President Obama was inaugurated on Monday.

In his address, he talked about the noble idea of America. He briefly outlined his hope and dream that together we can achieve a better country so that future generations can enjoy the rich heritage and ideal that is so uniquely American. As I write this column about guns in our nation I could not help but notice the supreme irony in this most festive and lively occasion.

The oath of office was taken while his left hand rested on the Bible of Abraham Lincoln. He was felled by an assassin's bullet in the Ford Theatre.

The invocation was given by Myrlie Evers. Her husband Medgar was killed by gunmen on the front lawn of their home.

Martin Luther King Jr., whose Bible was also used during the ceremony, was alluded to more than once. He - the architect of the "I Have A Dream" speech - lost his life from a rifle shot by James Earl Ray.

As we move forward into our future, we must gain knowledge from our past mistakes and remember:

"It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have," said Will Munny, the character of Clint Eastwood in the movie Unforgiven.

The true tragedy in all of these recent mass killings are all those bright promises so rudely blighted, so untimely cut down.

From Columbine to Newtown, all those gifts, talents and potential so callously wasted and destroyed. They will never see another sunrise, never realize the joys and challenges of living, nor witness the blessings their presence here would have bestowed on or benefited their fellow man.

Time and life, the most precious of all commodities, now forever lost and buried in a hole in the ground.

It is that demonic, hellish, satanic and twisted human beings seem to relish being part of these atrocities and will abide no interference to correct or ameliorate these deplorable circumstances.

The NRA has declared they will resist all efforts to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens.

Keep that in mind as you continue reading.

The very first sin to occur outside of the garden of Eden was murder, the slaying of Abel by his brother Cain. This act of doing in his fellow man quickly evolved into man's favorite occupation.

Indeed, being an arms dealer, weapons provider or merchant of death has proven to be a most lucrative, profitable and popular profession.

The Good Book declares that every imagination of the heart of man is evil continually.

It warns us that his throat is an open sepulchre and his feet run swiftly to shed blood.

Realizing our propensity for causing mayhem, our natural instinct to become blood-thirsty savages, God himself weighed in on the matter.

On tablets of stone written by his own finger and delivered to Moses, God recorded, "Thou shalt not kill."

Without argument, debate or explanation to the contrary, the primary focus and purpose of a gun is to kill or destroy.

Oscar Hammerstein, the great lyricist, pens in one of his memorable tunes," a bell is not a bell unless it is rung. A song is not a song unless it is sung.

Therefore, I say, a gun is not a gun unless it is shot and used to kill somebody or terminate something.

As we continue our rampage throughout the whole earth, the killing fields are sprouting in every village and hamlet.

In our lust and thirst for blood, who knows whether we discarded in those coffins:

The cure for aids,

The remedy for Alzheimers,

The vaccine for cancer,

The next Billy Graham,

The first woman president,

The successor to Mother Teresa,

Only God knows for sure and he is silent.

Without a solution in sight, we must learn and become familiar with this "new normal."

The following sentiment expressed in rural Taft, California, the scene of a latest shooting, will be echoed throughout the land.

We know each other here," said former mayor Dave Noerr. "We drive pickups and work hard and hunt and fish. This is a grassroots town. This is the last place you'd think something like this would happen."

I remind you that the majority of mass murderers were law abiding, ostensibly normal citizens.

So we violently defend our right to bear arms as our protection from some nebulous tyrannical threat.

We continue to allow weapons of mass destruction within easy reach of potential mass murderers.

Our cities and towns everywhere turn into breeding grounds for cold, efficient and effective killers.

We do not learn, we give up as shouts from every rooftop drown our protests as they scream, "This is our legal right."

To cripple any action, we evoke images of Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Cuba and Venezuela and the threat they posed to individual freedom.

Consider this statement from Evan Gold, publisher of Senior Voice America in a recent column about gun control, "It is time to ask ourselves what type of society we want for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren! Are we still the land of the free or the land of the overtaxed and overregulated?"

This perceived, suggested menace to liberty makes us nervous and skittish.

So we cling fiercely to our right to be free and cave in to the demands of the powerful gun lobby.

Never mind that oftentimes we find ourselves "dead" right. The many funerals become acceptable collateral damage to our second amendment privilege.

In the not too distant future, after each ensuing heartache, we must become fully conversant with the response to the poignant question.

"Where have all the young men gone? Gone to graveyards every one."

With the answers seemingly blowing in the wind, if we are not careful, we will hasten the day when we, our dreams, our hopes and our promises turn to ashes all interred in the dirt from whence we came.

V. Knowles is a husband and father with an interest in penning issues that serve to uplift mankind. He melds his love for Classic literature, The Bible and pop culture - as sordid as it may be - into highly relatable columns of truth, faith and justice. Hence the name: Just Thinking. If he's not buried in a book or penning his next column, you may find him pinned to his sectional watching a good old Country and Western flick.