Gun Control and Freedom

by Dr. Phil Stringer (Florida)

"But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up" (Matthew 24:43).

Thomas Jefferson said, "When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny."

The issue of gun control has become a battle ground in the Culture War for several reasons:

• Liberals believe ... that the availability of guns causes violent crime.
• Conservatives believe ... that violent crime is a lack of values.
• Liberals believe ... that society is responsible for protecting people.
• Conservatives believe ... that a man is responsible for protecting his own family.
• Liberals believe ... that government should be more powerful than the citizens.
• Conservatives believe ... that the citizens should be more powerful than the government.

Much of the debate has to do with the purpose of the Second Amendment which reads:

A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not b e infringed.

The much discussed "right to hunt" was only of secondary importance to our founding fathers. Even the right to self-defense was not the primary reason for the Second Amendment. The primary reason was to serve as a check on big government. American educator and journalist Noah Webster, commenting on the Second amendment, said, "The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword because the whole body of the people is armed and constitutes a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be on a pretense raised in the United States."

American patriot and Virginia Governor Patrick Henry said of the Second Amendment:

Guard with jealous attention the public liberty, suspect everyone who approaches that jewel, unfortunately nothing will preserve it but downright force; whenever you give up that force, you are ruined. The great object is that every man be armed.

In a Supreme Court decision in 1833, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story stated:

The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered the palladium of the liberties of a republic, since it offers a strong moral check against usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers and will generally, even if these (rulers) are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.

Alexander Hamilton said of the Second Amendment:

If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self defense, which is paramount to all positive forms of government.

Many Americans are wondering if it is a coincidence that those who want to see the government impose a new culture on America are the same people who want gun control.

The Founding Fathers had just ended several years of bloody warfare to replace a tyrannical government with one which protected the rights of the people. During the early days of the War for Independence, the citizens had fought with privately-owned guns (the battles of Lexington and Concord, for example). These battles bought the new government the time necessary to develop the armed forces necessary to achieve military victory. They were very conscious of the dangers of tyranny and the importance of an armed populace.

Throughout history tyrants and potential tyrants have feared private ownership of guns. Gun control was one of Adolf Hitler’s first programs after being elected in Germany, but before establishing a dictatorship. In 1935, on the day he signed gun control legislation into law in Germany, Adolf Hitler said, "This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future." Of course, Hitler did not admit what his real motive was for gun control.

In most countries where Communist tyrannies were established, gun control laws preceded the Communist government. When the Communists tried to establish a Communist dictatorship in Afghanistan, they ran into problems. Private gun ownership was widespread there. The Afghanistan people resisted, and the pro-Communists were forced to call for a Russian invasion force. The people fought the Russians with privately owned arms until military equipment arrived from other countries. They fought the Russian armies to a standstill. Eventually the Russians withdrew.

Gun ownership does also serve a self-defense purpose. About 75% of all uses of guns in crime-related incidents are defensive uses (about 2.4 million incidents annually) by crime victims. Without private gun ownership these citizens would be at the mercy of the most lawless element of society. Actress Kathy Najimy wrote to actor Charlton Heston and asked him, "Dear Charlton, You are a fine, fine actor, but when are you going to put down the guns and join us liberals?" His reply was clear: "When the bad buys put down their guns."

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In order to promote the concept of gun control, many myths are promoted.

MYTH 1:

The only way that violent crime can be reduced is by gun control.

No one has yet explained how gun control will take one gun out of the hands of one criminal who plans a violent crime. There are over 200 million guns available in America, and a violent criminal will simply break the law and obtain and use one anyway.

Actually, guns are used in 400,000 potentially live-saving situations yearly. Thirty-seven thousand lives are taken by guns yearly. Restricting the right to self-defense would only increase the number of deaths yearly. As the famous bumper sticker says, "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."

MYTH 2:

More lives are lost in gun accidents than in violent criminal activity.

This is an argument without any foundation. In 1991 homicides accounted for 47% of all gun deaths, suicides 48%, and accidents only four percent. Almost all of these accidents could be prevented with greater gun education and, in fact, the number of accidental gun deaths has been dropping consistently since 1980.

MYTH 3:

The Second Amendment was only designed for organized state militias, not individuals.

In 1788, George Mason, who was primarily responsible for the wording of the Bill of Rights, wrote that the militia should be defined as, "The whole people except a few public officials." The phrase, "right of the people," in the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment is universally taken to refer to all of the people -- as was obviously intended. It should be taken the same way in the Second Amendment.

MYTH 4:

Nations with strict gun control laws have substantially less violent crime that the United States.

In low crime countries like Switzerland, Israel, and New Zealand, guns are more readily available than they are in the United States. Taiwan and South Africa have the strictest gun control laws in the world (imposing capital punishment on those who illegally own guns), but have higher murder rates than the United States. Britain has had strict gun control laws since 1920, but violent crime is on the increase. It is true that there is less violent crime in Britain and Japan than there is in the United States, but there was less violent crime in these cultures before they had gun control, as well.

MYTH 5:

Private gun ownership is to blame for the high teen suicide rate in the United States.

In Great Britain and Japan, where there is more gun control and little private gun ownership, teen suicide has risen by 25% in recent years. The teen suicide rate in the United States has remained constant during the same period.

MYTH 6:

Gun control would make our streets safer.

Twenty percent of our homicides occur in just four cities (with just six percent of our population). These cities -- New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Washington D.C. -- all have strict gun control laws.

In 1982 the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois adopted the strictest gun control laws in the United States. Also in 1982, the Atlanta suburb of Kennesaw, Georgia passed a city ordinance that requires heads of households (with a few exceptions) to keep at least one firearm in the house! Since 1982 murder, armed robbery, and aggravated assault have all increased in Evanston. In Kennesaw incidents of murder, rape, and armed robbery are almost non-existent.

MYTH 7:

Gun registration provides no danger to gun ownership.

In 1967 the New York City Council enacted an ordinance requiring owners of shotguns and rifles to register their guns by make, model, and serial number. They were also required to obtain a permit to possess such weapons. In 1991 the Council outlawed semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. Since the New York police already had records of the owners of such guns, the police were in a position to confiscate these weapons from the private, law-abiding citizens who owned them.

Before World War II, Poland, France, Denmark, Norway and Czechoslovakia all had gun registration laws. When the Nazis invaded, they simply seized these lists and used them to confiscate privately owned weapons. During the same war, Russia invaded Finland. (Russia had a population of 170 million versus Finland’s four million citizens.) Finland had no gun control laws and private ownership of weapons was common. The Finns were able to resist and humiliate the mammoth Russian army.

More than two centuries ago (1764), criminologist Cesare Becaria wrote:

[Gun control laws] disarm those only who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants. They serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.

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Some have questioned whether or not the Bible allows the use of physical force for self-defense. Exodus 20:13 clearly says, "Thou shalt not kill." But the Old Testament clearly indicates that this refers to murder; self-defense was allowed, and individuals could serve as the "avenger of blood" (Numbers 35 and Deuteronomy 19). Civil government carried out capital punishment for at least 11 offenses.

Under Old Testament law, defending your home from intruders and thieves was expected. Exodus 22:2-3 says:

"If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft."

In the New Testament, Matthew 24:43 says, "But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up."

There should be no question that the radical gun control lobby wants to remove all guns from private citizens. Consider these quotes:

A December 21, 1993 editorial in the New York Times said: "Gun violence won’t be cured by one set of laws. It will require years of partial measures that will gradually tighten the requirements for gun ownership, and incrementally change expectations about the firepower that should be available to ordinary citizens."

A deputy commissioner of the Florida State Health Department was quoted in the Chicago Tribune, November 7, 1993: "The goal is an ultimate ban on all guns, but we also have to take a step at a time and go for limited access first."

Michael K. Beard of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence was quoted in the December 9, 1993 issue of the Washington Times: "Out goal is to not allow anybody to buy a handgun. In the meantime, we think there ought to be strict licensing and regulation."

The cultural and political conflict in the American colonies (20 years of controversy before Lexington and Concord) broke out into a full scale "hot" war after British Governor Thomas Gage tried to confiscate the weapons of the Massachusetts militia. The people would not tolerate this, and they came from all over as individuals and as community militias to fire upon the military column charged with the confiscation of their weapons.

In the "Old West" a common statement was, "God and Sam Colt make all men equal." God created all men equal; the Colt revolver had made it possible for the average man to defend himself against the lawless element of society.

The concepts of self defense, a limited government, and the Second Amendment to the Constitution all go together in a free society.

Dr. Phil Stringer is Executive Vice President of Landmark Baptist College, Haines City, Florida.