The Gun Supremacists’ Folly
BY Herschel Smith
10 years, 7 months ago
You might not have thought that the inability of people to pack while praying was a big problem. Georgia’s political leaders think otherwise, so the new law allows people to carry guns in their houses of worship. True, congregations can set their own rules, but some pastors wonder about the confusion this provision will create, and those who would keep their sanctuaries gun-free may worry about being branded as liberal elitists. Maybe the Georgia legislature will help them by requiring a rewrite of the Scriptures. “Blessed are the peacemakers” can become “Blessed are the gun owners.”
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Nowhere else in the world do the laws on firearms become the playthings of politicians and lobbyists intent on manufacturing cultural conflict. Nowhere else do elected officials turn the matter of taking a gun to church into a searing ideological question. But then, guns are not a religion in most countries.
First of all, this has been blown completely out of proportion. My home state of North Carolina allows carry of weapons in churches. Georgia did as well before this law, but there was some confusion leading to court cases concerning churches connected in proximity (or adjoining) day school facilities.
This law clarifies that issue and ensures that no more ridiculous cases come up where people are prohibited from carrying weapons in church just because their church has a school. As I said before:
… the pastor has wrongly portrayed the recent 11th Circuit decision on guns in Georgia churches. The case had to do with guns being potentially prohibited in churches that were adjoined by schools (carry in schools is prohibited), and “given that the facial challenge to the law would succeed only if it’s valid in all its applications, the Eleventh Circuit responds by pointing to a valid application – when the management prohibits carrying. What effect the law may constitutionally have when the management allows carrying isn’t resolved by the Eleventh Circuit opinion” (I am indebted to Professor Eugene Volokh for this assessment – via e-mail).
The Georgia law is a good thing. Second, Dionne conflates the issue of approved and legal carry with illegal carry. “Those who would keep their sanctuaries gun-free,” including, no doubt, Dionne himself, live in Neverland and perhaps honestly believe that making laws affects the behavior of criminals, thus ensuring no guns in churches as long as there is a law on the books.
Or perhaps he doesn’t believe that laws are observed by criminals, in which case Dionne only wants to ensure that families are utterly unprotected in the face of criminals bent on their harm. In the first case he is a moron. In the second case he is a liar and evil man.
Finally, as Dionne knows, there is no need to manufacture cultural conflict. The divide that demarcates the people of this nation has never been so great in its history. Guns are a symptom rather than a cause of the divide.
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On April 27, 2014 at 11:08 pm, Steve Bragg said:
Dionne: “…rewrite of the Scriptures. ‘Blessed are the peacemakers” can become “Blessed are the gun owners.'” By and large in this country, the gun owners ARE the peacemakers. We keep the peace when the cops cannot be there, which is pretty much all the time.
I get so sick of the hoplophobic left equating the mere ownership of a gun with violence, like Dionne did in the quote above. It is talismanic thinking at best, and some kind of deep-seated mental illness at worst.
I have owned guns all my life. I have never sought to do violence to another human. Nor shall I, unless they bring the violence to me first. Then, I will do enough violence to stop the threat, and I hope, no more. I would do what I could for the dead perp’s family, as any Christian would, but he is the aggressor, not me.
I think Lefties are so afraid of taking responsibility for ANYTHING, that they cannot fathom doing battle with a weapon of any kind for their life or the life of another.
And by the way: Dionne apparently has limited knowledge of the Scriptures. Jesus himself told his disciples to arm themselves, when He knew an armed threat was upon them. In Jewish tradition, the right to self-defense is unquestioned. So, these commie-libs don’t know what they’re talking about here.
On April 28, 2014 at 1:13 pm, joniross1954 said:
To Steve Bragg, when I said in the above comment, some republicans gun lovers are crazy, I meant people like you.
On April 28, 2014 at 8:17 am, paul b said:
Goes without saying that the leftist are once again off their collective rockers.
On April 28, 2014 at 1:15 pm, joniross1954 said:
You and the NRA lovers should all be locked up.
On April 28, 2014 at 6:35 pm, MrApple said:
That sounds quite enlightened. Lock up those that you don’t agree with.
On April 28, 2014 at 1:17 pm, joniross1954 said:
Comment to Dionne. You are correct when you state
“blessed are the peacemakers” can become “blessed are the gun owners”
The court has gone too far especially when they rule on things they have no business ruling. The states should make tsome rules to keep people safe and having guns in churches, bars etc. is the ultimate error. I do not think I want to attend anychurches in Georgia. They are all crazy there.
On April 28, 2014 at 6:33 pm, MrApple said:
And most of the anti-gun/Liberal folks will snap and start off on a killing spree.
The list is a little outdated but it gets the point across.
http://victoriajackson.com/9358/democrats-should-not-have-guns
On April 28, 2014 at 7:27 pm, Josh said:
Oh look, the troll is back. It seems TCJ has another creepy, infatuated stalker. You’re not the first, Joni, and you won’t be the last. It seems there is no shortage of state worshipers.
Where do you attend service? The DMV?
On April 28, 2014 at 1:29 pm, Herschel Smith said:
joniross, I do enjoy your comments, but you simply need to keep from parsing them out like you do. Learn to put all of your thoughts into a single comment. It’s easier to digest that way, albeit requiring more discipline of you.
BTW, I wouldn’t characterize myself as an “NRA-lover,” to use your phrase. I only love them when they do what I want. Any hint of compromise only makes me hate them.
Finally, you seem to advocate locking us up. I’m curious. Who’s going to do the locking up for you? Are you going to arm yourself and come after us? This would seem to violate your premise, of course. Then again, so does sending armed LEOs after us, but no one ever accused statists of being consistent. The upshot is that if you admitted that you aren’g going to do it yourself and you’re going to send LEOs to do it, at least you admit to being a coward. That’s worth some milage for us all.
Oh the tangled web of inconsistencies we weave when we drop extemporaneous, angry comments on web sites. Sorry to trouble you with logic, joni.
On April 28, 2014 at 3:36 pm, paul b said:
Lot of women born in the 50’s got incredibly cooked during the 70’s. I just write it off to some learning disability that has been undiagnosed.