Does the Catholic Church have a position on gun control?

[Meemai]

Well this only applies to you crazy Americans. Sorry for calling you crazy but having guns do you really need them? It would be chaos here if everyone could have a gun your no more cowboys.

The vatican surely have no guns. Only the ones protecting the pope might have. But they are well trained.

As an outsider looking in on what Americans think about guns, It does seem a bit surreal (no offence intended). The emotional attachment that many seem to have to guns seems quite strange. It’s only a bit of machinery (a very lethal one) and it’s ability to protect a person going about their everyday life is overrated. With the huge amount of guns available in your country, if a person is going to murder someone else then they are likely to use a gun to do so, as seen by the large numbers of gun killings (mostly by legally obtained guns) in the USA. And if someone shoots you to try to kill you, it will be highly unlikely that you will be able to pull your gun from your pocket/handbag.holster etc. and kill him before he kills you. It would seem that the attachment to guns is psychological rather than practical.

Well said.

we live in very different worlds. I didn’t have to ask the government’s permission to buy that Perazzi in post 209, or explain to anyone why I want it, or “justify” owning it. in fact, I use that shotgun in formal competition but its really nobody’s damn business what I do with it, so long as I’m not harming anyone else. if the government wants to take it away, it has to find better reasons than the fear mongering seen lately in this country.

your mileage (actually, your mindset) may (does) vary, so I invite you to ignore the very existence of guns if you find them offensive (obtain all necessary government permits before expressing an opinion).

You might not kill with them but they claim the life of many others. Just so you can keep pracitcing your hobby. That’s called selfish.

If you want to aim at things and shoot go shoot a bow instead, or a crosbow.

 

[Annie39]

Well this only applies to you crazy Americans. Sorry for calling you crazy but having guns do you really need them? It would be chaos here if everyone could have a gun your no more cowboys.

The vatican surely have no guns. Only the ones protecting the pope might have. But they are well trained.

Well said.

You might not kill with them but they claim the life of many others. Just so you can keep pracitcing your hobby. That’s called selfish.

If you want to aim at things and shoot go shoot a bow instead, or a crosbow.

Am I to understand that you don’t drive a car? Also offense is taken when you use the ad hominem logical fallacy of crazy. When you stoop to insults, you have already lost the argument.

 

[Gidge]

Tawdry, exploitive and wrong.

The “easy access to guns” did not cause those people to lose their lives. Sociopathic “spectacle killers” did that. They could have killed people with the guns you, yourself admit that you own and claim a moral right to own or, like McVeigh and the Boston bombers, done it with other means.

Agreed. I see by your moniker that you live in a state where gun ownership is a normal part of life, and maybe even a right of passage, which, IMO, is how it should be everywhere in the USA.

Many in the USCCB lean toward the political left and the support for “gun control” does not surprise me. Up here in MA you wouldn’t believe the hoops one needs to jump through to get a CCW permit (We are a “may issue” state).

 

[Ridgerunner]

Well this only applies to you crazy Americans. Sorry for calling you crazy but having guns do you really need them? It would be chaos here if everyone could have a gun your no more cowboys.

If you want to aim at things and shoot go shoot a bow instead, or a crosbow.

You needn’t call us “crazy”. If not for us, you would be part of the Third Reich or perhaps the Soviet Union. Maybe we were crazy for saving your skins, but most Americans think better of you than that. Possibly some Americans think the Netherlanders are crazy for having legalized prostitution and drug use and allowing (eventually) yourselves to be ruled by Sharia law.

It is my impression that the Netherlands is a very pacified place except for the occasional Islamic assassination. There are plenty of places in the U.S. where dangerous creatures live. Some of them, like mountain lions and bears are even protected. One can only kill them in self-defense. Some, like feral hogs, water moccasins, copperheads and feral canines are not protected. You really can’t deal with any of them effectively with a bow or crossbow.

 

[Gricken]

You needn’t call us “crazy”. If not for us, you would be part of the Third Reich or perhaps the Soviet Union. Maybe we were crazy for saving your skins, but most Americans think better of you than that. Possibly some Americans think the Netherlanders are crazy for having legalized prostitution and drug use and allowing (eventually) yourselves to be ruled by Sharia law.

It is my impression that the Netherlands is a very pacified place except for the occasional Islamic assassination. There are plenty of places in the U.S. where dangerous creatures live. Some of them, like mountain lions and bears are even protected. One can only kill them in self-defense. Some, like feral hogs, water moccasins, copperheads and feral canines are not protected. You really can’t deal with any of them effectively with a bow or crossbow.

Third Reich? No way. Soviet Union? That on the other hand IS an extremely likely possibility possibility.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Agreed. I see by your moniker that you live in a state where gun ownership is a normal part of life, and maybe even a right of passage, which, IMO, is how it should be everywhere in the USA.

Many in the USCCB lean toward the political left and the support for “gun control” does not surprise me. Up here in MA you wouldn’t believe the hoops one needs to jump through to get a CCW permit (We are a “may issue” state).

I live in the Missouri Ozarks, and I’ll readily admit giving a child his/her first gun is a “rite of passage” at somewhere between age 10 and 13. Normally, it will be a .22 rifle. It is part of that custom that one trains one’s child in safety and its proper operation and use. One goes out with the child into the countryside a number of times as part of it.

I’ll also admit that Obama’s (and prodigal’s) proposal would require that I do an absurd background check on my own child before doing that. I find that mightily offensive and needlessly intrusive as well as serving no useful function.

 

[Fairwinds]

Well this only applies to you crazy Americans.

the moderators aren’t happy with insults on this forum. you should guard your language before calling any individual or group of people insane. comprende?

You might not kill with them but they claim the life of many others. Just so you can keep pracitcing your hobby. That’s called selfish.

If you want to aim at things and shoot go shoot a bow instead, or a crosbow.

shoot trap with a crossbow? really? I’d bet the farm that model of Perazzi has never killed anyone.

ProTip: I could kill someone with a crossbow easier than with that shotgun.

 

[Brendan_64]

we live in very different worlds. I didn’t have to ask the government’s permission to buy that Perazzi in post 209, or explain to anyone why I want it, or “justify” owning it. in fact, I use that shotgun in formal competition but its really nobody’s damn business what I do with it, so long as I’m not harming anyone else. if the government wants to take it away, it has to find better reasons than the fear mongering seen lately in this country.

Our Church teaches that it is the business of public authorities to regulate sales of firearms, so arguing that it is not the government’s business is arguing against the teachings of the Church.

your mileage (actually, your mindset) may (does) vary, so I invite you to ignore the very existence of guns if you find them offensive (obtain all necessary government permits before expressing an opinion).

When did I say I found the existence of guns offensive. And it is the business of other people. Bearing in mind the number of people that are murdered by legally obtained guns, the regulation of gun ownership is very much the business of all people, whether or not they own a gun.

 

[Brendan_64]

more annoyed at the whining.

So anyone who questions the right of people to buy guns at will is a whiner?

the moderators aren’t happy with insults on this forum. you should guard your language before calling any individual or group of people insane. comprende?

But it’s OK to brand people, who question a particular point of view, as whiners?

 

[Fairwinds]

Our Church teaches that it is the business of public authorities to regulate sales of firearms, so arguing that it is not the government’s business is arguing against the teachings of the Church…

gun ownership is already regulated by statute, rule and ordinance at the federal, state, and local level, limited by well established constitutional guidelines. so what’s the problem? has the USCCB come out against AR-15s?

when I say its not the government’s business why I want a Perazzi shotgun or my AR-15 national match rifle, so long as use is legal, I’m not saying the government doesn’t have a right to enact gun control legislation. I’m saying I don’t live in a nanny state where I have to beg the government for this personal right. if the government wants to infringe the right, the government has the burden of justifying its actions. fortunately, the loudest of the gun grabbers on the internets and in real life don’t understand how this works, so they’re already halfway to fail.

 

[Fairwinds]

…
But it’s OK to brand people, who question a particular point of view, as whiners?

that’s a garment of general cut, I was wondering who’d put it on.

that other poster said Americans were crazy, a more specific target.

 

[Fairwinds]

So anyone who questions the right of people to buy guns at will is a whiner?
…

that’s argumentative and a misrepresentation, charitably I assume you’ve done that in error.

 

[Brendan_64]

that’s a garment of general cut, I was wondering who’d put it on.

Well when you use that expression to express why you replied to my post in a rather tetchy manner, then it would seem that you were indeed aiming the comments at a particular target. Comprende?

 

[Fairwinds]

Well when you use that expression to express why you replied to my post in a rather tetchy manner, then it would seem that you were indeed aiming the comments at a particular target. Comprende?

I was responding to your comment. I don’t tell you what or how to think.

 

[Gidge]

Our Church teaches that it is the business of public authorities to regulate sales of firearms, so arguing that it is not the government’s business is arguing against the teachings of the Church.

That, my friend, is twisted logic.
I suppose Romans Chapter 13 means to submit to jack-booted thugs too

 

[Fairwinds]

That, my friend, is twisted logic.
I suppose Romans Chapter 13 means to submit to jack-booted thugs too

for the record, its not only twisted logic, its also a strawman and a false representation of gun control under the second amendment.

 

[Gidge]

for the record, its not only twisted logic, its also a strawman and a false representation of gun control under the second amendment.

Exactly.

What part of “shall not be infringed” don’t they understand ?

I suppose we have to live with what we allow – starting in the 1930’s with the suppression of machine guns, then the GCA of 1968, and the AWB in the 1990’s (We still have it here in the People’s Republic of MA).

 

[Fairwinds]

Exactly.

What part of “shall not be infringed” don’t they understand ?

I suppose we have to live with what we allow – starting in the 1930’s with the suppression of machine guns, then the GCA of 1968, and the AWB in the 1990’s (We still have it here in the People’s Republic of MA).

I think we’re within an acceptable – constitutionally valid – range of gun control. the issue is completely politicized and polarized. but that’s ok, its how things work here. of course, the present administration is completely hostile to guns, but politically inept at getting its way for once. so the antidote for the extreme Left is the extreme NRA. its how the system works. anyone who wants to drag the USCCB into this political fight (and I doubt the USCCB wants to be in one) is going to have to accept the fact that the USCCB’s expertise on gun control legislation is going to be challenged.

 

[Meemai]

You needn’t call us “crazy”. If not for us, you would be part of the Third Reich or perhaps the Soviet Union. Maybe we were crazy for saving your skins, but most Americans think better of you than that. Possibly some Americans think the Netherlanders are crazy for having legalized prostitution and drug use and allowing (eventually) yourselves to be ruled by Sharia law.

It is my impression that the Netherlands is a very pacified place except for the occasional Islamic assassination. There are plenty of places in the U.S. where dangerous creatures live. Some of them, like mountain lions and bears are even protected. One can only kill them in self-defense. Some, like feral hogs, water moccasins, copperheads and feral canines are not protected. You really can’t deal with any of them effectively with a bow or crossbow.

Hadn’t you stopped the third the reich. The third reich would have stopped you. Also do not forget that your roots are European and your grandparents are European. And the third reich would surely have gotten to America after it had fully gotten France and England in it’s hands. You really think America went in war in order to save Europea? If they would have done so they would have joined far sooner…

Also I have a family member that died while fighting the third reich he was a rebel. It’s not like America alone did free us there where a lot of European fighters involved also!

But guns kill people it’s a tool made for killing. As Chekhov’s gun theory is… When there’s a gun involved it will be shot. Your childeren get killed by guns. And what do you do as a reaction? You scream for more guns.

I don’t even understand why a catholic would be against abortion but not against guns. It’s a tool to send someone to die.

 

[Fairwinds]

…
But guns kill people it’s a tool made for killing. …

my shotgun is made for breaking clays. of course, my other shotguns are made for killing birds. mostly, and by a long shot, doves.