By John Lee Hurt.

“When will America get with the gun program?”

“When will Republicans care about lives outside the womb as much as they care about those in?”

“When will gun violence end?”

“It works for Europe and Australia, and now it’ll work for New Zealand.”

These are the ideas we hear every time there’s a mass shooting. This time it was in New Zealand.

Before I go any further, let me make something very clear. No person should be targeted because of their faith, and their house of worship should always be a safe place.

Europe is often seen as the leader in modern gun control. According to a 2016 article by “The Guardian,” there were two major shootings that lead to the U.K.’s ban on semiautomatic rifles and pump action shotguns.

That, of course, quickly dropped the gun violence rates in the U.K., or said to at least, and over time the gun bans became stricter.

According to another article by “The Guardian” from April 2018, gun and knife violence rose.

The article said that knife violence increased by 22 percent in 2017 and that there were 668 homicides including 35 people in terror attacks in London and Manchester.

Despite these statistics, gun violence still happens enough so that the rate is rising.

Where guns are restricted, knife violence happens.

Of those 668 people killed by knives, does it make grieving their deaths easier because it wasn’t a gun?

The terror attacks of London and Manchester are important in the gun violence debate. Unfortunately, evil people will find a way to do evil things. The Manchester attack was a suicidal bomber.

I hate to tell my fellow conservatives who are “Tactical Teds” that you can’t really defend against a bomber like you can a shooter.

London has had 10 terrorist attacks, from driving vehicles into crowds to car bombs to knives.

Evil people will find a way to be evil.

That’s just one country, right?

The Berlin Truck Attack happened in Germany on Dec. 19, 2016. According to the “Washington Post,” Germany has some of the strictest gun laws in the world.

Evil still happened.

Boston’s official government website has a copy of the ordinance banning assault weapons. Dated at the bottom of that letter is “Approved Dec. 15, 1989,” but the Boston Marathon bombings happened in 2013.

The problem never has been, and never will be, firearms. The problem is evil. Sick people have no regard for human life.

Don’t let people sell you into fear. Know the truth and decide on your own. Be smart in your decisions.