Crossbows and Firearms

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At the Second Lateran Council a ban was issued on crossbows due to their destructive power (at the time).

That being said, why is there no ban on guns? Guns have much more power, so why is their no ban?

My theory is that because the use of crossbows became popular more slowly than the onset of guns, it was not a fair fight for many. In the gun-dominated battlefields, people would not be able to defend themselves. And while some people use guns to harm people, guns also save lives. Let’s be honest, who is going to stop a group of terrorists with automatic rifles with a spear or bow or blah blah blah.

But even so, guns have more power to kill. Why do you think there is no ban on them?

Note: I am against gun control, but I am curious.

Edit: Their use was banned against Catholics and non-Catholic Christians

Edit 2: I think I’ve answered my question. Crossbows has unheard of power back then. Nowadays, guns have more killing power, but you can’t stop bad people with a gun without a gun, and measures nowadays can be taken to protect against guns. At the time, virtually nothing could stop crossbows. Because now, guns will probably save more lives than take them, and Kevlar can stop a bullet. Even knight armor couldn’t stop a crossbow bolt at the time. At the time then, fighting from range was probably considered too dangerous on battlefields, seeing as majority used swords, and with a quiver of, say, 30 arrows, a good archer could pick off 20 or more soldiers. Nowadays, everyone fights from a range, has more understanding of how to not die in ranged combat, and most people don’t fight close up, unless forced to. I guess it could have also been banned by use on Christians because it was an unfair fight. It wasn’t banned on Muslims, and at the time, they were experts in archery and had hundreds or thousands of archers, making it a fair fight with them. Nowadays, Muslims and Christians have access to more or less the same weapons and destructive capabilities. And to save lives from bad people with guns and protect people, you might need a good guy with a gun.
 
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I think you would find that most Catholic Bishops and priests around the world would favour gun control. The views of American Conservatives on CAF do not necessarily reflect the views of broader Catholicism.
 
But my question is this: If crossbows were deemed morally wrong, are guns nowadays?
 
Without controls, I would say yes. But that is not going to be a popular opinion on an American forum.
We Canadians have gun control and our national homicide rate is half that, per capita, of the US. On Fr Z’s board, one poster told me that we are essentially slaves of the state because we’re not all ready to shoot our congressman in the head if required… I consider such attitudes very anti-Catholic.
 
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But the cities with the strictest gun laws here have some of the highest murder rates whereas many cities with open carry laws have substantially less homicide rates.
 
I can’t answer that. It seems to work relatively well here, though no system is perfect and there will always be violent crime.
 
There have been a couple of crossbow threads recently. I think what the cited Council did was ban use of crossbows on Christians, not everyone. As evidenced by the various European religious wars, the church has been very selective in its stand against weaponry. And guns are morally neutral.
 
Why are they morally neutral? They have more power than crossbows. Was the Second Lateran Council a doctrinal council or a pastoral council?
 
I own both. I rarely use a crossbow. Maybe practice with it once a year. But the ability to have virtually unlimited bolts if need be and the silence of them compared to guns makes them a good thing to keep around. I’m not very accurate with a crossbow. that’s on me. Some people use them exclusively for hunting as in some states it can be used in both (firearm and bow) seasons.
 
What would ‘banning the use of guns against Catholics’ mean, for civilians like me?
Probably nothing, since if some violent thug invades my home, he’s not here to discuss the Mass rubrics. If it turns out he’s a baptized Catholic, too bad for him. Or good for him, if he repents at the last second.
 
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Well, the canon banning their use on Christians was overturned anyways (crossbows).
 
Suppressors aren’t allowed in my state. Used one in another state once, though. Really helped tame the muzzle flip!
 
twf said:
I think you would find that most Catholic Bishops and priests around the world would favour gun control. The views of American Conservatives on CAF do not necessarily reflect the views of broader Catholicism.
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Gun control is utterly irrelevant here.

The ban on crossbows applied to the military, to keep down the carnage in war. It wasn’t about “don’t shoot the burglar,” or children accidentally discharging crossbows due to inadequate supervision . . .
puppson said:
What would ‘banning the use of guns against Catholics’ mean, for civilians like me?
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Nothing, unless you’re an army . . .
 
Exactly. Besides, if a criminal invades my home, tries to carjack me, etc. I’ll assume he’s no kind of devout Christian and I’ll proceed accordingly.
 
RHIC12, I am more interested in would a priest be willing to bless my fire arms and ammunition. ?
 
Depends on the priests I’d imagine. But military chaplains do it all the time. I’m guessing father z would as he is a gun enthusiast. A good priest friend of mine and I go shooting all the time. He has blessed our firearms. But I also know priests who would look at you in utter shock.
 
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RHIC12 said:
But the cities with the strictest gun laws here have some of the highest murder rates whereas many cities with open carry laws have substantially less homicide rates.
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The statistics are a little bit skewed. Some of those cities with very strict gun laws and high murder rates are right next to areas with lax gun laws. There’s nothing to stop the guns from flowing in.
 
RHIC12 said:
At the Second Lateran Council a ban was issued on crossbows due to their destructive power (at the time).
That being said, why is there no ban on guns? Guns have much more power, so why is their no ban?
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I would say it is because the Catholic Church does not have the authority to ban guns.

I do not think the crossbow comparison apt, as to what is prudent from time to time, and from country to country changes. One of the job of national bishops’ councils is to advise the people on a national level as to what moral principles may affect the prudent decisions for that country. Like this (there are more documents though):

http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-act...tive-justice/backgrounder-on-gun-violence.cfm
 
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