Long before the events of December 14, 2012 shattered our hearts and launched our country into a time of mourning, gun control was a heated subject. In the aftermath of the Newtown shootings, that heat has escalated to a boiling point. Americans are feverishly reevaluating the terms of gun control in our country, and surveys show an almost immediate shift in favor of increased regulation.
Given the emotions surrounding this debate, I enter the fray with two disclaimers. First, I support the Second Amendment. I do not believe that Americans should have their Constitutional rights stripped or their guns taken away. I am not suggesting the government confiscate all guns in order to end gun violence, anymore than I would suggest the government confiscate all cars in order to end vehicular deaths.
But in the same way that we have regulations to minimize auto-related fatalities, we should regulate gun use as well. To me and many other supporters of gun control, this means that gun rights and gun control are not mutually exclusive ends. We can have both.
A second disclaimer: While the gun control debate is integrally linked with the U.S. Constitution, I am writing as a Christian first and an American second. As a citizen of this country, the Constitution is indeed an authoritative document in my life, but its authority is not ultimate. I am first beholden to God. So when the laws of the land are perpetuating violence and destruction, as I believe they are in this case, the Christian's position cannot be neutral. We are called to object, to resist, and to protect "the least of these."
Which leads to the reason I support gun control. In our nation, the individuals most affected by gun violence are those that we as Christians are commanded to serve: the poor, the abused, and the young.
Consider first the effects of gun violence on our nation's poor. Gun violence is most prevalent in poor communities, a reality that has hit African Americans the hardest. In fact, gun violence is the leading cause of death among African American men ages 1 to 44, and 54 percent of all homicide victims are African American.
Since they are most affected by gun violence, it is not surprising that African Americans support gun control by a margin of 68 percent to 24 percent. In contrast, white males are the demographic most likely to support gun rights. This statistical discrepancy suggests that the ideology of one group is wreaking havoc on another.
In addition to the disproportionate effects that gun violence has on black Americans, gun violence is also responsible for the deaths of dozens of children each year. While our country was aghast at the loss of 20 tiny souls at Sandy Hook Elementary, nearly the same number of American children and youth are injured or killed by a firearm each day. In Chicago alone, nearly 700 children were hit by gunfire in 2010, and 66 of those children died. What's more, children and youth constitute 38 percent of all firearm deaths and non-fatal injuries. In addition to these data, studies show that the risk of having a gun in the home far outweighs any benefit, which is why the American Academy of Pediatrics advises that the safest home for a child is a gun-free home.
And finally, there are the statistics on gun violence and domestic abuse. Studies show that "access to firearms increases the risk of intimate partner homicide more than five times compared to instances where there are no weapons. In addition, abusers who possess guns tend to inflict the most severe abuse on their partners." Women are also more likely to be murdered by intimate partners than they are strangers, and in such domestic disputes the weapon of choice is usually a handgun.
Despite current gun regulations, gun violence continues to significantly impact the poor, the young, and the abused. As Americans we can sit and have a debate about how this information shapes our interpretation of the Second Amendment, but as Christians we are called to more. We need to take meaningful action to ensure that these most vulnerable members of our society are not subject to on-going violence for the ideals of a privileged few.
"Meaningful action" does not, however, mean arming citizens with more guns. Not only is the efficacy of this solution entirely disputable, the motives driving it are dubious at best. The NRA is financially supported by the gun industry, and the gun industry is conveniently selling both the problem and the solution. We would be naïve to ignore the greed that hides behind the righteous mantle of the Second Amendment.
Instead, meaningful action entails doing all we can to protect the vulnerable in our country. Yes, this means having a more serious conversation about mental illness, as well as education and poverty. But it also means closing the loopholes in gun purchase background checks, and reinstituting the ban on assault weapons. Given that the number of homicides in Chicago outpaced the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan, gun violence cannot be reduced to mental illness; it is also about guns.
There is a well-known mantra promoted by gun rights advocates: "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." There's a kernel of truth in it. No amount of gun control can heal the human heart. As long as there are broken humans on earth, there will be violence and death. However, we cannot hide behind this spiritual reality as an excuse for inaction. Sinful people kill people, but guns sure do make it a lot easier.
In Luke 4:18, Jesus proclaims that he has come to preach good news to the poor. As Christians, we must consider what his example means for communities ravaged by gun violence. Chicago mothers are wailing for relief from the violence that is stealing away their children, and, to our shame, it took a massacre in a white suburban elementary school for the nation to hear them. Now that we do, how will we respond to their cries?
Stay Sexy or Else? Well, Please Forgive These Mommy Hips
Desperate for Their MRS. Degrees
'The Office' Shows Even TV Romance Isn't Picture-Perfect
The Double Shock of Unexpected Pregnancy
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest
Comments
Displaying 1–10 of 108 comments
See all comments
Alex Daube
David Griswold, Sharon's article is just another misguided attempt to assign blame to the wrong target and offer an already failed solution to the problem of violence. What I find troubling is that so many Christians fail to grasp that, and waste their time tilting at windmills. As Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, a former West Point Psychology Professor and expert on human aggression and the roots of violence explained so very well, the problem isn't guns – and more gun-control won't solve the problem. Listen to his interview on the Glenn Beck program (The Blaze TV) and perhaps you'll come to understand the root cause of the recent massacres: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/glenn-beck-and-west-point-psyc hology-professor-discuss-social-impact-of-violent-video-games/
David Griswold
Sharon Hodde Miller's article is a thoughtful and necessary contribution to the Christian conversation about assault weapons regulation, and the hostile response of some who automatically equate enhanced regulation of firearms with a threat to constitutionally-bestowed "freedoms" is deeply troubling. This subject deserves more prominent coverage in the magazine. What about our divinely-bestowed freedoms and responsibilities to allow God's kingdom to flourish on earth?
Alex Daube
robert puhric, there are between 80 million and 129 million American citizens who own guns. Compare that with only about 3 million active and reserve soldiers in our military. If the military went door-to-door confiscating weapons and each gun owner killed just one attacker, the military would run out of soldiers very quickly. Add to that the fact that many soldiers really do respect their oath to obey and defend the U.S. Constitution and would fight on the people's side if such an illegal and UnConstitutional order were ever given. You also forget that during the Revolutionary War, we were fighting the then most powerful military force in the world. We could have lost, but our militia and soldiers thought that freedom was worth fighting for, and if necessary worth dying for. I agree. And you're wrong about guns – they DO defend freedom. “Criminologists have found that citizens use firearms as often as 2.5 million times every year in self-defense.”
robert puharic
I fail to see how civilian weapons defend freedom. This is not 1787. Weapons technology has destroyed the relevance of the 2nd amendment. No armed citizenry can defeat a modern, well trained and well equipped army. And how many citizens have to die each year before we realize guns COST freedom, they don't DEFEND it.
samuel Shropshire
Thank you, Sharon, for a truly Christian perspective on gun control. I'm grateful.
Alex Daube
Rob Turk, Amen! I loved your pro-freedom post. It's quite true that “It is unarmed people who are brutalized by repressive governments and criminals and psychopaths.” Our Founding Fathers included the 2nd Amendment in the Bill of Rights to protect us from being brutalized by a despotic future government, which ours is quickly becoming.
Alex Daube
Jon Trott, you need to better educate yourself because you really don't have a clue. You stated that semi-automatic rifles are “weapons of mass destruction” and that's TOTALLY wrong! Here's the dictionary definition of WMD: World English Dictionary Weapons of mass destruction: “nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons that can cause indiscriminate death or injury on a large scale” And you are dead wrong to think that the 2nd Amendment is no longer needed, because it was put in the Constitution so that we could defend ourselves from an out-of-control, despotic government, which ours is quickly becoming. Our Founding Fathers certainly intended that as weapons improved, the American people would be able to own them, including semi-automatic and fully automatic weapons. The Second Amendment is “Freedom's Teeth,” because it protects all our other freedoms.
Rob Turk
I guess I must not be a Christian by your definition, because I believe in the rights of people to protect themselves from evil and harm. I will gladly lay down my arms when someone can prove to me that every other person on earth is similarly disarmed and unable to hurt me or my family. I stand for freedom, morality, ethics, and justice - all of which are the result of good people making sacrifices and fighting for those things with guns. The 2nd Amendment is the one which guarantees all the others, and all of our rights. It is unarmed people who are brutalized by repressive governments and criminals and psychopaths. If I have to endure the stigma of having some blogger think I'm not a Christian so that I can retain my right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness so be it. How dare you suggest that all Christians should do anything or feel a certain way about a political matter?
Jon Trott
American history does not trump either Scripture or common sense. While I profoundly admire and am glad for the vast majority of laws and ideals conceptualized by our founding fathers, I do not think the Second Amendment has aged well. I've seen (and at one time owned) a black powder pistol (built by a close relative and fantastic woodsman). The colonists used flintlocks! To think our forefathers' ideas of "a well-armed militia" coincide neatly with a no-holds-barred ownership of weapons of mass destruction such as semi-automatic rifles and massive clips of armor-piercing bullets is ludicrous. The white male Evangelical must ask himself just why he over and over again supports repressive and violent aspects of amoral corporations... over and against the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. I live in the inner city, where young men and those around them are in deep trouble due in part to NRA-driven policies. Thank you, CT, for publishing this article and offering a voice of sanity
Emmaus Road
Alex, I am familiar with some of Mr. Gossman's work, and although I agree with some of his thinking, we come to drastically different action steps. I don't believe I'll have time to formulate a coherent post this week due to work constraints, but if you are interested in continuing this conversation later, feel free to email me at lydia17019@msn.com.
*