October 4 2023: Hollywood morality, 2nd Amendment, Who sings hymns?, Government Shutdowns, Liquor sales in Utah cities, President Oaks

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Mailbag:
One listener wrote: I come from Seattle but I finally moved out of the state after the crime became too much to ignore. Property crime ranks amongst the highest in the city and its suburbs in the US https://www.safehome.org/resources/crime-statistics-by-state/ If you live there you can almost expect your car to be at risk of burglary and/or theft. My car got broken into a three times a year. My house has been burglarized twice. I had homeless people living in the woods in my backyard.
Another listener asks, “Sam, you definitely listen to music, watch films and tv that is produced by and performed by all manner of sinful, degenerate people The music and Hollywood industries are ripe with sin and law breaking. Is it not hypocritical to judge Matt for watching the Cosby show? Do you abstain from all media unless it is produced by motab or the Deseret Management Corporation?
One last listener question is about the 2nd amendment. They ask, “Don’t we want the world’s largest armed militia in order to check the powers that government and politicians have? Someone mentioned that guns are irrelevant to a government who has tanks and fighter jets…sure, a gun loses to a tank one-on-one but 300 million guns wouldn’t! Our government and perhaps other countries are deterred by the fact that this country has a strong citizen militia of over 300 million guns. Don’t we want that?”

• Armed citizens aren’t very good at stopping active shooters. In the last decade armed citizens only helped out in 4-14% of active shooter scenarios.
• Infantry are notoriously inaccurate marksmen, so the military is developing rifles with computerized fire control for improved accuracy. The US military does not fear an armed citizenry and they haven’t since the Civil War.

The Thought Provoker:
Shawn is first. “The new Church Hymn book will be released between 2024 and 2030. The project started in 2018. Music participation in the church has been in decline for a long time! It has gotten quite bad. Is this a reflection of our general enthusiasm for public church worship or could it be a result of an outdated hymnal that no longer inspires in modern society?
Next up, Matt: Once again the Republicans in the House are going to shut down the federal government. Just after the last federal government shutdown ended in 2019, I did a little survey to see how people who work for the federal government were affected. 25% of federal employees were forced to work without pay. 56% of employees reported increased stress from the shutdown, and 26% said that they did not have enough money in savings to pay their bills during the shutdown. Although most of them get reimbursed after the shutdown ends, it seems immoral to me for our government to force people to work and to not give them the money to pay their bills right away. Is it morally wrong for the Republicans to keep shutting down the government?
Finally, Sam: “Do members of the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints have a moral obligation to support or challenge laws that uphold the Word of Widsom and LDS Church standards? (Prohibition on Alcohol and Force Closure of Retail Businesses on Sunday) https://www.abc4.com/news/wasatch-front/high