Gun Control

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Bob_Sevigny

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I am not quite sure where to ask this question. I have been a Catholic for 51 years and have never heard anything on gun control. Now I am seeing all over the internet of how the church is for gun control. Where does the church satnd on this issue? :confused:
 
Bob_Sevigny said:
I am not quite sure where to ask this question. I have been a Catholic for 51 years and have never heard anything on gun control. Now I am seeing all over the internet of how the church is for gun control. Where does the church satnd on this issue? :confused:
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There’s a thread under Catholic News on the subject. As I understand it, the Church is not at all opposed to people owning firearms.
 
The Catholic Church does not have a position on gun control.

The Catholic Church does have a position on “behavior control”.

Now, having said that, some clergy have taken political positions on a number of issues.

And some people take exception to some of those political positions.

You know, the most celebrated victim of the shootings in Tucson should have some authority on the gun control issue. But, she is not Catholic. She owns a Glock 9mm.]
 
Depends on what one means by “gun control” RK, does it not?

To some it means limiting law-abiding citizen’s rights to own firearms.

To others, it means getting illegal guns off the streets.

To others, it means keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.

The Church’s positon would be along the lines of doing what’s necessary to reduce and eliminate gun violence, which is a very general statement and doesn’t specify how such is accomplished. Buyback programs, where citizens are paid forvoluntarily turning in firearms, would be something that the Church would seem to support, for example. Limiting law-abiding citizens access to firearms when they would be more safe with a firearm, however, is something that the Church would not seem to support.
 
Newbie2 said:
Depends on what one means by “gun control” RK, does it not?

To some it means limiting law-abiding citizen’s rights to own firearms.

To others, it means getting illegal guns off the streets.

To others, it means keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.

The Church’s positon would be along the lines of doing what’s necessary to reduce and eliminate gun violence, which is a very general statement and doesn’t specify how such is accomplished. Buyback programs, where citizens are paid forvoluntarily turning in firearms, would be something that the Church would seem to support, for example. Limiting law-abiding citizens access to firearms when they would be more safe with a firearm, however, is something that the Church would not seem to support.
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The only ones who suffer from gun control is the law abiding citizens. The criminal will always get guns no matter how much control there is. The criminal will always get illegal guns no matter how much gun control there is. See the law abiding citizen will often do what the law says but the criminal will not. To me gun control means limiting the guns for the law abiding citizen but the criminal will always have free reign. Why because they don’t care about the law. I don’t think a criminal will say “Oh we can’t have that kind of gun because its against the law.” or “I can’t have a gun because I’m a criminal.” They could care less about the laws on controlling guns.
 
rev_kevin said:
The only ones who suffer from gun control is the law abiding citizens. The criminal will always get guns no matter how much control there is. The criminal will always get illegal guns no matter how much gun control there is. See the law abiding citizen will often do what the law says but the criminal will not. To me gun control means limiting the guns for the law abiding citizen but the criminal will always have free reign. Why because they don’t care about the law. I don’t think a criminal will say “Oh we can’t have that kind of gun because its against the law.” or “I can’t have a gun because I’m a criminal.” They could care less about the laws on controlling guns.
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I agree with you; that definition is used by the pols to do exactly as you say. My guess, though, is that there are some pols who genuinely think this is the solution to the problem as they don’t really understand that bad guys are bad guys and they don’t follow the rules.

A majority of the pols that support such gun control, methinks, know exactly what they’re doing.

Personally, I like the idea of a waiting or “cooling off” period of a couple days when wanting to purchase a firearm, and don’t see that as restrictive. That being said, we have to be ever vigilent of incremental losses of our freedoms. First it’s a couple days, then it’s a couple weeks, then a couple months, then you have to prove to some bureaucrat’s satisfaction that you really NEED a firearm.

I’m also wary of the notion that there should be an unrestricted right to carry. Certain people under certain situations, yes, but particularly with 20-something young men, when they get together, sometimes tempers flare. I’ve been in a number of situations where a shoving match or fistfight might have very well turned into a tragedy if one or more of my yahoo friends were carrying.

Anyway, those are just my opinions. As I wrote earlier, the Church favors solutions that will reduce or end gun violence, but is not specific as to how that can or need be accomplished.
 
Newbie2 said:
That being said, we have to be ever vigilent of incremental losses of our freedoms. First it’s a couple days, then it’s a couple weeks, then a couple months, then you have to prove to some bureaucrat’s satisfaction that you really NEED a firearm.
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I lived in upstate New York for a few years and wanted to get a permit to purchase a hand gun. I went to a police station where I submitted the form and was fingerprinted. Later, when I checked back with them about the status of my request, I was told it had been lost so I went back and resubmitted the form - and waited. I went through a background check - and waited. I took the mandatory hand gun safety course - and waited. Finally I made a court appearance in front of a judge to explain to his satisfaction why I wanted a gun. After only ten months, I got my permit.

During those ten months there were two incidents which perfectly illustrate the uselessness of this entire process. In one case, a man was released from prison and a week later was arrested for waving a pistol at his wife. In the other case, a prisoner escaped from Riker’s Island (NY City’s main jail complex) and used a pistol in a robbery the same night.

My permit - after a ten month wait, a background check, a gun safety course, and a court appearance did not permit me to own a gun in NY City, whose restrictions are much more severe. Clearly, although these hurdles could make it difficult upstate (and impossible in the city) to legally own a gun, gun control laws are pretty irrelevant to criminals.

It really is hard to believe that such laws are even aimed at the criminal, on whom they have no effect whatsoever, but rather at the law abiding majority. It is our rights that they are aimed at curtailing, not some thug’s.

Ender
 
Seems to me that gun control advocates regard guns as some kind of malevolent force … somewhat mystical and perhaps even “magickal”, perhaps even with a life of their own.

They don’t seem to look at guns as simple mechanical devices that any handy person can fabricate with basic hand tools.

In fact, I would say that gun control advocates have no personal mechanical or DIY skills at all. They cannot even begin to conceive of how someone might make a gun or what they are made of.

So, to the gun control advocates, guns are mysterious and to be eliminated, as if others WITH mechanical skills could not make one.
 
Monte_RCMS said:
They don’t seem to look at guns as simple mechanical devices that any handy person can fabricate with basic hand tools.

In fact, I would say that gun control advocates have no personal mechanical or DIY skills at all. They cannot even begin to conceive of how someone might make a gun or what they are made of.

So, to the gun control advocates, guns are mysterious and to be eliminated, as if others WITH mechanical skills could not make one.
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No kidding!!

I’ve made firearms myself, pretty much from scratch. In my case, it was a replica of a 16th snaphauce carbine, but it could just as easily ( if not more easily) been a submachine gun

The British WW-II Sten gun was specifically designed to be made in garage workshops.

The jews in post WW-II Palestine had set up a shop to do just that, in the basement of a laundry shop that served the occupying British military.

Gee, how long would it take for some guy how had taken shop class in high school to start crankin’ 'em out if a full gun ban went into effect. It would be easier and cheaper than setting up to grow marijuana indoors.

Even if every gun manufacturer was put out of business, and every known (aka registered) gun was confiscated, a criminal could get his hands on one just as easily as they could a bag of pot.
 
Guns.
Everyone is a “law abiding” citizen. Until they are not.
It’s so easy to categorize people.
 
Sir_Knight said:
From the Vatican’s own website …

… the right of legitimate defense by means of arms EXISTS. This right can become a SERIOUS duty for those who are responsible for the lives of others, for the common good of the family or of the civil community. This right ALONE can **justify the possession of arms **…

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This is worth more than money. Thanks Sir Knight.
 
Gun Ownership - It’s The
Law In Kennesaw
By Jonathan Hamilton and David Burch
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writers
mdjonline.com/StoryDetail.cfm?id=10017128&Section=Home%20Page
3-14-1

KENNESAW, Ga - Several Kennesaw officials attribute a drop in crime in the city over the past two decades to a law that requires residents to have a gun in the house.

In 1982, the Kennesaw City Council unanimously passed a law requiring heads of households to own at least one firearm with ammunition.

The ordinance states the gun law is needed to “protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants.”

Then-councilman J.O. Stephenson said after the ordinance was passed, everyone “went crazy.”

“People all over the country said there would be shootings in the street and violence in homes,” he said. “Of course, that wasn’t the case.”

In fact, according to Stephenson, it caused the crime rate in the city to plunge.

Kennesaw Historical Society president Robert Jones said following the law’s passage, the crime rate dropped 89 percent in the city, compared to the modest 10 percent drop statewide.

“It did drop after it was passed,” he said. “After it initially dropped, it has stayed at the same low level for the past 16 years.”
 
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