Jane Creba, a 15-year old bystander, was shot to death outside of a sporting goods store in Toronto, Canada on Boxing Day afternoon. While shopping with her family she was caught in an exchange of gunfire between suspected rival gangs.

This innocent teenager's death marked the day when Toronto 'finally lost its innocence,' said police spokesman Savas Kyriacou (BBC News website, Toronto). It also marked a 15-year high for gun violence in Canada's largest city.

Does a nation lose its innocence when its children can't go to school or shop with their parents without risking being shot? I ask that question, as I review some shocking hand gun statistics, not to take sides in the handgun-ownership debate but to consider a much deeper problem.

A lack of self-control is spreading like wildfire in our world today. And gun violence illustrates perfectly the terrible consequences of this enormous decline in personal self-discipline.

Here are more illustrations. A Los Angeles Times article titled "Should Handguns Be Banned?" drew this startling word picture of just gun-related deaths alone more than a decade ago: "In 1992 there were 15,300 gun homicides in the United States. Over the last 25 years, more Americans have died in gun-related murders than were killed in the Vietnam War, the Korean War and World War 1 combined" (October 15,1993).

Despite 12,000 handgun deaths in the United States last year, only 160 or so of these were ruled to have been in self-defense. More than 250 million guns are in public circulation in the US. Guns purchased by law-abiding citizens for 'protection' are increasingly ending up in the backpacks of schoolchildren, the pockets of drug dealers, robbers, gang members or professional thugs. The United States has a well developed national gun culture. Gun violence is now one of its national addictions.

Health concerns are also increasing because of the relationship gun of violence to illegal drug, alcohol and tobacco crimes and turf wars. Victims of gun-related accidents pose health concerns. An eight-year-old boy who had found his father's loaded gun in the hall cupboard took it to a school day-care center near Washington DC. Its accidental discharge, while still inside his backpack, wounded a seven-year-old girl in the arm.

And only three days later a member of Virginia's state legislature, Jack Reid, was apparently trying to unload his automatic handgun when it accidentally discharged. The bullet embedded itself in his bulletproof vest hanging on his office door. Reid described this as a stroke of luck because, if not for the vest, the bullet could have passed through the door and struck his personal assistant! (The Sydney Morning Herald, Michael Gawenda, February 6, 2006).

What is the solution to this escalating problem with violence—especially in a nation like the US that prides itself in personal freedom? How can it be brought under control without taking away those freedoms? Or must some freedoms be restricted? Many countries have already taken that route. They require guns to be registered and restrict them mostly to policemen, members of gun clubs or gun collectors and those in specifically approved occupations.

For example, in Britain, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Switzerland and Japan private citizens generally must get a license and submit to a background check to own a gun. What is most interesting is that handguns killed only 291 people in all of these countries in 1990. The same year in the United States 10,567 people died in gun related incidents (Los Angeles Times, October 15. 1993).

Why are gun-related deaths so significant? They illustrate perfectly the difficulty that we human beings have in using properly the liberties that are granted to us. Liberty to live and work without government oppression—when compared with nations with limited personal freedoms—is a blessing. But liberty in a populace with low self-discipline, as is found in some Africa nations today, rarely produces good results. More is needed.

In the end, it all comes down to the prevailing moral fiber of free citizens. A proverb sums up why this is true: "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law [of God]" (Proverbs 29:18). Too much freedom without a solid foundation in revealed knowledge of divine law leads to an absence of self restraint. Isn't that what we face—a growing loss of innocence due to a character crises.

Belief in the Creator God and deep respect for His revealed word, the Bible leads people to respect the sanctity of life. It also strengthens personal self-discipline. To learn more about how God's law must be the foundation of all good character, be sure to request your free copy of our booklet: The Ten Commandments.