tell them they can be any sex they want to be. The woke mob says they’re merely trying to give queer and transgender youth a safe space so they don’t kill themselves when they’re teenagers, and to teach regular children to be tolerant of others, but the world would be a lot safer if they just took the doctor’s word for it when they came out the chute and stuck with it. Trans and queer folk incite violence by existing.

Make no mistake, empathy and tolerance are the enemy of certitude, and certitude keeps us free. There’s no Empathetic without Pathetic. If we want tolerance, we should make sure we are always surrounded by people who are just like us.

And of course the number one way to promote mental health is to drill the tots in active shooter drills, because learning how to protect yourself in this world is empowering. Teach them to play dead and be quiet, which is also a useful tactic if a rogue teacher starts going woke. Give them the tools to survive and they’ll calm right down.

Children are our greatest treasure, a gift from God and a number of Republican legislatures. They should be wrapped in the love of Jesus, the protection of the State, and Kevlar.