Supreme Court sanity

I have often said that a minister is only as good as the last thing he did or did not do. When a pastor leaves a church he is evaluated by whatever is most recent in people’s minds. If he pleased people he is remembered well; if he didn’t then the memory is often a critical one. This is certainly true of our current president. Its as if everyone is sick and tired of George W. Bush. That’s no surprise as we are in an election year and lame-duck presidents rarely get good press anyway. Given the fact that he is the first president since Richard Nixon to have any sort of a prolonged war effort during his presidency, he's an easy target. Even those who were his biggest supporters are battle-weary and calling for “change.” But lest we filter everything George Bush has done solely through the “war on terror” grid, we should be aware that it was his presidency that played a key role in preserving our Second Amendment rights.

The recent appointments of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito were critical in the recent June 26 ruling on the District of Columbia v. Heller decision. In the narrow 5-4 decision the Supreme Court rightly preserved the Constitutional right to individual gun ownership as a means of self-defense. Had this case been decided prior to these two appointments the decision almost certainly would have been the opposite- enabling an already encroaching statist agenda that would deny citizens of a free republic the right to keep and bear arms.

The predictable liberal hysteria that has followed should be no surprise. The nanny-state, latte drinkers on the political left have always sniffed at those who believe that individuals, rather than bureaucracies, know what’s best for themselves. For decades the gun control lobby has worked relentlessly to convince law abiding citizens that gun ownership is just too dangerous to be entrusted to them. Only police officers and the military should have access to guns. Their willing accomplices in the media made sure that every act of gun violence was reported to paint a bleak picture of what happens when people get a hold of a gun - conveniently ignoring the many more times a gun was used to thwart a crime. But there has always been that irritating Second Amendment standing in their way. They couldn’t ignore it so for years they have tried to redefine it.

Gun control advocates argue that the Second Amendment only guarantees a right to a state militia. But the Bill of Rights guarantees rights to individuals, not just to the collective rights of states. The Second Amendment uses “people” in the same way the others - such as the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments - do. If the gun control lobby were right the Second Amendment would be the only constitutional right given to a group (or state) over an individual. A perfunctory analysis of the intentions of the Framers makes it clear that they self-consciously designed a republic over and against statist and monarchial governments. They saw the latter as crucibles of tyranny and insured that this country’s citizens would always have the right and freedom to pursue means to resist despotic governments; this includes republics who may overstep their bounds. That gun ownership is an individual right has even been admitted by scholars who oppose it such as Sanford Levinson, who authored in the Yale Law Journal (1989), “The Embarrassing Second Amendment.”

But it goes beyond the Constitution. The right to efficient means of self-defense by keeping and bearing arms is a right given by God. This is evident from the Mosaic Law (Exodus 22), Samson (Judges 15), and Israel (Nehemiah 4). The illustrations of Jesus in Matthew 24, Luke 11, and 22 make it clear that God authorizes the right to defend one’s self and family in the face of an aggressor. And the evidence bears out that when people arm themselves crime goes down, as John Lott compellingly argues in his book , “More Guns; Less Crime.”

Some Christians argue that gun ownership is inconsistent with advancing the peaceable kingdom of Jesus Christ. But the passages quoted above take into account that the peaceable kingdom has not yet come and fallen humanity is capable of all kinds of atrocities; and until the kingdom comes in its fullness we not only have a right but a responsibility to uphold justice and protect the innocent. One day swords will be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. Until that time, we should be grateful we live in a nation that give us the right to efficient self-defense.

So, in behalf of those who love God-given freedom and liberty, thanks Mr. President.



Marty Fields is pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church. Reach him at pastor@westminsterepc.com.

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