![]() It has an effective range of about one mile. It is a military weapon designed to destroy armor-reinforced vehicles or even shoot down low-flying aircraft. I cite an example that recently has been in the news, the Barrett. With regard to certain types and classes of firearms, even the possibility of possessing them is bad for society. ![]() There are good reasons why restrictions may need to be placed on the possession and use of firearms. An individual’s right to own and bear arms, as well as actually to use them, must be balanced by the greater social needs of a society and its citizens’ right to safety. The right to private property (in this case guns) is not absolute. While I believe that the way she used firearms was not inconsistent with her new-found faith, this cannot be said of all gun use. How could members of the church she planned to join possibly be against something that was sacred? What she failed to perceive was the relative nature of the Second Amendment. In addition, she saw her right to possess guns as virtually a sacred one. This woman, a person seeking to embrace a life in Christ, was deeply concerned that if gun control legislation were enacted, she would have to surrender a significant part of her lifestylea part that she had considered to be not only not sinful, but wholesome. For her, the right to own and bear arms, and to do so with minimal limitations, were God-given rights and therefore sacred. She had elevated the Bill of Rights to the level of a holiness code. She was speaking of the Second Amendment as if it were the second commandment of the Decalogue from the Bible. As she continued to speak (now becoming more animated and beginning to monopolize the conversation), a certain realization came to me. ![]() The whole time that she spoke, she kept referring to the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights, which affirms the right of citizens to own and bear arms. Guns obviously were a part of her lifestyle, and she had recently become apprehensive after hearing some parish members express the need for gun control. I listened for some time to her concerns. ![]() For many Alaskan families, subsistence hunting is an indispensable source of food and a way to supplement the family income. She looked forward to the annual fall moose and deer hunting seasons not only as a time to commune with natureas well as to have additional time with family and friendsbut also as an important opportunity to put meat in the freezer. She valued the relationships she had formed with other members of her shooting club, many of whom were upstanding members of the community. She enjoyed spending time with her husband shooting targets at the local shooting range. Her views were strong for a number of reasons. This woman, in her mid-30’s, was a member of the National Rifle Association and had some very definite views about any type of gun control legislation. Shortly after we began to converse, the issue of gun control surfaced. I had come to know her somewhat during the preceding months and appreciated the sincerity with which she viewed her formation as a Catholic. There were various issues that had been bothering her, and she wished to discuss them. A number of years ago, when I was a parish priest, a woman preparing for baptism at Easter asked if she could speak with me privately.
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