As the nation continues to mourn the victims of the Uvalde massacre, and with old wounds aching over the sentencing of the Parkland shooter and the Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist trial, Catholics should be the ones who offer answers when it comes to gun violence.
Some legislators want to focus on gun ownership and gun control. But the remedy won’t be found there. Rather, the remedy is spiritual. The nation must realize that saving lives begins with returning sanctity to life in all its stages. And sometimes, as counterintuitive as it may seem to say so, it might, at times, actually take a gun to do that.
A common response to the continual tragedy of school shootings in the United States is to assert that if there are no guns, there will be no shootings. But this perspective is both impractical and misguided. Christians are still called to defend the lives of the helpless—and sometimes an opposing firearm is the best tool to accomplish that. To a virtuous person, the Second Amendment bestows the real potential to be a lifesaver. In these dark days, exercising the right to keep and bear arms may even be considered a responsibility where it is permissible.
As the Left makes arguments that gun control is about saving lives, Pope Francis and the American bishops have taken this tack as well. Though the USCCB’s emphasis is certainly on sensible measures (such as reasonable background checks), the push to have Congress tighten the legislation around the buying and selling of firearms ever since Columbine seems a little too in lockstep with the liberal sectors of government—such as their support for banning assault-style weapons and limiting handgun ownership.
In the wake of Uvalde, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago was particularly direct:
The Second Amendment, unlike the Second Commandment, did not come down from Sinai. There is an understanding that we all have in our hearts, engraved in our hearts, a natural law about the value of human life. And there is no amendment that can trump that.
His Eminence is both right and wrong. Yes, the right to bear arms is not a sacred right, as is the right to life. But there is an often-neglected angle of argument concerning that truth that responsible citizens bearing arms can save lives, and at certain times and situations, it does take an amendment to protect the lives that Cardinal Cupich affirms is a duty of natural law.
But, in fact, the criminals and even the criminally insane will often get their hands on firearms. Severe legislative restrictions, however, will keep many honest citizens unarmed, and that can lead to more unnecessary deaths as well. The bishops might say that being anti-gun is being pro-life, but allowing for the increasingly common scenario where the strong will take evil advantage over the weak is not pro-life at all.
G. K. Chesterton was known to carry a pistol in his pocket to honor a longstanding Christian principle and a long-lost Christian tradition. He was aware of the symbolic quality of Christianity involved and invoked in the bearing of arms. That is, the Christian believes in the sanctity of life simultaneously with the conviction that some things are worth dying for or dealing out death for—a principle that should be part of any Christian education and attitude.
The sanctity of life also necessitates the protection of life, which is not possible in our schools or on our streets if Catholics who are serious about being pro-life are unarmed when a killer unleashes an attack. To those who recognize and reject the terrorism of a culture of death, the right to bear arms takes on a truly Catholic and chivalric significance, combatting a hellish ideology and those who have fallen prey to it.
As Chesterton wrote in Manalive, “I am going to hold a pistol to the head of the Modern Man. But I shall not use it to kill him—only to bring him to life.” The noble, old-fashioned zeal to defend the defenseless may ultimately awaken and enliven modern society, but not if we’re deprived of our means of defense.
Those in favor of gun control are right about one thing: there is no excuse for inaction. But they are wrongheaded in acting toward stricter but ultimately futile regulations. To be a Catholic means to be a peacemaker, and peacemakers can be pragmatic. The classroom is becoming more and more of a battleground in more and worse ways. Catholic parents, Catholic priests, and Catholic teachers need to be prepared to do their duty as protectors of souls in whatever way they must.
The discussion of solutions starts well before any mention of guns. It starts with cultivating a culture of life through a lively education that produces righteous and religious young people. This means Catholics, and Catholic teachers and parents especially, assuming moral leadership and initiative in the classroom, in the home, and in society.
In other words, forming souls in the security of what is good, true, and beautiful will protect children from becoming tragic sociopaths, thereby neutralizing the principal ingredient in any school shooting. But there is a deep abyss to climb out of before schools become lifesaving as opposed to death-dealing—and this is so in more senses than just physical death.
In the prevalent throwaway culture, in which barely anything is sacred, the disposable aspect of nearly everything invites a madness disposed even to murder. Young people growing up neglected and un-affirmed in families that suffer from the negative influences of divorce, professional preoccupation, and virtual reality, while attending schools focused on relativism, career paths, and a godless agenda.
The ambiguous and amoral has muddied the waters, and kids aren’t experiencing what every education should be: pointing out things that are good, true, and beautiful, identifying them as such, and delighting in them. Whether in literature, math, or history, the opportunity to use these subjects as grounding in a reality that is good, true, and beautiful is the whole point of education and the start and sustenance of any culture.
The shedding of innocent blood in schools and other public places is ultimately rooted in a problem of family and education. It is not a failure of government, but a failure of culture. It is the natural, or unnatural, consequence of abortion on demand, pornography, relativism, secularism, and other cultural poisons—all undergirded and exacerbated by an education system that fails to provide the pillars of culture by digging into those classical disciplines and works and ideas that do not change and that are good in themselves, and therefore good for the well-rounded soul.
Catholic social teaching surrounding the necessary and sacred nature of the family, the common good, and our commitments and obligations to neighbors as well as individual rights should influence this debate. Catholics have a duty here as well. Cultivating a culture of life through vibrant families, vibrant classrooms, and vibrant parishes that raise young people in the tradition of virtue is paramount in stopping the school shootings. Until we achieve that goal, to borrow an old argument, why should the bad guys be the only ones with the guns?
If Catholics will live as Christ lived, they must live out His teachings. “He that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip; and he that hath not, let him sell his coat and buy a sword.” Christ says this as He is preparing for His Passion and preparing His disciples for their ministry. And though Our Lord instructs His friends to bear arms outside Gethsemane, He then reproaches Peter for striking the slave of the high priest: “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword” (Mt 26:27ff).
However, this is not a condemnation of the sword, but of living by the sword. “Thou shalt not kill,” of course, but the Catechism makes clear that lethal blows made in “legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another’s life, the common good of the family or of the state…” (CCC 2265).
To bear arms for righteousness and to defend the innocent is not living by the sword, as is striking in blind fury at a servant. A blow on the cheek is not a life-threatening assault. Turn the other cheek to insult. Draw the sword to injustice. Making use of the best available means of defending the sanctity of life is a duty of all Catholics, and sometimes a firearm is the best available means—which is a truth that every Catholic should consider carefully.
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Cliche time – “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.”
A cliche gets to be a cliche only because it lasts, and the reason it lasts is because it’s TRUE.
Chicago has some of the strictest gun-control laws in the country, and at the same time it has one of the highest per capita gun crime rates in the country.
This seems a rabid hysterical call to arms of any Catholics who may have have not only a right but a duty to defend themselves against any potential lethal aggressor. Isn’t that every single one of us adults anyway! This seems to be promoting the worse kind of tribalism, individualism that everyone has to have a loaded gun and ready to use it at all times! Giving up on civilization entirely, saying there is no way society can protect private citizens with more police and private guards if necessary. We may want to have ushers at large churches trained and carrying weapons concealed and armed guards at all Catholic schools but that is all. That every individual Catilic should be armed is an obscene and irrational notion.
It may be obscene, yes, but also obscenely profitable for this article’s sponsors!
“…but also obscenely profitable for this article’s sponsors!”
What does that even mean? Where is all this “obscene” profit? It’s sad that all you do when you comment here is utter vague slander, but it’s quite funny how overtly stupid that slander is.
“overtly stupid”
That phrase has a nice ring to it, a bit of panache, so I shall store it in my memory for when it is needed, and I’m sure it will be.
Thank you Mr. Olson.
” my memory for when it is needed,”
Are you planning on modeling future posts according to that criteria?
Yours is an odd position in this era defund the police, and people being prosecuted for engaging in self defense. The competency of the penal system to control criminals is under full assault by left-wing DAs and other soft on crime governmental officials. It is getting to be a revolving door. Remember the 2020 “Summer of Love” riots? One could make the argument that in some places the judicial and penal systems are undergoing a process of decay. Common everyday citizens are being stripped of the protections of the law. Many of the large cities have been turned into shooting galleries by neighborhood gangs where the people are treated like clay pigeons. A disarmed and poorly protected population is ripe for being subjugated to the role serfs by the powerful. Biden made light of the role of guns against a modern army. I do believe that his disastrous Afghan withdrawal is the complete refutation of his position. A determined insurgency can severely compromise the effectiveness of a modern army and lead to endless wars. The Second Amendment is as relevant today as the day when it was written.
You must have read a different arcitle than the one I just read. Or, perhaps you need to learn to read for content. He dove deeply into root causes and did well addressing HOW we got here and HOW to get to where we should be. And his ultumate solutioin is far deeper than your suggestion every man be armed.
Actully, the idea of ushers (and other responsible adults) be armed as a counter to evil men who intend harm is a good response. Go and read about the “incident” that took place a year or more back near Dallas Texas. Styled (the West Freeway Baptist church shooting”. There WAS a skilled and trained security team that responded quickly and effectively, preventing what surely would have been a rather large massacre.
Thank you, Mr. Fitzpatrick.
Well said Sean, one of the best articles defending the 2nd amendment that I ever read.
Thank you very much
Samuel
Mr. Fitzpatrick’s piece is the most balanced and reasonable treatment of the subject I believe that I have ever encountered. I would not call it rabid or hysterical but rather rational and very well reasoned. IMHO it is a husband’s/father’s duty to be able to defend his family from attack. Taking it a step further I find it a dereliction of duty if he cannot protect his family from assault. Mr. Fitzpatrick is not suggesting that everyone carry a weapon. He is suggesting that conscientious, responsible Catholics consider arming themselves so that the bad guy won’t be the only one with a gun. More to the point that evil not be allowed to triumph. He is also correct in ascribing gun violence to where it belongs; an increasingly decomposing American culture for all of the reasons he cites.
An excellent piece, Mr. Fitzpatrick. So refreshing from the usual (and always futile) “Let’s disarm the good guys because that will stop gun crime” argument. Bad guys don’t adhere to gun laws anyway.
“Yes, the right to bear arms is not a sacred right”
It is a natural right derivative of the right of self-defense, and thus of the Natural Law.
What an excellent, well thought out article. As an evangelical minister, I couldn’t agree more! To leave people helpless against evil always has the same result and is always sinful.
Before entering the ministry, I spent a decade working in EMS. In worked in a variety of locations from the inner city to rural areas. I saw violence, including “gun violence” at close range. Like the vast majority of cops, I came to the conclusion that strict gun control was not a solution – it was and is counter productive. The problem lies in the human heart: SIN.
Later, as a pastor, I lost a parishioner to homicide in which the weapon was a firearm. The murderer broke many California gun laws. Not only did none of these laws stop him, he was not prosecuted for any of these crimes. Had he been prosecuted, the sentence could have been longer than the actual time he spent in prison for the homicide. Highly restrictive gun laws only make victims helpless.
Until we, as a society, are willing to face the actual causes of violence – as outlined in your article – it will continue. As Christians, we need to pray and work for a revival of faith in Christ. He is the answer, and history tells us that transformed lives result in a transformed society.
Rev. R Vincent Warde
Clergy in Support of the 2nd Amendment
https://www.facebook.com/2ndAmendmentClergy
We need more clergy that have contact with the real world; I can’t imagine any better contact with the real world than EMS.
Another Thank You to Mr. Fitzpatrick … it’s refreshing to read an article eloquently addressing the 2nd amendment rights of law-bidding (Catholic and other) citizens. My only wish would be to see more written about the breakdown of the family unit and the declining spirituality of our society … declining spirituality and “family” values has lead to more crime, thus the greater need to able to protect ourselves, our family, and others.
The pope and the US ctholic bishops on their anti-gun/self-defense crusade need to spend some signficant time in The Book they purport o know so well. In there I find a few things along the lines if “thou shalt not murder”, the description of the OBLIGATION to avenge innocent blood bing shed, the command that “whoever by his hand shall shed innocent blood, by the hand of man SHALL his blood be shed”. , “when you are locked in your house with your family asleep, and a stranger breaks in and threatens, you may strike him that he die, and there shall be no bloodguiltiness upon you”.
But, as this well written piece covers fairly well, there is one specific command in the scripture that needs to be dug out of the shadoes and put back to work. It is simple, yet powerful It is this: “FATHERS teach your children”. Ninetypercent or more of “gun violence’ is perpetrated by young males who grew up in a home with NO functional father Their “fathers” are mere sperm donors, and do NOT RAISE their children up in the “Nurture and admonition of the Lord”. Start there and in one generation this nation will be transformed. And everyone COULD go about their daily business armed, and innocent blood would no longer be shed. Because the :youth” would have a respect for the life of others that would preclude their perpetrating violence upon others.
I sleep with a loaded 45 revolver under my bed, at the ready. With just the two of us, we have a standing rule: If there’s the breaking of glass or doors; we pretend to be asleep. If there’s footsteps up to the bedroom area, I check to make sure she’s in bed with me. If I determine there’s strangers in the house; I remove the weapon from its case and pull back the hammer. It is loaded with three .410 defense rounds; which should debilitate any attacker(s). The next three rounds are .45 ACP. Those are killing rounds.
I’m not waiting until I’m zip tied and forced to watch somebody rape the woman I vowed to love. Part of my job is her physical defense, even at the cost of my own life. At a certain point aut neca aut necare.
I may be traumatized if I need to kill, but it would be a lot worse if I failed to protect my wife or myself.
Cupich is long on political slogans, short on staying in his lane faith and morals.
He has “personnel issues” to deal with.
https://therecordnewspaper.org/chicagos-father-pfleger-is-removed-from-ministry-over-abuse-allegation/