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INTRODUCTION: WHY HAVE THIS WEBSITE?
This web site is a list of other web sites and articles dedicated to the right to bear arms. As a Christian, I believe that this is, more importantly, a biblical issue and one that bears great weight on my responsibility to "defend" myself and my family (cf. Exodus 22:2-3). Salem Reformed Church, where I am pastor, is NOT responsible for the contents on this site or the web sites listed. I, alone, am responsible (though I do not necessarily endorse everything said on those web sites or in articles written by others, I have tried to list only those that I considered helpful and useful pertaining to the subject of the "right to bear arms"). As always, it is the proper use of the weapon (e.g. firearm) in the hands of the honest man or woman that must be kept in mind. Safety is always the first priority in handling any firearm.
Image used with permission from Self Defense a Human Right"The tone and tendendency of liberalism...is to attack the institutions of the country under the name of reform and to make war on the manners and customs of the people under the pretext of progress" - Benjamin Disraeli, "Speech in London" (quoted in: Chronicles, May 2000, p. 29)
Those that would push for "gun control" falsely believe that "regulating" gun sales (and, somehow, gun owners) would drastically reduce gun related crimes. However, criminals commit crime. By making it harder for the law abiding citizen to obtain and own a gun will not decrease crime - in fact there are many statistics out there that prove just the opposite. Guns do not kill, people do....guns don't commit crimes, criminals do.
The solution is NOT more gun control or more gun laws (most of the numerous laws already on the books are unbiblical AND unconstitutional). The solution is a change of heart in people. As one writer aptly notes: "The problem is not six-shooters; the problem is sinners. Eliminating guns WON'T solve that problem." (Andrew Sandlin: "Harmartiology and Gun Control" in The Christian Statesman, Vol. 140, No. 1; p. 5; emphasis mine). He is right. It is a sinner issue and not a gun issue as the anti-self-defense lobbyists would have you believe. These are, generally, the same folks that say: "you can't legislate morality". Go figure!
Andrew Sandlin gives us a good perspective on all of this when he says: "The proximate (civil) solution to gun-related violence is stiffer (biblical) penalties for harming humans and property - whether by guns, knives, axes, spray paint, or computers. The ultimate solution to gun-related violence is the transformation of individuals by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.....The ironic solution of liberals is to lock up the guns and liberate the criminals after a mere wrist slap. Bleeding-heart liberals wail at the violence in which guns are employed, while it is specifically their lenient legal policies that permit or encourage much of the gun-related crime. If they legislated biblical penal sanctions, there would be dramtically less opportunity to whine about gun-related violence. They legalize injustice by eliminating or softening valid penalties for crimes and then compound their injustice by denying law-abiding citizens possession of guns when their legislative leniency permits greater gun-related violence. They remind us of the teenager who killed his parents and begged the leniency of the court because he was an orphan. Consequently, guns, rather than unjust legislators, become the culprit." (ibid., p. 6)
The Word of God calls for us to protect our families and ourselves (see also the "Articles" section below). If our families (especially the covenant heads = fathers/husbands) are not armed or, at least, allowed to be armed how can they do so? Read 1 Samuel 13:19-22 in part:"Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears: ......So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found ". Here we see what happens when the people of God have no weapons to either protect their families or their land. They are open to attack. Note, that the only people that had "sword" or "spear" was the King and his son - the ruler and his family. Now, the Lord still gave victory to the unarmed army of Israel by a miraculous intervention (1 Sam. 14:6ff). However, the Lord generally carries out His providential work and care through "means" (i.e.. the sword [firearms]) as long as His people don't rely solely on or put their trust in those means (Ps. 20:7) or forget that He is their power and strength.
Are we to rely on the government: federal, state or local and their agencies (i.e.. the police) to protect each and every individual and family? Should they be the only ones armed (as Saul and his son Jonathan)? The answer to both is NO!
First, the Bible says that I am responsible for my own covenant family and no one else (see 1 Timothy 5:8 "provide for his own..."). This includes, I am sure, protecting them from armed intruders and thieves (Exodus 22:2-3 cf. Luke 22:36 - where our Lord tells His disciples to even sell their garments, if they have to, in order to purchase a sword [ for self-defense]).
Second, no where can you find a law that says that the police, government agencies, etc. have the responsibility to provide individual security to each and every person in the nation. As Larry Pratt reports in "What Does the Bible Say About Gun Control?" (see Articles section) that one court case (Bowers v. DeVito) stated: "[T]here is no constitutional right to be protected by the state against being murdered." Besides, the police, cannot be everywhere at once - neither should they be. They are not omnipresent as is our Lord. Therefore, we must be equipped to defend our families and our property.
The reason that the answer to the second question "Should they be the only ones armed?" is NO, in part, is in the answer to the first. If the police, etc. have no duty, nor can they if they wanted, to provide individual security then law-abiding citizens have to be armed. Besides, if only the government and its' agencies were armed then we would be living under a tyranny. That is why, and here is the second reason why the answer is NO, we have the Second Amendment. The Founders gave that amendment to protect the people from a tyrannical government - our own. It is interesting that the anti-self-defenders can read all sorts of things that are not clear in the First Amendment (regarding freedom of speech, etc.) but cannot see the "clear" statement and meaning of the Second Amendment (regarding the right to keep and bear arms). Go figure!!
Both, the Bible and the Second Amendment give the right to bear and keep arms. To all who want to take away those rights one way or the other: Please leave our firearms alone!!! .
