Firearms...

I think Wayne LaPierre meant it when he said, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." At least a few people whom I respect agree with him. I cannot imagine disagreeing more completely.

I do not think that increasing the number and availability of guns will make our world or country safer. Increasing the number and availability of guns will place more of us in more situations in which we will need to make potentially life-changing decisions. The Archbishop of Canterbury said it this way in an address shortly before Christmas:

People use guns. But in a sense guns use people, too. When we have the technology for violence easily at hand, our choices are skewed and we are more vulnerable to being manipulated into violent action.

One good person, who has exercised his right to qualify for a concealed carry license, said he cannot imagine ever using his handgun. Even if he cannot imagine it, a situation beyond his imagination may force him to decide. Even revealing his firearm will make the situation more volatile. He may choose not to use it, but its presence will affect the decisions made by those around him. I cannot imagine feeling safer anywhere because most of the people around me were armed.

Mr. LaPierre and others argue that increasing the number of available firearms reduces violence. To the contrary, increasing the number and availability of guns increases our capacity for violence. An analysis conducted last year by the Violence Policy Center discovered that states with lower rates of gun ownership and stronger gun laws report the lowest number of gun deaths, whereas states with weak gun laws and higher gun ownership rates had much higher firearm-related deaths. The difference becomes even starker when we count not only deaths but also shootings.

Mr. LaPierre and others argue that training makes it possible for people to discharge firearms safely. I much prefer that those with firearms be trained than untrained, but even excellent training cannot eliminate the risks that come from discharging a gun. Last fall police officers in New York found it necessary to open fire on a gunman outside the Empire State Building. Despite their training and caution, they wounded nine bystanders while killing the gunman. I shudder to think how much worse the tragic shooting spree in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, would have been if even a few of the other movie-goers had returned fire in the dark and chaos of those moments. When we add to such situations the rapid fire weapons, large magazines, and damaging bullets currently available, the potential for carnage escalates.

In 1967, Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton declared, "The gun is the only thing that will free us." After Black Panthers marched through the streets of Sacramento with raised and loaded weapons, legislators brought a strict gun control law to Governor Ronald Reagan. Reagan did not eliminate gun violence by signing it, but he did something much better than raising a weapon of his own to combat it.

Even if it were possible, I do not favor the elimination of firearms. I do, however, intend with vigor to work for stricter regulation of what kinds of firearms and munitions are made available, of the process of purchasing them, and of who may purchase them. That will not eliminate firearm violence or mass shootings; but each time we beat our swords into plowshares we step closer toward the wholeness to which God calls us all. Guns for sport, hunting, and protection have a place in our society, but that place is not everywhere. Let's work together to identify that place and find our way to it.

         

          Grace and Peace,

          LP