Can a God fearing Catholic own guns?

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Again, as with every religion this question becomes a very. Personalised ones.
It IS A moral question.
Nobody (in their right mind)WANTS to kill, but the the decision whether they should is always a personal one. And as gathered before, sometimes, you have no choice.

How moral are you?
Who do you respect?
What matters to you?

Regardless what my beliefs were if my family was threathened I would’nt hesitate to protect them.
 
Everybody holds a gun in this country and nobody wants to talk about it?
So where was your God during the last world war?
 
InigoMontoya said:
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That is certainly an issue worth exploring. Unfortunately, you may have to explain the relevancy to the current issue being discussed.

Yes, they are related. However an acknowledgement of such, as far as I forsee, only strengthens the account that in some places a firearm is the measure required to repel force.
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As an objective observer of the American gun culture, the obvious question is why are there so many criminals with guns in the society? The answer seems to be that guns abound in US society by virtue of their use in self defense. So the objective observer would say well the criminals are actually using guns that are created for the purpose of self defense… to attack other Americans.

The equation seems to be that criminals have such free access to guns because of the number of guns created to defend oneself against criminals with guns. The equation reflects the best of bureaucratic self perpetuation.

The exaggerated statistics involving guns doesn’t seem to factor into policy at all. It seems like it is considered as necessary collateral damage. It makes it seem like societal safety is actually less important than an individuals rights to own a gun??? That is what is confusing to the outsider.
 
jimmy said:
America is different than every other country. The first right in America is the right to defend yourself and those you love. Everything else is dependent on that right. Society and govt are formed by individuals who gather together to form a bond. The individual precedes the community logically, and as a result he has rights that precede the formation of the community. The most basic of those is the right to self preservation or self defense. Everything else follows from that.
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I thought that that was what Pope Leo XIII warned America against? It isn’t reflective of a Catholic theology.
 
I know this thread has been quiet for a bit, but what are your thoughts if a Catholic Priest or a Catholic Deacon wanted to have a concealed carry permit and actually carried (outside of the church). Would he not be living up to following the gospel? Just curious what others think.
 
There is a Priest that has an active blog that my husband frequents.

Father John Zuhisdorf…more commonly known as Father Z.

He’s genuine and quite Orthodox, from what I’ve read. He also owns at least one firearm and is very vocal about the right’s of gun owners and carriers. It’s one of the reasons why my husband latched on to his blog and has a deep respect for him.

I’m with my husband on this one. Catholics aren’t Quakers. That attitude would have completely lost us the Crusades that saved our faith.

There is nothing that can or would imply that a Priest, who carriers a weapon legally, is not living up to the Gospel. As far as I’ve seen, there is nothing preventing a Priest from legally carrying a weapon if he so chooses. There is nothing in the Catechism that stresses he shouldn’t.

St Peter, himself, carried and used a sword in defense of his Lord and Savior.
 
I loathe guns, but I have one. You would have one too if you ever came home and caught someone trying to break in your house. Hearing about it is one thing, living it is another. I pray it never needs to be used.
 
KD8TZC said:
I know this thread has been quiet for a bit, but what are your thoughts if a Catholic Priest or a Catholic Deacon wanted to have a concealed carry permit and actually carried (outside of the church). Would he not be living up to following the gospel? Just curious what others think.
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Many states do not allow for open carry. In the ones that do, I certainly don’t understand why you’d want to make yourself that kind of a spectacle or target.

Moving past that, depending on where you live, why wouldn’t you take a firearm with you on hikes in the backcountry / mountains / woods / bayou / whatever? It isn’t people most are concerned with.
 
esieffe said:
I loathe guns, but I have one. You would have one too if you ever came home and caught someone trying to break in your house. Hearing about it is one thing, living it is another. I pray it never needs to be used.
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I don’t loathe guns…I have a healthy respect for them.
That being said, I’m not fascinated with them or think of them as a hobby or anything.

If it wasn’t for my husband, I know I wouldn’t have had any interest in owning one.

But we do and the safest thing for me to do was to familiarize myself with guns, take classes and get my license to carry.

I also like the extra security aspect of it. My husband used to work nights and may be starting up on working nights again sooner then later.

Having the extra security when I’m alone at night is good.

Our family cannot own dogs because not only am I very allergic to them….but we recently found out my oldest child is very allergic to them too.
 
WilT said:
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.
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You do realize that the majority of Catholics and many many saints had weapons right? I think most Popes have as well. Many of them had entire armies…
 
KD8TZC said:
I know this thread has been quiet for a bit, but what are your thoughts if a Catholic Priest or a Catholic Deacon wanted to have a concealed carry permit and actually carried (outside of the church). Would he not be living up to following the gospel? Just curious what others think.
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Nothing wrong with it in the slightest. It’s what you do with it that matters, not whether you have one.
 
There’s nothing wrong with owning a gun or any other weapon. The problems from that come when bad intentions are present.

It’s my solid understanding we are not obligated to turn the other cheek to those who seek to harm them and/or our property.
 
KD8TZC said:
I know this thread has been quiet for a bit, but what are your thoughts if a Catholic Priest or a Catholic Deacon wanted to have a concealed carry permit and actually carried (outside of the church). Would he not be living up to following the gospel? Just curious what others think.
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One of my relatives worked security in a non-Catholic Church and was armed.
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
You do realize that the majority of Catholics and many many saints had weapons right? I think most Popes have as well. Many of them had entire armies…
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Exactly….how else were we able to get through the Crusades?
 
JamalChristophr said:
Just to play the devils advocate though, I notice that 90% if not more of Gun lovers cling to the position of keeping their gun, supporthing gun rights, loving their guns and totally discount any opposing viewpoint in spite of some factual evidence. I don’t know.

The main problem is that a not insubstantial number of people are negligent with the guns they own, and I suppose that is a difficult problem to solve.

Let’s take Sandy Hook (can of worms)…my view is that (caveat: perhaps the mom was not negligent, I’m not sure.)…anyways, I’m thinking that if the young, very unstable son could have been denied access to the guns he was able to obtain at home, then it’s possible the tragedy would not have occurred, but maybe he would have just got guns in some other way. It seems often, guns get locked up but kids can often get the keys without much detective work, scenarios along those lines.

(This post is really two things in one, so sorry about that. 😊 )
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You can’t keep a deranged teenager from getting the guns by locking them up. Unless you have an actual safe which would run at least $10k. Gun safes are easily opened. Locks are easily cut.

Regardless, he could have done the same thing to a bunch of 5 year olds with all sorts of things. Gas, chemicals, a baseball bat, stick, a knife, his hands, you name it. Crazy people are the problem.

Also, sure some people are negligent with the guns they own and don’t keep them out of the reach of children. They still aren’t the biggest safety hazards in your house. Every homebuilder is negligent with the location of electrical outlets. Who decided to put them at eyeball level for babies? Not to mention basically every other object in the home. Pencils, knives, pennies, hot dogs, marbles, tile floors, combs with that spike on the end, plastic bags, toilets, bath tubs, televisions, swimming pools, and on and on. There are countless dangers. Firearms account for very few accidents statistically speaking.

The leading cause of death in America once you count all the various ways it can happen is medical intervention. The health care system kills more people than any other single cause. If you really want to prevent accidental deaths, firearms are not the place to start.
 
white_sheep said:
You can’t keep a deranged teenager from getting the guns by locking them up. Unless you have an actual safe which would run at least $10k. Gun safes are easily opened. Locks are easily cut.

Regardless, he could have done the same thing to a bunch of 5 year olds with all sorts of things. Gas, chemicals, a baseball bat, stick, a knife, his hands, you name it. Crazy people are the problem.
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The experience of countries who have banned handguns and other weapons for private self defense, is not that the ban translated into the same number of massacres but with different weapons… sticks, knives etc. Guns inspire massacres especially for young men with issues. They have a mystique that other implements don’t possess, due to their capabilities and the experience of power they grant the user.
 
LongingSoul said:
The experience of countries who have banned handguns and other weapons for private self defense, is not that the ban translated into the same number of massacres but with different weapons… sticks, knives etc. Guns inspire massacres especially for young men with issues. They have a mystique that other implements don’t possess, due to their capabilities and the experience of power they grant the user.
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I guess they haven’t seen Backdraft.
 
LongingSoul said:
scratches head ??
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I think what White Sheep is getting at is that “Axe” (IIRC) in Backdraft used a very creative, non-gun method of creating some big violence.

And I would agree with this line of thinking too, although in debate it tends to miss the mark. No pun intended.

Same point - for those posters in this thread who have demonstrated a bit of fear, particularly around being one bad decision or one accident away about death - that’s true of so many things. 🤷

I truly believe in my heart I could cause more damage / destruction / mayhem with my one-ton diesel pickup truck (no background check required!) in a more efficient way than I ever could with a pistol or rifle. Fertilizer and diesel fuel are still readily available. This is often not acknowledged because “everyone has a car / everyone needs a car” etc and the “risk / benefit” is much different for a car. Fair enough, but please acknowledge that living life itself is a huge risk and you are at the mercy of your fellow man acting responsibly in many cases.

If you have any sort of fear that you cannot trust yourself with a firearm, please do not purchase one.
 
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