I'm Compelled to Respond Again to the Gun Debate

As I listen to conversation and TV and read on Facebook the gun debates, I am struck with the adamancy with which the arguers select statistics and quotes to support their positions.  Many of the arguments center around the pragmatics of what may or may not prevent mass shootings or individual crimes, what does or does not offer protection from violent crime. In those arguments I sense a lot of fear: fear of how our society is changing, fear of people we don’t understand, fear of losing personal rights and security, fear of the technology of firearms, fear of mental illness.

 

I have observed in many situations and am convinced in this instance that when we, individually or together, make decisions out of fear we almost always make the wrong decision. I am reminded by 1 John 4:18 that perfect love casts out fear. Courage is not the opposite of fear, love is! I would challenge those engaging in the current gun debate to be honest about the fears behind their arguments and confront them with love.

 

I recognize that this is counter-cultural, and I have no illusions that our politicians can comprehend much less implement love as the antidote to fear. I know that depending on love is regarded as naïve and thus untried.  As one who aspires to follow the teaching and example of Jesus Christ, I must consider something even more radical. That is that self-defense is incompatible with Christian discipleship. I may be called upon to risk my safety for the protection of others, especially the weak and vulnerable, but I believe that using deadly force on another person to defend myself is spiritually far more dangerous than being killed.

 

If you assume that my words are an oblique argument in the gun debate, you have completely missed my point. I am confident that neither laws nor guns offer safety, security or protection. Both are illusions spawned by fear. That is not to say that guns and laws do not serve some useful purposes, only that until we are prepared to address our fears with much greater power at much greater depth, laws and guns endanger rather than protect us.

 

If you can set aside for a moment the public rhetoric and political debates, it is clear that the gun debate is one more polarizing issue affecting our whole society. At the same time that polls (and internet posts) show a growing number of people clambering for tighter gun regulations, gun and ammunition sales (and NRA membership and firearms training) are skyrocketing. This chasm can only be crossed when people on both sides let love cast out their fear.