I don’t want to carry a gun but I do

When I was out to dinner with my wife the other night, I was a wee bit uncomfortable in my clothes. The reason? I was packing heat, A.K.A. carrying a concealed handgun.

For years now, whenever I’m out with my wife or daughters you can bet I’m legally armed. When I’m alone, not so much, unless you count one of my Microtech knives that I usually have with me.

Here’s the thing: I don’t want to carry a gun. I have zero, and I mean z-e-r-o, desire to have a gun strapped on at my hip or carried appendix-style. It’s a literal pain in my, well, side or front and one I’d rather be without.

But today, with the random acts of violence we see happening almost everywhere, I feel obligated to have the means to protect those I care about and others around me. And if we were living in a major city, I think I’d outfit us all in body armor.

The New York Times reports that while some crimes are down, vicious assaults are up. In cities like Chicago, the seven major felonies tracked by the federal government were up 55% in 2023 compared with 2019, and through July 21 of this year, major felonies were up 53% from the same period in 2020 according to a Wall Street Journal article.

If you think carrying a gun to ward off an unarmed physical assault is excessive, think again. While so many decry the presence of “assault weapons” (AR-15s), the fact is the FBI’s historical homicide statistics show that year after year, over two to three times the number of people are murdered every year via a beating (unarmed or armed with a blunt object) than those killed with all rifles, of which the AR-15 is just one. 2023 was no exception.  

Moreover, ignored is the reality that guns actually save magnitudes more lives each year in self-defense situations than those taken through firearms-related homicide. See this recent article in the New York Post for just one example.  

The CDC historically tracked these statistics but quietly removed them after pressure from gun control activists wishing to suppress that data. Nothing like burying truth you don’t like, even if it's helping countless people.   

The interesting thing is, even those who used to champion gun control legislation are seeing it’s not the long-term solution for reducing violent crime.

For example, Leah Libresco, a statistician and former news writer at FiveThirtyEight (a data journalism site) started out in favor of gun control. But then she did her research and concluded “We save lives by focusing on a range of tactics to protect the different kinds of potential victims and reforming potential killers, not from sweeping bans focused on the guns themselves.”

Libresco understood what Aristotle implied in his analysis of something’s “cause”. An instrumental cause is the means by which something takes place, but an efficient cause is the agent by which something comes about.

The efficient cause of our culture’s violence problem is evil that resides in people’s hearts. Take away one of the instruments they use to commit violence, and they’ll simply acquire a different instrument. So instead, you need to either rob a person of their evil (e.g., being born again through Christ) or rob them of their freedom so they can’t commit evil in society.  

However, don’t look for that to happen on a worldwide basis anytime soon. That being the case, some Christians want to know: do I have a biblical right to defend my loved one’s life and my own with a weapon like a gun if it comes to that?

Thou shalt carry a gun

2 Kings 26:12 reads, “The Lord God has given you the ability to defend your life and those you love against all evil-doers with a weapon of your choosing.”

OK, the Bible doesn’t actually say that; there is no 26th chapter in 2 Kings. I made it up.

It would be nice if Scripture had one or more explicit verses like that, which we could refer to when it comes to self-defense, but alas. Instead, let’s walk through some of the implicit biblical content that should be enough to point us in the right direction.

Let’s start at the top with the biblical prohibition against murder and other such violence. It would seem reasonable to believe that if God forbids murder and similar acts, then He would allow for the protection of people targeted by those wanting to commit them.

Perhaps this is why the Catholic Catechism, in its commentary on the fifth commandment says: “Legitimate defense can be not only a right but also a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm … [sometimes] it happens that the need to render the aggressor incapable of causing harm sometimes involves taking his life.”

But is that the case? After all, doesn’t Jesus say: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matt. 5:38–39).

Nearly all biblical commentators agree that Christ is not calling for open season on innocent people by those wanting to commit evil but is rather addressing what is called the lex talionis, the law of retaliation. The Pharisees used to appeal to this law to justify personal retribution and revenge, which Jesus was condemning. There’s a big difference between vengeance, which is pre-meditated and takes action against no threat, and self-defense which is reactionary and performed only to stop a threat.

The only other places we have Christ alluding to self-defense is when He tells His disciples: “... whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one” (Luke 22:36). Most biblical interpreters agree that this statement was made for the disciples to have a means of protection, which Jesus had previously divinely provided.

Then, too, we have His brief, seemingly approved mention of self-defense and protection when He was accused of being in league with Satan: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed” (Luke 11:21).

In the Old Testament, we also have a few descriptive mentions of self-defense. When rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall, Nehemiah noted: “Our enemies said, ‘They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them and put a stop to the work’” (Nehemiah 4:11), and so “Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon” (Nehemiah 4:17).

During the proposed Jewish persecution during Esther’s time, we’re told: “In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives” (Esther 8:11). It’s doubtful such defense was carried out in an unarmed fashion.

All that said, Scripture tells us that God wants us to naturally seek peace whenever possible (Psalm 34:14; Rom. 12:17-18; Heb. 12:14) and that we are to love our enemies (Luke 6:27, 35). However, that doesn’t mean that we, as some extreme pacifists contend, blithely allow an evil person to violently harm, rape, or murder us or those we love.

So, while the Bible doesn’t explicitly say “Thou shalt carry a gun,” I believe there’s enough implicit biblical evidence that points in the direction of believers having an innate right to defend themselves and others with deadly force if (God forbid) the situation calls for it. If you feel the same way, then please ensure you take responsibility and receive solid firearms training before you ever begin to rely on that weapon for protection.