I am finding others who are trying to understand guns and
gun violence from a Biblical, theological and spiritual perspective. One is
James Atwood, a Presbyterian minister in Virginia who began his career as a
missionary to Japan. This is from one of his books:
No one can
deny the crimes committed by Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Italy England,
France China and Japan, to name a few. All the same, after two centuries their
societies are relatively free of gun violence, while ours is the most dangerous
in the industrialized world. It’s not because their citizens are more loving or
kind; it’s something else, something simple: these former colonialist powers do
not permit easy access to guns.
Americans
are not meaner or more violent than citizens of Europe, China or Japan. They
too are fascinated with violence. They watch the same violent movies, engage in
violent sports, play the same video games, sell the same kinds of toys, read
the same comics, etc. The only difference is most Americans can get a gun
within a few hours or a few minutes. Some of us call such access to guns
freedom. As a gun owner who has ministered to gun victims and their families, I
call such easy access tragedies getting ready to happen.[i]
