Should Christians be Gun Rights Advocates?

                This is one that I imagine may cause a bit of a split opinion, but with all of this attention over open and concealed carry and what weapons American citizens should be allowed to possess, a question has plagued me that I hope to give my thoughts on here. That question is: should Christians be arming themselves with firearms and fighting for the right to do so? Now I am not advocating for a violent uprising in which we establish our own Christian government or something of that nature. I merely want to reflect on the relationship Christians should have with the second amendment and the world around us.

                The first thing to ask is if the Bible ever talked about defending oneself or loved ones or situations where weapons are used. Now obviously the Bible will not specifically mention firearms, but we can speak of weapons in a general sense here. There are plenty of battles mentioned during the Old Testament, as well as an example story of non-warfare battles between King Saul and David. Mark 13:7 and James 4:1 illustrate that conflict and war will be inevitable in this fallen war of ours. Someone will always want to take something from another, and they may resort to violent means. In many of these cases, violence may be the only answer to this violence at that time.

                Now even the disciples of Jesus traveled with weapons. In Luke 22:37-39, Jesus commanded his disciples to sell their cloaks to buy swords. Two of the disciples spoke up saying they had swords there. I’m assuming they already had them because the scripture does not state that they went away to buy them. Jesus then said that was enough. People I have talked to said that this was to help confirm the prophecy that Jesus would be counted among the criminals, which is also supported that He was crucified between two thieves. Either way, the disciples of Jesus carried weapons and presumably used them, even if one instance of use was condemned by Jesus. I am speaking of Peter slicing off the high priest servant’s ear (John 18:10). This would show that there are instances where even if it seems a good option, Christians are not to use violence, instead follow whatever plan God would have you follow.

                We can turn to other instances where believers carried weapons and used them by turning to the countless battles fought by the Israelites and their kings, with King David writing in Psalms “Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle” (Psalm 144:1) God does call many people to be soldiers, but there is a responsibility to this calling as I have mentioned in my previous post about our leadership. Soldiers are gifted with weaponry and as such have the ability to easily take life. That being said, we are called as Christians to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:10), to honor God with our actions (1 Corinthians 10:23), and to obey the law of the land (Romans 13). I specifically mention the law of the land because while you may have means of obtaining a firearm, you would be in the wrong if such method or weapon was illegal.

                So hopefully all of this has shown that the weapons themselves are not sinful. I have also demonstrated that Christians have a responsibility to uphold if we choose to carry a weapon. If you choose to do so, I would ask that you carefully consider why you wish to carry a weapon. If all you wish to do is to have a weapon to harm others, then you have no business carrying that weapon if you also claim to be a Christian. Instead I would think one should carry a weapon to protect your fellow man and to keep the peace of the land. May God bless you and have a good rest of your day.