Guns, Rights, and Responsibilities

There's a passage in Jeremiah 17 that can encourage us to seek the truth of God and to recognize our
need for a Savior, as well as His capacity to cleanse our hearts:
7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord.
8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
10 I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

So much of what we would term the "ills of society" can be traced to the deficiencies of the human heart.  In our humanity, we are selfish, and that leads to living for our own benefit and even developing a disregard for others.  As a culture, the devaluation of human life has resulted in rancor and even violence.  But, when the Prince of Peace enters a heart and He is allowed to have His way, He changes our view, He redeems our soul, and He teaches us how to walk in love.

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Jesus spoke about the capacity for evil residing within the human heart, and of course, the Bible
directs us to the antidote, the way to overcome that evil. Matthew 15 says:
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

One of the subjects of national debate as of late has been what is termed "gun control," in the wake of the tragic shootings at Parkland High School in Florida, in which 17 people lost their lives.   There have been numerous calls for new gun laws, and while one may ask if some of these proposals would have prevented the shootings that have occurred, such as Parkland or Sutherland Springs, lawmakers all the way up to the President are being compelled to take some sort of action.

For instance, Florida lawmakers have passed legislation that, according to the Miami TV station WLRN, would raise the minimum age to purchase a firearm in the state from 18 to 21, implements a three-day waiting period to buy guns, bans bump stocks (which was an element of the Las Vegas shooting), and, according to the station, "allows law enforcement to seize weapons from a person deemed mentally ill and will likely pose a threat."  There's also a "program that could allow designated teachers to carry firearms on school grounds, if they are deputized and complete law enforcement training."

Christianity Today reported on some polling data about evangelical views on gun laws. According to the story, Pew Research Center data showed that, "Nearly 9 in 10 (89%) of both white evangelicals and Americans overall endorse mental illness restrictions, while about 8 in 10 white evangelicals (80%) and Americans overall (84%) favor the expanded use of background checks."

The story continues:

White evangelicals resemble Americans on average when it comes to banning gun sales to those on federal no-fly or terrorist watch lists (86% vs. 83%) as well as banning assault-style weapons, such as the AR-15 used in several recent mass shootings (63% vs. 68%), Pew reported. (Though two-thirds of black Protestants identify as evangelicals, Pew could not break them out on many questions due to small sample size.)

A Politico/Morning Consult poll taken a few days after the Parkland shooting, according to CT, "found that a majority of all self-identified evangelicals (not just whites) favored stricter gun laws." The article stated:

Evangelicals (58%) were more likely than conservatives (46%) and Republicans (45%) to support gun control reform, with 1 in 3 strongly supporting stricter laws, the poll found. But its multiethnic evangelical sample was still less likely than voters on average (64%) to back stricter laws, with nearly a quarter “strongly opposed” (more than any other religious group).

Yesterday on The Meeting House, I featured a conversation with Chicago-area pastor James Ward, who was one of the original co-signers of a petition called, Prayers &Action for Gun Safety in America.  Rob Schenck of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute was quoted in Christianity Today as saying: “We’ve been actively reaching out to evangelical leaders, mostly behind the scenes, and are finding many that are distressed by our seemingly unrestrained enthusiasm for easy gun access...;" according to the The Huffington Post.

The CT article also says that Jim Daly, President of Focus on the Family, wrote in a blog post, “It’s wise to examine existing gun laws and ask if there changes or additions that need to be made, and also ask whether the myriad of relevant laws already on the books are being adequately enforced,” adding, "This is the role of our legislature.”  

But, he also stated, "The current debate has to be about more than guns,” adding, “What’s being protested is a symptom of a much larger problem. You cannot legislate away evil. No laws on the books can change the human heart.”

And, that relates to this key finding, from an earlier Christianity Today article:

Earlier research by PRRI showed that evangelicals were the only religious group “in which a plurality (40%) say that putting more emphasis on God and morality in school and society is the most important thing that could be done to prevent future mass shootings.”

I think for the believer in Christ, we can see that gun violence, and really all violence, is symptomatic of a deficiency in the human heart. When a person does not value the life of another, he or she may not possess the moral restraint to prevent that taking of that life.  Factor in mental illness, as well, and you have a potent mix for evil.

The Prayers and Action petition states:

We acknowledge our Biblical responsibility to protect life by lovingly guiding those who are suffering from severe mental illnesses to the appropriate professional resources, by urging America’s lawmakers to pass common-sense gun laws, and by encouraging gun owners to take precautions against the risks associated with allowing firearms in their homes when children are present or when a family member is dealing with crisis.

With this petition, we call on our fellow Christian believers, church leaders, and pastors across the country to declare that we will decisively respond to this problem with both prayer and action.

Ultimately, a gun is a tool - for many hunters, it is an essential element of a sport or hobby.  For the citizen, it can be a source of protection.  For law enforcement, properly used, it can also protect the officer and it can be a deterrent.  For the military, a gun is instrumental in acts of war, as well as a strong defense.

But, in the wrong hands, a gun becomes a threat to an orderly society.  While so many revere our rights under the Second Amendment, with rights come responsibility.  Look no further than the Huffman High School shooting yesterday - a student brought a gun to school and it accidentally discharged:  why did the student have a gun at school?  Whose gun was it?  Why was he showing it off, as was alleged?  Due to someone's irresponsibility, a young woman's life has been lost.

As the petitioners highlight, we can "become part of the solution."  And, that corresponds to a principle on which I comment frequently - Christians can be in a leadership capacity in dealing with issues that are confronting society.  We can move beyond the politics and the emotions that infiltrate so many of our policy discussions and provide reasonable, grounded principles that can bring people together for the good of our communities.