My state is voting today on rewording a state constitutional provision on "the right to bear arms." There is basically no opposition to this change: who would dare speak against peoples' "rights" ?
I'm suspicious. The question was put on the ballot by a "gun-rights" group (whose leader is, not coincidentally, owner of a local gun-shop and shooting range), and promoted by the usual Republican suspects, on the make for votes again.
Proponents say the contitutional change is necessary to "correct" a Kansas Supreme Court decision of 1905, which ruled that the provision in the state constitution was the "collective right" of having a state militia. Today's revisionists want the constitution changed to specify that the individual "right" to go armed is protected. It sounds suspiciously like "conservatives' " argument against the "militia" meaning explicitly stated in the wording of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment: which document I'm sure takes precedence anyway over any law my state passes.
On "gun rights" issues, the question that seems most relevant to me is always, "what problems of our society will be made better by more people having more guns ?" I have yet to think of even one.
But "gun rights" people always come back with the fact that our society is increasingly violent, and citizens need guns to protect self, home and family.
I find it particularly strange for Christians to argue we should have guns. It reminds me of the line in Tom Lehrer's satirical song about the atomic bomb, "Who's Next ?"
"Israel's getting tense,
Wants one in self-defense.
'The Lord's our Shepherd,' says the Psalm...
But just in case...we better get a bomb !!"
Scripture's teachings about our relationship with human government all command Christians' peaceful subjection to rulers, the bad as well as the good. Jesus is our Example when He tells Pilate, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above..." (John 19:11).
We are subject to human rulers because God put them in authority. They exist to do the job He's given them: to punish evildoers (I Peter 2:14). In God's economy, human government "...is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil." (Romans 13:4b)
If we take scripture's view as true, "anti-government" people are ultimately in opposition to God. It's His Authority behind the human governments He puts in place, and His Power that enables them to do the job He has set for them. Christians who align themselves with rebellious political factions might do well to rigorously check their thinking against scripture.
And "gun rights" people are always from the "anti-government" crowd. Their illogical argument that violence in our society requires LESS government control (especially of murderous weapons) seems to me an argument for MORE violence in our society. It's the fallacious logic of the argument made for "naturism:" that there would be less shame if more people practiced nudism.
Repentance is the corrective for disobeying or ignoring God's word. I hope my "anti-government" Christian friends will repent. But if repentance is also a corrective for plain muddle-headed thinking, perhaps my "gun rights" friends should repent as well.
