Gun Rights? Enough, already!

By Rev. Robert Plaisted

Guest Columnist

This column began as my thoughts on the Israeli-Hamas war — an example of the madness of warfare and terrorist violence.  I never intended to write back-to-back columns on America’s homicidal obsession with guns. Then, another form of madness exploded right in my own Maine backyard.

William Butler Yeats wrote in the aftermath of World War I, “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned.”  America’s gun madness washed into Maine on that blood-spattered tide. A deranged man with a gun murdered 18 people and wounded 13 more, about a mile from where I now live. The madness in the Middle East will have to wait for another occasion.

Humans have lived cheek to jowl with violence forever. One might wonder whether we love bloodshed more than we love peace. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God,” (Matthew 5:9). Truer words were never spoken, and truer words never have been more universally ignored. Jesus taught us to put away our weapons and love our neighbors, but we’ve never been willing to do either.

War and violence are curses we inflict upon ourselves.  We can’t kill our way to peace. Maybe someday we’ll figure that out. Maybe we’ll understand that owning more guns never can make us safe. Maybe we’ll get it through our heads that the road to a society of peace with justice never leads through bloodshed and violence. Maybe.

Here in Maine, it was only a matter of time until some lunatic with a gun decided to slaughter a bunch of our fellow citizens, simply because he could. No incompetent bumbler wielded that assault rifle, but a trained military reservist. Most guys who shoot people don’t really know what they’re doing. This guy knew exactly how to kill the maximum number of people in the minimum amount of time, and which guns to use.  Then, of course, he concluded his bloody rampage by spilling his own blood.

It should be illegal in America for ordinary citizens to own the type of military-grade, people-killing machine that our local mass murderer bought, and then used to slaughter his neighbors. Lobbyists have spouted “gun rights” propaganda for decades, distracting us from this simple fact. The Second Amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms only extends to those people serving in “a well-regulated militia.” That’s what the Second Amendment actually says. Yahoos who form what they call “patriotic militias” are not well regulated. In fact, they aren’t regulated at all. Neither are lone-wolf murderers like our local killer. 

When we moved from Bath to Auburn, we moved into the 2nd District. Thank God for our new congressman, Jared Golden. When asked if he regretted his past opposition to strong gun regulation, he answered, “I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war like the assault rifle used to carry out this crime. The time has come for me to take responsibility for this failure, which is why I now call on the United States Congress to ban assault rifles.”

He admitted his prior position was wrong, apologized for it, and pledged to support serious gun regulation in the future. It’s exactly what Christianity demands of every believer, and Golden showed that real repentance is not extinct. When asked the same basic question, U.S. Senator Susan Collins uttered a bunch of empty verbiage, which can be summarized in one word, “No.”

Far too long, we believed the hollow arguments of the gun lobby, which has kept us paralyzed with doubt about our “gun rights.” Meanwhile, deranged mass murderers rip one community after another to shreds.  When, I ask you, will we have the courage to vote out of office the morally bankrupt representatives who take gun-lobby money at the price of the lives their cowardice will destroy? It’s way past time for people like us to stand up and say, “Gun rights? Enough, already!”

Rev. Robert Plaisted is a retired United Methodist clergyman, formerly of Bridgton and Bath, now residing in Auburn.