You’ve all seen the headlines haven’t you? It goes something like this. First, there is a mass shooting in some part of main street USA. People die. Children die. Always, always, children get caught in the shooter’s cross-hairs until the shooter is brought down or else, takes his own life.
Then there is the aftermath. Mass shootings always bring the issue of gun control to the forefront. It’s like a nightmarish math formula really.
First the child dies or perhaps many children and/or teens die. Then the victim’s families and others petition for more gun regulation or to abolish the 2nd amendment.
Then, this is met with the gun lobby/advocates who argue that the issues of gun violence have nothing to do with gun ownership but rather such acts of violence are caused by mental illness and the lack of oversight or the irresponsibility of those in close relationships with the shooter.
So What Does a Gun Have To Do With God?
While arguments can be made that more illegal guns than legal guns are used in mass shootings, the fact remains that much of mainstream America still believes that every citizen has the right to own a weapon. Why? There are essentially 3 reasons.
- Owning a gun is necessary to protect their home from criminals.
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- While owning a gun may seem like an obvious “fix” to protect your house, statistics tell a somewhat different story. Here is an article link that presents evidence to the contrary.
- The U.S. Constitution grants every citizen the right to bear arms and to protect oneself and one’s family by any means necessary is a fundamental right within a free state.
- Here are two articles which provide some perspective on the difference between the original wording of the 2nd amendment and the way it is understood today. There is some confusion surrounding this topic and understandably so. The reason for so much disagreement over gun ownership and gun control stems from the original wording and intent of the right to bear arms which pertained to militias and protection of the state. However, this wording took a punch in the 20th century during a 2008 District of Columbia vs Heller case where ordinary citizen gun ownership was deemed distinct from any references to militias.
- The right to bear arms was founded in Biblical law or else, many believe there is no difference herein between secular law vs Biblical law and paradigms regarding arming oneself.
So, what does the Bible really say about the right to bear arms?
In order to really answer this question, we need to first, concisely talk about national law vs Biblical law. Most developed nations on the Earth are not ruled under Biblical ideology. And, with respect to our “secular”, yes, secularly governed USA, neither the US Constitution, nor any amendments are Christian documents. It sometimes surprises many Americans to learn that there is not even a single mention of God in the Constitution nor in its amendments.
So why do so many Christians still blend Biblical law with national law?
Many Christians as well as others are not clear on the difference between a secular nation vs the Biblical treatment of what a nation is.
In the secular world, a nation is a sovereign and secular entity whose purpose is to organize and protect both its citizens and resources. The confusion over the concept of “nations” within Biblical doctrine emanates from the ambiguous or inconsistent treatment of the word “nation” within the good book.
Per BibleGateway.com, the word “nation” is mentioned 599 times in both the Old and New Testament in the New American Standard Bible. But it is important for us to understand that the Bible makes clear distinctions between God and nations. A nation is not a Godly creation. A nation is typically described in relation to tribes and what later came to be described as city-states. There are numerous confirmations that “nations” are treated separately from tribes and believers. Here are but a few Biblical quotes on this topic.
Genesis 10:31
These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations.
Genesis 10:31
These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.
Genesis 15:14
But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.
Other times, a “nation” is used interchangeably with people of a given faith. For example, we see numerous mentions of the “nation of Israel” within the Bible.
A clear understanding of “nations” is important when we consider that the Bible references many instances where the arming of oneself is allowable in order to safeguard one’s life. But here is where the confusion begins.
The Bible doesn’t explicitly refer to taking arms to safeguard any secular nation. The Bible never, for example, states that anyone must take up arms to protect any king or kingdom. Why? Because for Christianity, there is really no nation other than the one in which God holds dominion.
We must remind ourselves that the modern nations and borders were not determined within any sort of Christian or other religious mandate. I reiterate this here because the Bible, likewise, by default, cannot be aligned with “arming” oneself to protect any nation of man-made design.
So, why are so many Christians still supporting the National Rifle Association and the sales of assault weapons?
So here is the very slippery debate slope on this. Think about it. It’s really a matter of extremes and dollars.
Gun manufacturers think nothing of maximizing their revenues and selling all allowable guns including “extreme weapons” such as assault rifles. An “extreme weapon” can be defined as a weapon that exceeds the threshold of providing reciprocal gunfire in one’s defense.
Let’s stop for a moment and consider the following.
When one is under attack, one can return fire to stop the attack. However, how does an assault rifle fit in here? An assault rifle is just that. It is intended to wage war. It is a military grade weapon that far exceeds the needs of personal safety and protection.
So when, the co-mingling, polarizing warped mantra of the gun lobby begins singing or lauding that the right of every American is to carry a gun is mandated by God, it is no better than the ignorant extremists elsewhere in the world pointing rifles at the sky, firing off a couple of rounds and promising to wage war in the name of Allah. Why? Because both gestures are completely unholy and un-Godly.
Let us consider what kind of guns are being sold legally in America today. While the vast majority of gun sales are handguns/pistols at 6.2 million manufactured annually within the USA alone, rifles, including automatic rifles, are right behind them with approximately 3.6 million rifles manufactured. Included in such sales of automatic rifles is the now infamous AR-15. I say “infamous” because the AR-15 assault rifle has been present in several noteworthy mass shootings in the past several years. How is any AR-15, for example, solely a weapon for personal safety, hunting or target practice? An AR-15 can fire between 45-60 rounds per minute. Such a rifle has one and only one purpose and it is by no means intended to safeguard anyone’s life.
Now let’s consider the issue of illegal interstate gun trafficking in the U.S. In a 2000 report, per the Director of the Bureau of Alchohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Bradley Buckles states that “Virtually every crime gun in the United States starts off as a legal firearm,”. Thus, it’s not a question of illegal gun smuggling but this controllable gun problem is not well under control.
And, sadly, this is America’s never-ending stain. The thinking that any and all of our citizens can possess a gun and hold dominion over life and death at the pretext of “stay out of my neighborhood and out of my country” is absolutely not Christian in principle nor in thought. There is really only one nation or city that should matter for any Christian.
St. Augustine once famously wrote about the “City of God”. However, many centuries later, so many Christians fail to understand what “city” we should really be living in and what rights we really have to bear.
Postscript: Mass shootings…Where Do We Go From Here?
Mass shootings have been an ongoing national tragedy that sadly shows no sign of relenting. And, while arguments can be made that it is not solely a gun-ownership issue because such crimes relate to other criminal activity and/or the actions of the mentally disturbed individuals, we simply can’t ignore that there are human faces to victims who are intentionally gunned down or else caught in the crossfire.
The issue of the “right to bear arms” remains a “ping-pong” political issue that often seems to deafen its ear to the victims of its judicial inaction.
Here is a visual poem I created on this topic that may put some further context on who is actually being victimized by our collective American “stain” of indifferent witness.
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