The right to self-defense is a natural right endowed by God. Gun control as it’s presented is a violation of this right. God’s law — which the writers of Scripture refer to as “good”, “holy”, “pure”, and “perfect” — outlines a clear doctrine of godly people using force, up to lethal force, to protect their family, neighbors, and self-defense against evil people who wish them harm. As the Scripture say, of the person who attempts to take the life of an innocent person, “their blood is on their own hands.” (See Exodus 20 and 22) This is how we can be pro-life and also fully, consistently, and without issue support the right of individuals to keep and bear arms.
Gun control deprives women and men of their inalienable right to self-defense against both evil individuals and tyrannical governments.
Pro-Life Group Responds to Gun Control Debate
As this is a subject which is repeatedly being raised, we wanted to address it in short. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive treatise on the subject of gun control and pro-life advocacy. The argument goes, “If you’re pro-life, you must support gun control” and other similar variations. This is a dirty tactic to co-opt support without actually having to provide evidence. The argument is “Guns kill people, ban guns, fewer people die.” If you believe that’s all their is to the argument, you’re foolishly ignorant. So in light of this, we’re putting the brakes on — what they don’t want any of us to do — and addressing it head on.
Reality and the nature of man (and woman)
Counterargument: It is AGAINST life to remove someone’s self-defense against evil people. That is NOT pro-life. That does NOT save people. As the Apostle Paul wrote,
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one is a God-seeker.
Romans 3:10-11,15-17
“Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”
It is the nature of humankind to do evil and murder. No amount of fingers in your ears will save you. As the police demonstrated in Uvalde, you can’t depend on the state to save you. The police will clean up and count the bodies, if you’re lucky. If you want to protect yourself and your family, man and woman up, and be prepared to do it.
It is gross negligence to read this passage of Scripture, then, in the next breath, argue our neighbor should put away his means of protecting himself against evil people who wish to kill, murder, rape, and plunder him and his family. This is not “loving our neighbor” and “pro-life.” Jesus Christ, God-incarnate, commanded His disciples, in preparation for His departing, to arm themselves.
He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.
Luke 22:36
Might I remind you, 2,000 years ago, the sword was the most powerful personal defense weapon of the day. You did not wield a sword for status, but to protect your life against people who would try to kill you. Before anyone quotes Jesus’ famous reproach of “live by the sword, die by the sword,” I point out it was Christ’s mission to hand Himself over to be put to death and the disciple interfered, not to mention the foolishness of starting a sword fight with a legion of soldiers.
Disarming law-abiding only increases deaths
Disarming law-abiding citizens does not save lives. While gun crimes may be reduced (and this point is arguable), overall violent crimes increase dramatically. This includes homicides, sexual assault, and armed robbery. More people die when guns are banned. Law-abiding citizens are NOT the one who are committing mass murder. You do NOT need a gun to kill people. Mass murders have occurred since the beginning of time and they DO occur in societies which have banned guns, often by the State which now has no reason to fear reprisal from its disarmed citizens. The reality is, the United States does not lead the world in mass shootings despite having one of the largest gun ownership rates per capita.
To quote Thomas Jefferson,
“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms. . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”
Jefferson`s “Commonplace Book,” 1774-1776
The issue is the evil intentions of the evil hearts of evil people. More good people to train and arm themselves, and gun restrictions need to be lifted so the shooting galleries we’ve created with our children as the targets no longer exist.
The State practices self-defense with guns
When the state wants to protect its money, its possessions, and power over you it surrounds itself with guns. Notice how you and your children are absent from this list of things it surrounds with guns. To the state, you are expendable, their authority is not.
Gun control deprives women and men of their inalienable right to self-defense against both evil individuals and tyrannical governments.
To reiterate, humans have a natural right to self-defense against evil people and tyrannical governments. Our country was founded upon these basic beliefs. From the perspective of Scripture, we also are given a right of self-defense when the lives of our family, neighbor, or ourselves are threatened. The blood of the attacker falls on their own head should reasonable force result in their death. To be consistently anti-abortion, in favor of protecting innocent lives, you do not need to concede on your right to protect yourself. In fact, it is negligence of the highest degree to disarm your neighbor and then claim it’s to save the life of his or her children.
Featured image “Truce with gun, taken by Magi by overdrive_cz is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Edited 2023-01-16
