Opposing Sides on the Gun Problem
In the wake of another shooting on Saturday, this one at a mall in Allen, Texas that left nine dead, including the shooter, politicians on both sides of the gun debate immediately issued their talking points in the media. What these elected “leaders” said was entirely predictable. They regurgitate these talking points without much thought because it’s what they always say.
For those advocating for “common sense gun control” (i.e., anti-gun), guns are always the problem. It doesn’t matter the circumstances or the alleged shooter. Personal responsibility is rarely, if ever, assigned to the person who bought the gun and pulled the trigger. There is always someone or something else to blame — Republicans, Fox News, the NRA. In the case of the Allen shooter, the Mainstream Media even floated the idea that the alleged Hispanic shooter was motivated by White Supremacy or neo-Nazi views.
Those who support the 2nd Amendment (i.e., pro-gun) are quick to point out that it’s not the guns, but the people who pull the trigger who are to blame. Mental illness, faulty background checks, or criminals who shouldn’t have a gun in the first place are responsible for gun violence in America. Don’t blame the gun. Ever.
The Middle View on the Gun Problem
If recent surveys are accurate, it would appear that the vast majority of Americans take a middle view when it comes to dealing with the gun problem in our country. That’s where I find myself. For full disclosure, I hunted when I was a kid and I currently own one handgun (a Cobra series 38 special that was inherited) that I have never used. I support the 2nd Amendment but do not belong to the NRA. I’m in favor of universal background checks and keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill using red flag laws, but I am not in favor of banning whole classes of weapons or enacting onerous laws that would effectively gut the 2nd Amendment.
I support gun ownership, but I don’t understand the obsession, bordering on idolatry, that some politicians have with guns. Taking a photo for your family’s Christmas card while holding AR-15s in front of the Christmas tree doesn’t proclaim, “Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” But, hey, that’s just me.
“Thoughts and Prayer are Not Enough” to Solve the Gun Problem
So, how do we tackle the problem of violence, including gun violence, in America? For Christians, it begins with spiritual solutions because, at its core, the problem of guns in America is a heart issue. Now, that’s not what some, particularly on the left, want to hear. In fact, any talk of using spiritual weapons to fight these battles is likely to result in pushback. In response to the latest shooting, President Biden said:
“Too many families have empty chairs at their dinner tables. Republican Members of Congress cannot continue to meet this epidemic with a shrug. Tweeted thoughts and prayers are not enough.”
He is not alone in that sentiment. Many Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have said the same thing in recent days.
The Power of Prayer to Solve the Gun Problem
Whether intended or not, President Biden’s and Rep. Jeffries’ statement that “thoughts and prayers are not enough” seems dismissive of the power of prayer. While we must always “put feet to our prayers,” (faith without works is dead), we must never take prayer lightly or for granted. In fact, I believe that there is more power in prayer than in anything that Congress or the President can do. Scripture reminds us of this truth:
“The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. Elijah was a human being as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit.” James 5:16b-18
I don’t know about you, but prayer that can hold off the rain for 3 1/2 years and then cause the rain to fall again seems pretty powerful. If politicians and people truly believed in prayer — not just giving lip service to prayer’s power — then they wouldn’t appear to treat prayer — and those who pray — with contempt and derision.
It will take people of goodwill on all sides of this issue to take meaningful steps that can begin to address gun violence (including inner-city shootings in major urban areas, not just mass shootings). These steps are a natural complement to prayer, not a substitute for prayer. Without prayer, there will be no power to overcome the evil one and, the death and destruction that he brings upon families and upon our culture.
Violence generally and gun violence specifically acts of evil. Whether these evil acts are perpetrated with a gun, a knife, a car, or a bomb, they can only be overcome with spiritual weapons, including prayer. Unless we can agree on the source of evil — sinful hearts in need of a Savior — then we will never truly solve the problem of evil committed by people with guns. And, we will continue to talk past one another, with our “failure to communicate” standing in the way of ever uniting to fight against the true enemy of the people.
Pastor Scott, I totally agree with your analysis of the problem with gun violence.
I am a life member of the NRA and have been a firearms instructor.
People are the core of the problem, however, there is a heart problem with those who commit these crimes. Prayer is the answer. Prayer has to be earnest and heartful.
Those who commit those crimes could very will have used another weapon, but guns are indeed the most destructive whether it be a pistol, automatic pistol, shotgun, long rifle, or an AR style rifle.
Paul,
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. Guns are definitely destructive when used in these crimes, but, as you say, it is a heart problem that must be solved starting with spiritual weapons like prayer. Hope you are doing well. God Bless.
I DO NOT agree with Red Flag laws. Evil from the pits of Hell. AS for weapons, the majority of murders are by strangling, fists, knives, and handguns. Fists and knives are a large part. Long guns, particularly the misnomered “assault rifle” AR-15, are well-underrepresented in murder by gun. AR-15s / AR-10s / AK-47s are in the distinct minority of gun deaths, but stolen and borrowed revolvers and pistols amount for the most. While we’re at it, let’s not forget murder by arson (we gonna regulate matches?), poison (already regulated but readily available to purchase by anyone), intentional auto deaths by running over people (car is already licensed). You get the point. The problem is the sickness of the heart. We have over 400,000,000 guns in the U.S. owned by over 40,000,000 people. Only a very tiny amount of those guns are used in crime, and often only after being stolen. And I repeat — Red Flag Laws are dumb, and unconstitutional.
Here in Alabama, with my limited investigation and review and making some demographic assumptions, there are between 600,000 and 1.2M gun owners. To make it simple, let’s just call it 900,000 gun owners. Of a population of 5.3M citizens. Of course, our number grows with the increasing illegal immigrants coming to our state.
But I digress . . . . . .
My common statement is that last week, 900,000 gun owners shot no one. And the week before that. And the previous month. And no one in 2022.
My guns gave killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy’s car.
With a few exceptions. Fact is, a very tiny, tiny minority of gun owners (or gun stealers) use a gun in criminal activity. Whether that person used a gun, a knife, his fists, or a car, murder and malicious wounding are still illegal. It ain’t the gun. It’s the person. Guns don’t just “go off.” Purely accidental discharges (as compared to the much more common “negligent” discharges) are exceedingly rare. As any good mentor or NRA Instructor will say, “Do NOT point a gun at anything you’re not willing to shoot or destroy.”
Universal background checks will not work. There is zero efficacy shown in such draconian requirements. Red Flag Laws? You gotta be kidding! Red Flag Laws are unconstitutional and ripe for tyrannical and LEO abuse.
Taking a photo for your family’s Christmas card while holding AR-15s in front of the Christmas tree is just fine with me. It proclaims freedom in a humorous way. I like the AK-47 and the AR-10 family also. Don’t like it? Do your family Christmas card while holding cute little puppies.
We have much precedent for the people to be armed. Anti-2A folks are horribly ignorant of the several decades in the 13 Colonies leading up to Concord and Bunker Hill. It was that timeframe that prepared and attuned the patriots to be ready to take up arms against the Redcoats.
And we have the Magna Carta of 1215, the 25 Barons’ agreement with King John of England. From Item / Section (61):
“If we, our chief justice, our officials, or any of our servants offend in any respect against any man, or transgress any of the articles of the peace or of this security, and the offence is made known to four of the said twenty-five barons, they shall come to us – or in our absence from the kingdom to the chief justice – to declare it and claim immediate redress. If we, or in our absence abroad the chief justice, make no redress within forty days, reckoning from the day on which the offence was declared to us or to him, the four barons shall refer the matter to the rest of the twenty-five barons, who may distrain upon and assail us in every way possible, with the support of the whole community of the land, by seizing our castles, lands, possessions, or anything else saving only our own person and those of the queen and our children, until they have secured such redress as they have determined upon. Having secured the redress, they may then resume their normal obedience to us.
“Any man who so desires may take an oath to obey the commands of the twenty-five barons for the achievement of these ends, and to join with them in assailing us to the utmost of his power. We give public and free permission to take this oath to any man who so desires, and at no time will we prohibit any man from taking it. Indeed, we will compel any of our subjects who are unwilling to take it to swear it at our command . . .”
In other words, the King agreed that if the people convinced at least four of the 25 Barons of breach or security or egregious transgress, having not been resolved in 40 days, that the people / Barons were authorized to take up arms to “assail” the King’s officers and court and to capture land, property, etc., until redress has been secured.
That’s Second Amendment stuff over 500 years before The Revolution. Authorized and agreed by the King.
Look at Esther Chapter 8:
7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he intended to lay hands on the Jews.
8 But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”
9 The king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.
10 And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king’s service, bred from the royal stud,
11 saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods,
12 on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
13 A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies.
14 So the couriers, mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king’s service, rode out hurriedly, urged by the king’s command. And the decree was issued in Susa the citadel.
15 Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.
16 The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor.
(Esther 8:7-16 ESV)
That’s Second Amendment The Jews were authorized to destroy their enemies with the new weapons they were given. Read Chapter 9 to see what happened.
I carry wherever I go, because when seconds count, the cops will be there in minutes. In LA or Chicago? 911 response times are sometimes in hours. I am the militia, and I am the first line of defense for my family, my home, my friends. I don’t bother anyone. So, leave me alone!! Mind your own business, and get your own house in order.