Gun Appreciation Day 2013

                                 "Living by Faith... and Firearms"
                                                             January 20, 2013

I have been asked to comment on yesterday's Gun Appreciation Day from a Christian perspective.  I must confess I didn't know there was such a thing! G.A.D. comes on the heals of President Obama's and V.P. Biden's impassioned pleas for Congress to severely restrict gun ownership. They even threatened to bypass Congress with Executive Orders should our elected officials fail to heed their demands.  Some balance is in order.  The tragedy of Sandy Hook has provided the "crisis" to push for gun control, again.  Pundits have railed against "vigilantes" with assault rifles spraying bullets all over the place.  Others argue that the Second Amendment allows either for a state militia, or guns for hunting and other sports, but not for citizen's self-defense.  Specifically, gun control advocates want to eliminate automatic and semi-automatic weapons; outlaw magazines over ten bullets; and extend waiting periods.  I am not convinced that Congress should do any of these.  Such a knee-jerk reaction is usually based on three arguments:
  1. Citizens do not need weapons for protection, as most of us will never encounter a violent criminal. 
  2. Citizens can rely on Police for protection, or stay out of high-risk areas.
  3. Citizens are not able to use firearms effectively and will do more harm than good with a gun.
As to the first argument I must state that self-defense is a Biblical value.  Owning and lawfully using a firearm is a social responsibility! 
         "Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual...
         Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly 
         defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us."
                              John Hancock, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
If guns do not help in stopping crime or protecting lives then why do Police care them?  Why are Obama and Biden surrounded by armed guards?  Why do virtually all celebrities have bodyguards?  Because they know what I know...guns protect people from harm.  Rom. 13:4 tells us the government does not "bear the sword in vain."  that word for "sword" is the same word Jesus used in Mt. 26:52, "Then said Jesus unto him [Simon Peter], put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."  The context is the Garden of Gethsemane, the scene of our Lord's arrest.  Immediately before this in the parallel passage of Lk. 22:36, Jesus told his disciples to "arm themselves with a sword."  It is clear God preaches self-defense.  We can never "bring in God's kingdom by violence" but we can certainly defend ourselves while in Satan's kingdom.  In 1994 The National Crime Victimization Survey revealed that 83% of Americans are victims of violent crime sometime during their lifetime. Which leads us to the second argument.
It is impossible to expect the Police to protect everyone all the time.  And they are not duty bound to do so. The Police typically arrive afterwards in the hope of gathering enough information to catch the perpetrator.  They hardly every stop a felony in action.  They make no guarantees that they can protect society from evil-doers. It is their job to bring them to justice.  I am responsible to protect myself, and my family, as best I can.  
Finally, it is true that guns are potentially lethal.  But in the 2.5 million uses annually between 1988-93 only 8% of the defensive gun use resulted in a shot being fired and only 3% of those were fatal.  In 92% of the cases merely brandishing the firearm was enough to stop the attacker.  Obviously there is no substitute for knowing how to safely use a gun and training your family to do the same.  Eliminating semi-automatic weapons makes it more likely that a victim will miss his target, as will limitations on magazine capacity, in the panic of the moment.  Extending the waiting period is useless as well as dangerous.  Three weeks will do no more in revealing mental illness than 1 week did in the case of Sandy Hook.  Furthermore, any person threatened by an estranged spouse (or other threat) who has to wait 3 weeks for a gun is a sitting duck.  These are all window dressing for what gun controllers really want: total elimination of sales and confiscation of ownership. 
Many have asked me, "What is a Christian to do?"  I have wrestled with this question a long time.  Here is my position that I believe is rational, legal, and Biblical.  Congress should refuse to pass Obama's gun regulations now and forever; Congress should act on impeachment if our duly elected officials infringe our Second Amendment rights; Christians should never forfeit their rights to keep and bear arms by surrendering their guns, ever!  Any law that violates natural law is no law at all.  We have a Constitutional Republic, not a Monarchical Dictatorship.  May God help us. 

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