The Florida school shooting has been on all of our minds and a weight on our hearts. This is one of many tragic events, and unfortunately, it will not be the last. While many on both sides of the political aisle want a quick solution, usually involving more or less gun control, I think we need to better understand the root causes. We need to understand that when we no longer honor God and His laws, we cannot honor our neighbor or ourselves.

Many argue that gun control is the solution to end mass shootings. But I would like to ask two questions. One, are we allowed to bring guns into schools? Two, is it lawful to murder another person? The answer to both of these questions is no.

We already have laws to prevent school shootings. So, why do we think that making more laws and restrictions will solve the problem? Criminals do not follow the law. Banning certain types of guns and ammunition will not stop a criminal from committing a crime. They will find other means to harm people. Heaping law upon law does not protect us from what is evil, and it actually can protect criminals by weakening law-abiding citizens’ freedom. One person’s evil actions should not influence laws created for the many.

We live in a society that does not value the beautiful and inviolable gift of life. If you have an unwanted, unborn baby, you can kill her. If it is too hard to care for an older person, you can euthanize him. If your wife gets cancer, you can leave her. If you are depressed, you can take your own life. Life is an expendable burden.

Our culture, our celebrities, and amusements do nothing to up-build our society. The same people telling us to ban guns are surrounded by armed guards. Our movies and video games glorify violence, and the action is only becoming more realistic. Watching violence on-screen will inevitably make you desensitized to real life violence. If we are honest with ourselves, how desensitized are we by simply watching the news? We skim through atrocities on our news feeds and on the ticker tape.

In addition to these horrible influences, we live in a society without fathers in the home. I am raising five boys. Boys have a lot of power, but little direction, and they need someone to help them with the steering. It is our job as dads to steer our children in the right direction.

The only solution that offers hope to this grim situation, a steering wheel for our society, if you will, is an honor code. An honor code that says, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not commit adultery, and thou shalt honor thy mother and father. The words may seem old-fashioned, but our human nature does not change. When we used to live by this honor code, in the 1950s and 1960s, you could buy all the guns and ammo you wanted. Kids even brought their guns to school and went hunting or shooting after school. What has changed?

We have banned God and his honor code from our schools. We have replaced calls to honor with participation awards and ease. We forget that one day, each of us will be judged by our actions.

I think that a good first step in the right direction is not only teaching math, reading and history in schools, but also that all life is sacred. We must respect each other, if we do not, it is not man’s laws we have to worry about but Hell. I am sure that teaching this in school could be offensive. If we taught students this sense of honor, love and duty, I daresay we would see a lot less of these tragic shootings.

To even go a step further, I think that we need to talk about purity and modesty. Some in our culture would argue that pornography and seeking personal pleasure wherever we can find it are acceptable. Children now are being exposed to hardcore pornography as young as 12 years old. This is a different type of violence that still attacks human dignity and promotes violence.

If we want our schools to be in order, we must first order our homes and families. Turn off the pornography and violent video games. Pray with your family and be present to them.

It is time to stop placing man’s law above God’s law, and once this is in order, we will see less school shootings and less talk about banning guns. Because the decision to kill someone is made long before pulling the trigger. We need to believe in honor again and the duty to protect the dignity of each person.