WHAT WOULD JESUS SHOOT?

I am always amazed at the "gun issue" discussion in our country. Perhaps with the exception of abortion, something I will address soon, nothing causes more heated debate than Americans and our guns. "I'll give you my gun when you take it from my cold, dead hands!" is a slogan popularized by the National Rifle Association (NRA) on a series of bumper stickers. At a get out the vote rally in 2000, Charlton Heston, in defiance of Al Gore's Presidential run proudly announced, "So, as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away, I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed, and especially for you, Mr. Gore: 'From my cold, dead hands!'" Such machismo! So manly! Of course, I would find it more manly if you could talk that way without a gun in your hands, but I digress.

I bring up Charlton Heston because for many years he was the poster child for a good Christian. I mean, after all, he was Moses for Heaven's sake... OK, Moses was Jewish, but I digress again. You know what I mean. He appeared in commercials and infomercials for the Bible. He was a darling of the Religious Right.

Here again, I find myself at odds with the Christian world when it comes to gun ownership. Almost every person I know from church or who publically declares their devout Christianity is also a strong gun advocate. I respect gun advocates for their compassion, but I believe most take their advocacy to a point that goes WAY beyond common sense. My Christian beliefs state simply, "Thou Shalt Not Kill." I never read "Thou Shalt Not Kill except..." When the Savior himself was being taken into custody by the High Priests, which led to His crucifixion, he chastised Peter for fighting to defend Him. Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus, a servant of one of the high priests. Jesus told Peter to put the sword away and said in Matthew 26: 52 "...for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." He then went on to heal Malchus' ear.

Let me say from the outset that I completely respect any person's right to own a gun if they want to hunt. By the way, I don't ever say "Sport" hunting because hunting cannot be a sport. A sport is something where two or more contestants or teams compete and nobody is sure of the final outcome until the event is over, or, in the case of some sports like basketball and football, until the clock has ticked down to such little time the contestant who is behind in score simply doesn't have enough time to score enough points to come back and win, no matter how huge the miracle. In hunting, when one contestant has a gun, we pretty much know who is going to win from the outset. I guess if the hunter would wrestle with the deer instead of shooting it, hunting would be more of a sport.

My problem is this: The 2nd Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms. Written in the mid-1700's arms meant muskets. While I recognize the need to for the Constitution to grow with the times, I cannot imagine a single one of our forefathers could envision nuclear weapons, rocket launchers, mortars, and tanks although they are all categorized as "arms". So certainly, every American who is qualified not to be imprisoned a very tiny, padded room would admit that no single citizen or group of citizens should be given the right to bear a nuclear weapon or even a tank, right? So let's talk assault rifles, automatic and semi-automatic weapons, and high capacity magazines. What, beyond lending speed and efficiency to mass murder, is the point of the high-capacity magazine?

One friend told me that he has a gun in his home to protect his wife and daughters from the hands of an intruder. In spite of the story of Jesus chastising Peter for defending Him against the high priests that took him to His death, I fully accept and respect this position. I will leave out the odds (about one-in-a-couple million) of being invaded because statistics aren't really reliable.  It is commonly held belief that home invasion is a minimal threat to the average person and usually involves invaders who have a personal knowledge of the home and its owner; however the factual basis of this belief is uncertain. I also understand the argument, "What if YOU were that one-in-a million?" I accept that. I will only ask this. Do you really need an assault rifle to shoot a home intruder? Do you need a high capacity clip? Since home invasions are rarely committed by a group of 33 people, I can only assume you are a REALLY bad shot and need 33 tries to hit one or two guys.

As to hunting, I believe a single shot rifle poses at least a little challenge to the hunter and gives a minimal chance to the animal to get out of the "sport" a winner. An automatic weapon and a high-capacity clip are only useful if you want to wipe out the herd or again, are a really lousy shot.

My Christian beliefs make me remember, "Thou Shalt Not Kill." Since I am fortunate enough to be able to go to a supermarket for my steaks, I have no reason to shoot one of God's creatures, especially for the pleasure of it. I am fortunate that I can leave the dirty work to a meat packing plant. If I were to honestly follow my Christian beliefs, I would be a vegetarian, but I'm not THAT good.

My closing thought (although not my last as I have thought about this for decades) about the gun issue is this: the NRA and its supporters are so good at destroying the character of any politician that votes against them by lies, half-truths, and shoving fear down the throats of the average American (I refer you back to Charlton Heston's Rally Cry:  "So, as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away..." Take our freedom away? Freedom of what? Freedom to ignore common sense? Freedom to use our brains?) Again, I digress. The NRA and its supporters are so good at getting their "enemies" voted out of office, every politician in Washington D.C. and every State Capital is terrified to rile them by voting to regulate. Even though over 85 percent of all Americans agree that guns should be strongly regulated and controlled, getting an elected representative to write legislation the NRA would dislike is more difficult than loading and firing a musket.