When an Islamic terrorist killed or wounded more than 100 people at an Orlando nightclub in June, President Obama studiously avoided calling the shooter an “Islamic terrorist.” But he did not miss the chance to call for more restrictions on guns in his statement about the attack,

The shooter was apparently armed with a handgun and a powerful assault rifle. This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be.

          Heritage Foundation expert on national security, James Jay Carafano, responded: “There are many effective and important counterterrorism measures, but gun control isn’t one.” In fact, Omar Mateen was able to purchase his firearms legally because since 2007 he had worked for G4S Secure Solutions USA, the largest security services company in the world and a major Department of Homeland Security contractor. 

          Greater control and regulation of citizens’ guns has been on the liberal/progressives “wish list” for decades. Even now, many in that camp are backing push for the United States to sign on to the U.N “Small Arms Treaty.”

          The federal government first started regulating the sale of guns in 1927, banning the mailing of concealable weapons. In 1934, the National Firearms Act was passed, regulating the sale and possession of fully automatic sub-machine guns. These laws could be viewed as an effort to curb mob violence that grew exponentially during Prohibition. But with enactment of the Gun Control Act of 1968, the federal government stepped up efforts aimed at “keeping firearms out of the hands of those not legally entitled to possess them because of age, criminal background, or incompetence.” Then, in 1972, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms was established within the Department of Justice to enforce federal firearm laws. Since then Congress has enacted about five major laws to limit the sale of certain types of firearms and ammunition, set up “gun-free school zones,” establish and require background checks, and most recently to allow gun owners to bring firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges.  

          In 2013, some thought President Obama would be able to get Congress to pass his proposed legislation, described as an “ambitious effort to overhaul the nation’s gun laws.” But Congress demurred, and Obama placed blame on the “gun lobby and its allies,” whom, he said, “willfully lied about the bill.”

          Not to be deterred, in January 2016, President Obama announced in an “emotion-filled speech” that he would bypass Congress and issue a series of executive actions to expand background checks and “reduce gun violence.” In his January 5^th speech, Obama said, “I believe in the Second Amendment. It’s there written on the paper. It guarantees a right to bear arms. No matter how many times people try to twist my words around –I taught constitutional law, I know a little about this. I get it.”

          Those who believe, as the Second Amendment states, that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” worry, however, that Obama and his liberal/progressive friends don’t “get it.” And as noted above, further evidence to support that concern came once again with the president’s remarks after the Orlando incident. (It is worth considering how the scene in the Orlando nightclub would have played out if there had been one person there that night who was licensed to carry a gun and who could have stopped Mateen in his tracks with one well-placed shot.) 

          The controversy over gun control has Christians taking both sides of the issue. On the one side, those who advocate for greater gun control are calling out our culture’s “addiction to violence and idolatry of guns.” On the other side, there are those who cite the attacks on churches and Christian colleges over the past several years as reason for individuals to carry arms and to serve as “sheep dogs” who can move in to protect the “sheep” when there is an attack.

          Those who support the right to bear arms offer a number of standard arguments including: 1) the preservation of the Second Amendment as a constitutional right, 2) the protection of individual freedom, and 3) the prevention of tyranny and violence against groups that are viewed with disfavor. The latter argument has strong historical evidence to support it. One week before the infamous Nazi Kristallnacht of November 9 and 10, 1938, all the registered guns of the Jews were confiscated. Then, on those two nights, a wave of violence was directed against Jews throughout Germany, Austria, and areas of Czechoslovakia occupied by German troops. Local groups organized—some with government and police encouragement—to rape, pillage, loot, and murder Jews who had no means to defend themselves.

          In addition, however, I believe there is also a case that can be made biblically for the right of citizens to own and bear arms for self-defense, and for protection of property and the lives of others. This is found in the book of Nehemiah, which describes the time when a number of Jews returned from Babylonian captivity under Nehemiah’s leadership and began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

          Local enemies of the Jews, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, were not happy that Nehemiah had come “to seek the welfare of the children of Israel” and they “conspired together to fight against Jerusalem in order to cause it chaos.” Nehemiah and the Jews with him who were rebuilding the walls responded by praying for God’s help and setting up watches day and night. In addition, Nehemiah set guards at the unrepaired areas, and he “also stationed the people by families providing them individually their own swords, spears, and bows.” Then, Nehemiah writes:

After I looked around, I stood up and said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, ‘Stop being terrified because of them [your enemies]! Remember instead that the Lord is great and awesome. So fight for each other—and for your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.’

Nehemiah continues, “Those rebuilding the wall and those hauling the loads were working with one hand doing the task, but with the other hand holding the weapon. For the builders, everyone had his sword bound to his side, even while rebuilding.” So here is an example of those who were carrying their weapons, ready to defend their families and their property and the kingdom work they were doing to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.  

          May the time never come in this nation when Christians are the target of government condoned violence by local mobs as were the Jews on Kristallnacht. However, as has been said, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Therefore, we should seek to ensure that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”