Is it okay for Catholics to own firearms so they can protect themselves and their loved ones?

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Hail_Mary

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So I would like to know if owning firearms in order to protect ourselves and our loved ones goes against the Catholic faith?

I do know the US Consitution states in the Second Amendment that we have the right to bear arms. I do know that guns do not kill people, but people kill people. It was kind of heartbreaking for me hearing about innocent people dying in school shootings when I watch the news channel.

So what are all your thoughts about this? I would like to get a Catholic perspective on this.
 
The catechism notes that we have a right to defend ourselves and even an obligation to defend the lives of those we are responsible for protecting.

Of course (this is my (name removed by moderator)ut, not straight from the catechism), one has to consider the laws where one lives, whether those laws are just, whether owning such a weapon is more likely to do harm than good, and so forth. Some issues are not black-and-white.
 
God help the first person who enters my house without permission, especially if I feel any threat towards my family or myself.
 
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It absolutely does NOT go against the Catholic faith.

We have a natural-law right to self-defense against unjust aggressors. (As a side issue, I’ve always been interested to know what would constitute a JUST aggressor, but not to digress.) Anyway, the United States, and I submit this is God’s Providence, has the closest thing to absolute freedom to keep and bear arms that exists on the face of this earth.

In past generations, it’s my observation that firearms ownership wasn’t even questioned. For those who chose to own them, it was just a fact of everyday life. Rural children commonly used .22 rifles.

I understand what is going on nowadays with the incidents of mass violence. It is a horrible thing. But the guns did not change so much as the people changed. People have forgotten God. That is what is causing the violence. Not the guns.
 
Crimes committed with guns have nothing to do with you or guns

If you ask me these days people especially Catholics should have a gun
It’s a dangerous world especially for Catholics

For me personally it’s just a real fun hobby that makes me feel child like joy (real like how they look and figuring out how each thing works and such)

I’m live in NY wear I bear the heavy burden of gun control and abortion laws

But it is in no way a sin to merely possess any weapon (maybe if it’s against your state laws but most of those laws are invalid)
 
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HomeschoolDad said:
understand what is going on nowadays with the incidents of mass violence. It is a horrible thing. But the guns did not change so much as the people changed. People have forgotten God. That is what is causing the violence. Not the guns.
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I do agree with all of that. I do know that violence and shootings happen in school because they are away from God. I know that sin is a main problem here and not the guns. Like I said guns do not kill people, people kill people.
 
I think everyone has hit the nail on the head, I’d just like to add that Chris Stefanick has a parody of Hey There Delilah in which he threatens to shoot a guy should he mis-step with Chris’ daughter, possibly partially joking but still a good demonstration of the point.
 
If owning a gun for self protection was against the Faith, Jesus would not have allowed Peter and the other apostles to carry a sword.

God Bless
 
phil19034 said:
If owning a gun for self protection was against the Faith, Jesus would not have allowed Peter and the other apostles to carry a sword.

God Bless
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Yes exactly. In the Genesis of Old Testament, Cain killed Abel with a rock but God did not ban rocks and stones because of that. The same thing applies to owning guns.
 
Michael_Anthony said:
I think everyone has hit the nail on the head, I’d just like to add that Chris Stefanick has a parody of Hey There Delilah in which he threatens to shoot a guy should he mis-step with Chris’ daughter, possibly partially joking but still a good demonstration of the point.
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here’s that parody from Chris Stefanick… He sang it at the SEEK conference. Classic!

 
Good observation. When my son (now 23) was in third grade, he brought home a worksheet one the Constitution. One of the questions was, “Which amendment gives us the right to bear arms?” While I was glad the worksheet acknowledged the second amendment at all, I explained to my son that the Constitution was not intended to “give” any rights at all, but to protect rights that we already have.
 
That’s why I don’t like it when people talk about “constitutional rights”. There is no such thing. Rights don’t come from man. My rights come from God.
 
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Jesus said to gun of your hand if it causes ya to sin sooo (joking 😂)

But yeah a non sinful or no criminal act/object
Doesn’t become sinful or criminal just because others used in it in that way

It’s kinda funny and cute when Catholics have that idea
Guns are violent and I’m not violent I’m a Catholic
Guns don’t imply violence and guns are in of themselves violence
Self defense is a different story and totally allowed for Catholics too (but I personally think showing as much mercy as you can in those situations is very holy)
 
Of course it is okay for a Catholic to own firearms. The gun is a tool and also used in sport. Obviously it also comes in handy for self defense. ‘Gun control’ is just another made up political issue of the left that liberals in the Church use as part of the seamless garment ideology to ‘form their conscience’ in order to justify voting for pro abortion politicians.
 
Hail_Mary said:
I do know that guns do not kill people, but people kill people.
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I don’t see how that line of reasoning helps in a Catholic context. The same could be said of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, yet all three are condemned in CCC 2314.

With that said, I’m unaware of any condemnation against owning guns. There is an implicit condemnation against arms races in CCC 2315, and one could argue that the reasons given could apply to the hoarding of guns, but that’s not clear. At the very least, the language isn’t particularly friendly towards the concept of owning guns with the hope of deterring violence.

However, CCC 2263 - 2264 does give us the right to defend ourselves if the intent is preservation of life, not the taking of it. As such, in a country like the U.S., where gun ownership is allowed, a gun could reasonably serve that purpose. In a country where gun ownership is forbidden, we should refrain. The Church does not declare owning a gun - or any weapon - as moral, but it does give us a “duty of obedience” to government (CCC 1899 - 1900) except for in cases where they go against moral law (CCC 1903), which again doesn’t include allowing gun - or weapon - ownership.
Hail_Mary said:
Cain killed Abel with a rock but God did not ban rocks and stones because of that
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Rocks and stones were created by God, but we found ways to weaponize them. Guns are closer to that weaponization, not a natural resource like rocks or stones.
 
ZMystiCat said:
don’t see how that line of reasoning helps in a Catholic context.
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Guns are tools that can be used for evil just like forceps and scalpels are tools that can be used for evil in abortions. But we don’t call for the control of forceps and scalpels because we know they are not the reason abortion is so prevalent in society.
 
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