Gun Control

I want to start out by saying I am not anti-guns. I have shot guns and found it to be an enjoyable activity. But why are so many people concerned about their right to carry a concealed weapon and own assault weapons? I understand if you don't want the government to regulate what you can and cannot have, but the government already tells us things we cannot have. We cannot have drugs, because they are harmful to us and others. We are already banned from having other weapons, such as bombs and missiles. Why should we be allowed to carry concealed hand-guns and have assault rifles?

Rifles are useful in hunting. So are bows and shotguns. As far as I know, it is not legal to hung with pistols or assault rifles. So what is the purpose of them? Most people would say personal protection. That raises a few more questions I have for them. How often have you or anyone you personally know been threatened or robbed? And why are you so attached to your stuff that you feel the need to possibly kill someone over it?

Maybe I have lived a sheltered life, but I have never been robbed, kidnapped, or threatened in a way that called for me to have personal protection by way of a weapon on me. For that matter, I don't know anybody who has been in one of those situations. Not to mention, most robberies I would suspect happen while no one is home. So is it really going to be necessary to have your guns as protection?

What do you have that you are so attached to? Saint Francis of Assisi once said, "The more stuff we have, the more clubs we need to protect it." If you don't want to get robbed, don't have anything a criminal would want. We aren't called to have great wealth and put stock in our things anyway. We should be generous with our things. My grandmother said, "If somebody steals something from you, that is ok. They must have needed it more than you." We don't need stuff. So we shouldn't need to protect our stuff in a way that would risk ours or somebody else's life.

I often hear the argument to gun control being, "If you outlaw guns, only the outlaws will have guns." To that I say, how to the police in England get away with not carrying guns? Sure, they may still be available on the black market, but there would be less in circulation and a lot easier to round up illegal ones.

I do not expect handguns to be made illegal ever. Assault rifles, on the other hand, might be. And I think they should. If you want to shoot them so bad, join the military. There is no need to have such powerful and deadly weapons in civilian hands.

So basically, I don't have a problem if you want guns for hunting or sport. But having them for protection or to threaten others seems dangerous, unnecessary, and against the peace that Jesus talks about.