The Second Amendment & perfect love

There has been much written this year about the series of mass killings in the United States.

But not much mention has been made of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, which includes a section about a citizen's right to bear arms.

In 1990, then-Chief Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger had something to say about the subject. (That's his photo on top of this blog.) He wrote in Parade Magazine on January 14 of that year, stating that the primary purpose of bearing arms, when the 2nd Amendment was ratified in 1788, was so state militias could arm themselves.

Back then, there wasn't much of a national army, so the need for state militias to "bear arms" was well understood. From Chief Justice Burger's point of view, this was the primary intent of the 2nd Amendment.

He was writing, 25 years ago, in response to our country's horrible record of killings by firearms, especially compared to the rest of the world.

Not to mention, from a strictly Constitutional standpoint, there seems to be little evidence of support for an all-encompassing right to bear arms.

Here are a few questions for us to consider:

1. How does the rest of the world view the United States' inability to deal with this issue?

2. Why is there a need for high-powered automatic weapons, including assault rifles in the homes of ordinary citizens?

3. What are these sorts of weapons protecting us from?

4. Why is there such strong resistance to more stringent regulation of these sorts of weapons?

Here's something the New York Times editorial board recently wrote.

The bottom line of this issue of the right to bear arms is that we, as a nation, seem to be responding in fear.

And from a Judeo-Christian standpoint, it might do us good to remember that fear-motivated actions aren't from God.

In fact, the apostle John wrote, "Perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4.18).

While this may seem a bit simplistic on the surface, it's also extremely profound and based solidly on the life of God's Son.

None of us, including myself, can say that we've attained the perfect love that John writes about.

However, I have to believe that it's the continual reaching towards this goal that ultimately makes a difference in daily living.

What do you think?

If you're interested in how Australia handles gun regulation, look here.

Photo Credit: www.kids.britianica.com