Can we move from the fear driven debate over guns to love?

Laws are external reflections of broader, underlying social values. The debates over gun laws provoked by tragedies, such as happened this week in Connecticut are the symptom of a deep ambivalence in our society. We want assured security, which is impossible. So we are afraid, and when we respond out of fear, we almost always make the wrong decision.

 

Some folk try to assuage their insecurity by owning guns in the illusory belief that guns will protect them, ignoring the reality that those guns are more of a threat to them and those they love than to a potential criminal. We don’t take seriously Jesus’ words, “Those who live by the sword (gun) will die by the sword (gun).” (Matthew 26:52) Others seek an equally illusory security in laws that are not respected by those with violent intent. Laws may control the behavior of most people, but they cannot determine the character of those who do not share the underlying principle of the law.

 

Only as we acknowledge and address our fear will we be able to have a dialog that can produce a viable consensus. St. John wrote, “Perfect love casts our fear.” (1 John 4:18) The dialog needs to be about how to make love a practical replacement for fear.

 

One part of that has to do with how we handle mental illness. This is more than providing better services. It has to do with truly loving those who suffer from mental illness, so we are not afraid of “them,” and they are not afraid of “us.”

 

But even deeper, we have to surrender our insatiable, impossible insistence on total security. That is not to say we accept threats and dangers, but that we recognize nothing we do will be 100% airtight and not look to lay blame on scapegoats when the reality of human insecurity happens.

 

That gets at a core issue that is even more difficult to address: individualistic self-focus that makes self-defense a paramount value. Whether we think guns or laws will defend us from violent threats, the effect is to elevate ourselves over others, which is to stifle love with fear.

 

Fully recognizing that only a tiny portion of the population consider themselves first and foremost to be disciples of Jesus, as one who aspires to that and to follow his lead, I must surrender my demand for self-defense. That determination took Jesus to the cross and is the life path laid out by St. Paul. (Philippians 3:10-11) To become like Jesus in his death, and attain the resurrection from the dead.

 

Out of love I may do any number of difficult and risky things to protect my family, my friends, my neighbors, even those I don’t know who might think of me as their enemy. But I would like to think that if faced with only these options, I would choose to let an attacker send me into the arms of Jesus than for me to send them to eternal judgment beyond repentance. Can anything less express the love of Jesus?