Can a God fearing Catholic own guns?

[WilT]

I find it hard to believe if one is Christian/Catholic to need or want to possess a gun. Gun=high potential for murder and accidental killings. I don’t see the need nor pleasure in it. Please explain the need for guns in and about the house. Yes, in America we do have the right to own guns but it seems so antichristian having one or many around.

 

[WilT]

Recently, I read a child got hold of his mothers gun and shot her dead. Accidental of course. That child will no longer have a mother to love and care for him/her. Plus, the burden of having had shot his/her mother hanging over their heads for the rest of their lives! Tragic.

 

[mwncheesehead]

A good Catholic can and most certainly has the right to bear arms. If nothing else, have you considered it is for the defense of he and his family? To claim that guns are dangerous - they are if not handled properly - and therefore because they’re dangerous we shouldn’t have them, is absurd. Our country’s 2nd Amendment protects the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.

The child who recently killed his mother by reaching into her purse was no doubt tragic. Accidents happen, but this isn’t a reason to ban all guns…it’s not the government’s place to take away guns from citizens.

Wack jobs on the left are always trying to ban guns. You know what? Criminals are always going to have guns…gun banning only takes away guns from good people who have properly obtained the licenses and permits to carry those guns as defense.

 

[Tigg]

Recently, I read a child got hold of his mothers gun and shot her dead. Accidental of course. That child will no longer have a mother to love and care for him/her. Plus, the burden of having had shot his/her mother hanging over their heads for the rest of their lives! Tragic.

Yes, it is very tragic and this isolated incident will certainly be used by the gun control advocates to restrict individual freedom and take down the 2nd amendment. Please read the Catechism and understand that Catholics are indeed fully free to support the right to own and bear arms. It is always the intent to keep and/or use the gun that must be explored.

**CCC 2263 ** The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. "The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one’s own life; and the killing of the aggressor. . . . The one is intended, the other is not.

**2264 ** Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one’s own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow:

2265 ** Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others.** The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.

Along with this I would say those of us who own guns, also have the grave obligation to practice all safety standards (something the mother mentioned in the OP did not do.)

 

[Lookingforjoy]

I find it hard to believe if one is Christian/Catholic to need or want to possess a gun. Gun=high potential for murder and accidental killings. I don’t see the need nor pleasure in it. Please explain the need for guns in and about the house. Yes, in America we do have the right to own guns but it seems so antichristian having one or many around.

I agree. Why not use less lethal forms of self defense, such as a taser? I understand that we have the responsibility to defend ourselves and our children, but don’t we also have the obligation to on,y use deadly force when there are absolutely no other options?

 

[1ke]

I find it hard to believe if one is Christian/Catholic to need or want to possess a gun. Gun=high potential for murder and accidental killings. I don’t see the need nor pleasure in it. Please explain the need for guns in and about the house. Yes, in America we do have the right to own guns but it seems so antichristian having one or many around.

There are many legitimate reasons to own a gun. We live in a rural area. We have livestock. We protect them from wolves and coyotes. We are overrun with deer and therefore we welcome hunters on our land to control the population by hunting. We have wild turkeys and other animals that are good for feeding our families.

We live far from town. In an emergency, calling “911” isn’t really an option. It would take police 30 minutes to get to our home, in fact it has taken that long in an emergency for the fire department to arrive. The barn was gone by then.

So, if our home or family is threatened, it is up to us to protect both.

I think if you lived somewhere where you were totally reliant on yourself and what you had at hand, you would have a different view point.

 

[JamalChristophr]

I think the statistic is true, however, that guns kill more innocent people in accidental shootings than valid use, if you will.

(The guns did not really do the shooting, though.)

Most of the blame lies on negligence of the owners of the guns. A gun is just a tool. Nonetheless it is one of the most dangerous tools we humans have in our toolbox and must be treated with amazing caution and care. I’m not sure we can force people to do that.-only facilitate, assist, and encourage the safe use and storage of firearms.

Jesus asked his disciples before his passion, “Have ye any swords?” so we don’t ban them from our lives. It is a prudential matter.

 

[Tigg]

There are many legitimate reasons to own a gun. We live in a rural area. We have livestock. We protect them from wolves and coyotes. We are overrun with deer and therefore we welcome hunters on our land to control the population by hunting. We have wild turkeys and other animals that are good for feeding our families.

We live far from town. In an emergency, calling “911” isn’t really an option. It would take police 30 minutes to get to our home, in fact it has taken that long in an emergency for the fire department to arrive. The barn was gone by then.

So, if our home or family is threatened, it is up to us to protect both.

I think if you lived somewhere where you were totally reliant on yourself and what you had at hand, you would have a different view point.

I grew up on a ranch and keeping guns was absolutely essential to our well being and our livelihood. But crime is up in urban areas - what about single women living alone with increased stats on stalking, rape and other violence? Martial arts is not physically an option for some women and they too have the right to self-defense.

 

[ClearWater]

I used to be completely against guns, but I’ve since mellowed.

There are cases when people have needed guns to protect themselves, that they may also live in an area that isn´t safe, or just for protection.

I lived in Alabama, and on the whole, it was even considered a relatively safe area.

Once, a neighbor had 2 youths come and, I guess, try to rob her. She was apparently just an elderly woman, living alone. For a lot of criminals, they see someone who is weak…in any way…disabled, elderly, living alone, and they are basically cowards. They will attack this kind of person, target him/her, really.

Anyway, they tried to rob her while she was in the house. She came out…with a rifle…held these two at bay, by herself, until the police came.

If more of us would do this, elderly, disabled, defend ourselves, criminals would probably begin to think twice about bothering us.

I have a disability, myself. I can´t even begin to tell you all the times I’ve witnessed violence in my life, or been a victim. I’ve been almost raped, almost kidnapped, robbed, burglarized, threatened to be stabbed, etc., etc. I’ve been a victim of fraud, etc.

I haven’t actually gotten to the point where I’ve bought a gun, but, at different times, I had pepperspray.

I wouldn’t blame someone for having a gun, because, for pepperspray, you need to be quite close. I bought it, and one is supposed to also practice with it. It doesn’t close right, and I fear it could leak.

I dated someone once who was a 5th degree blackbelt. He said one of his former students bought pepperspray, was practicing with it in the parking lot. The wind came up, blew it back into her own eyes, blinding her for a time!

So, with guns, it depends on how they are used, stored, etc.

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government”

– Thomas Jefferson, 1 Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

Beyond self-defense issues, there are many legitimate sporting, target-shooting uses for guns that present no moral problem. There is a moral responsibility, however, to obey gun laws and have the firearms properly secured.

 

[ClearWater]

I was once attacked, by a street gang! I tried to count them, but they were probably about 15-18 of them. They were attacking us with a miniature baseball bat to the point the university advised us not to go alone, at night, to call their university escort service, go with them.

I crossed paths, was lucky to have escaped, unscathed.

I’ve also talked to others who have been victimized. A student of mine used to be a gang member. Once, they attacked him with brass knuckles, and he is now permanently blind and injured…arms and legs.

Oh, and his mother was also killed in a robbery. He told me that he turned to the gang, in part, for protection, because his neighborhood was SO unsafe.

 

[cena]

I find it hard to believe if one is Christian/Catholic to need or want to possess a gun. Gun=high potential for murder and accidental killings. I don’t see the need nor pleasure in it. Please explain the need for guns in and about the house. Yes, in America we do have the right to own guns but it seems so antichristian having one or many around.

If it’s for self defense. If someone breaks into your house and they are armed and you are not…

 

[mountee]

This thread will get a lot of responses for and against personal gun ownership, this is not the first time it has been here. I am a 63 year old cradle Catholic who owns and uses guns and sometimes comments such as yours offend me as they seem to presume some things about me and others like me that I do not feel you have the right to presume. My husband and I own many types of guns, rifles and shotguns and enjoy target shooting and competition with them, it is a hobby we enjoy together. We also have our Concealed Carry licenses and sometimes my husband takes his with him. If you come into our house to hurt us there is a chance we will stop you but we won’t be trying to kill you we will just be trying to scare you into leaving, tasers aren’t practical in that situation but racking your shotgun without ever firing it might work. We are extremely safety conscious and continually try to do everything correctly to prevent accidents. I feel that if you don’t like guns that is your business and I respect that but don’t assume things about me because we do have guns, we are decent Christian people who own guns which we use for our hobby and hope never to fire at another human.

 

[bisco]

catholics are no more immune to divisiveness on gun control, as is secular society. just like climate change, i don’t think the church has a dogmatic position.

 

[Tigg]

This thread will get a lot of responses for and against personal gun ownership, this is not the first time it has been here. I am a 63 year old cradle Catholic who owns and uses guns and sometimes comments such as yours offend me as they seem to presume some things about me and others like me that I do not feel you have the right to presume. My husband and I own many types of guns, rifles and shotguns and enjoy target shooting and competition with them, it is a hobby we enjoy together. We also have our Concealed Carry licenses and sometimes my husband takes his with him. If you come into our house to hurt us there is a chance we will stop you but we won’t be trying to kill you we will just be trying to scare you into leaving, tasers aren’t practical in that situation but racking your shotgun without ever firing it might work. We are extremely safety conscious and continually try to do everything correctly to prevent accidents. I feel that if you don’t like guns that is your business and I respect that but don’t assume things about me because we do have guns, we are decent Christian people who own guns which we use for our hobby and hope never to fire at another human.

I agree with your premise, that as usual, rash judgment and incorrect assumptions will be many.

 

[ClearWater]

Oh yeah, and as I say, I was a staunch pacifist and my ex-husband, as well.

He used to work as a projectionist, would be coming off work, VERY late…in the wee hours of the morning, and someone thought he was the manager, at gunpoint said to hand over his backpack.

He explained they don’t even do night deposits.

This kid was pointing the gun at my husband’s chest and sometimes, at his head. Now, my ex-husband escaped, unharmed, but it could have just as easily turned out that no. He could have been injured, or killed.

Now, this has happened, time and again, there. People don’t realize that the movie theater doesn’t do night deposits, and from time to time, they would attack people, hoping to get money, probably for drugs.

Also, with nurses, I had a friend who worked in security at a hospital. His wife was a nurse, there. Sometimes, some men would wait around to rape nurses coming off from the night shift.

The friend would insist on escorting his wife to her car when she worked that shift.

I know that, with the movie theater, the manager, a woman, after that incident with my ex-husband being threatened, at gunpoint, began to bring a pistol with her to work. I can’t say that I blame her.

That movie theater also had a history dating back of attacks by people looking for money.

My former brother-in-law had a business, had been robbed different times.

I wouldn’t have blamed him if he, had also, owned a gun.

 

[ClearWater]

Even though, at the time, I was a pacificist, in light of those events, I began to tell my, now, ex-husband, to defend himself…at least bring pepperspray. He didn’t want to even do that.

My boyfriend has a disability, was once attacked by a dog, a pitt bull. Luckily, he had a kind of taser, which is illegal here, but we disabled feel we need to defend ourselves…against animals…people…because he realizes he’s a target, was ready.

Now, he didn’t have a gun, but I thought he was very prudent to protect himself.

 

[ClearWater]

Another time, my dog was attacked by a Rottweiller!

I hit him, repeatedly, in face, with my purse. Finally, he released my dog long enough for him to escape, with jet propel.

In Mexico, there are vicious dogs, here. Once, a man saw a dog coming agaist me, took off his belt, because it was the only weapon he had.

Again, I don’t own a gun, but in light of my own personal experiences, I couldn’t blame anyone for having one, now.

 

[ClearWater]

Oh yeah, and although I LOVE where I live, it is SO dangerous that the American government has a tourist warning out, about the kidnappings, virtual kidnappings, real kidnappings, etc.

There are gangs about, as well. I wouldn’t blame anyone for owning a gun, here, for protection.

 

[Mintaka]

Here in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, our archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Telegraph, just did a very nice story about a parish trapshoot.

Sacred Heart Parish in New Carlisle, Ohio held it as a parish fundraiser and fun activity. (Trapshooting is when you fire at disk-targets that are catapulted into the air from machines, as practice for hunting birds or just as a fun shooting challenge. They are called “clay pigeons.”)

At the trapshoot, Father also did a blessing of hunters and their weapons, that the hunters would be safe from accidents, and that they would only shoot animals clean, without making them suffer. This sort of blessing is very ancient, and usually done on the feastdays of patron saints of hunting (like St. Hubert and St. Eustace), but it can be done at any time.

Of course, it’s also very ancient for the Church to bless weapons of war, including guns, asking God to bless their righteous use. There are many blessings for soldiers and law enforcement, as well. St. Barbara is the patron saint of cannons and all artillerymen, which is why Greek people eat loukoumades balls on her feastday. (They look like little cannonballs.) There are many patron saints of soldiers. Particularly in South America, there are many churches decorated with depictions of warrior angels carrying “modern weapons” like flintlock pistols, fowling pieces, and flintlock hunting rifles.

So yes, there’s nothing wrong with owning guns. Guns are a tool. If you use them well and use them to do good, you are following Christ. If you use them poorly and to do evil, you will have to account for it before Jesus, the Judge.