Gun Control Debate

[Divide]

Good thing I'm not an Orthodox believer then. My interpretation of Christianity is such that I believe God intended us to defend ourselves from all others, whether it is a common citizen or the government itself.

Luke 22:
36 “But now,” he said, “take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one! 37 For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among the rebels.’[d] Yes, everything written about me by the prophets will come true.”

38 “Look, Lord,” they replied, “we have two swords among us.”

“That’s enough,” he said..../NLT

Sell your cloak and buy one? Back in those days your cloak was your most important piece of clothing. It protected you from the elements and even used as a sleeping bag. So it was very important. Jesus said, nah, sell that and buy a sword or two! Now I take that to mean, don't obsess over weaponry like the super preppers but have one or two around. There will be fighting on American streets. And if you own a gun in America today, you are counted as a rebel! SO I think it important to always have a small batch of weaponry and large batches of ammunition around. Most people recommend a 3 gun Battary. Pistol/Rifle/Shotgun which covers most bases. A shotgun is devastating at inside the house distances, but if I ever have to step outside give me a Rifle. A shotgun outside is useless in my mind.

A pistol is used to fight your way back to the Rifle that you shouldn't have laid down in the first place! Funny for sure but has a bit of truth in it.

When gunshot victims are checked into the emergency room it goes like this: Those shot by a pistol they try to stabile the damage. But when someone shot by a Rifle is checked in, they try to save his life. So yeah, give me a Rifle.

I dunno what happened to me, it's like I outgrew shotguns completely. One pistol and two Rifles is my choice. One, an AR15. The other, a .22 Rimfire rifle.

 

[PsaltiChrysostom]

And this is why I believe American Christians are cowardly in regards to their Christian faith. We read

He said to them, "Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight, and tell him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him,' and he from within will answer and say, 'Don't bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give it to you'? I tell you, although he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs."​

​

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.​

But no, American Christians are prepping and arming themselves not for spiritual combat but out of fear of the "other".

In this light, it is not hard to see why warfare, and any taking of human life, is fraught with spiritual peril. Death comes into the world as the result of sin. Christ has come to conquer death, to raise humanity to the eternal life for which humanity was created. To kill a human being is to do the work of death, to involve oneself in a paradigmatic act of spiritual brokenness and of estrangement from God and neighbour. Granted, some instances of killing may be tragically necessary, such as the actions of a soldier in defending his or her nation from invasion by a conquering power. Killing in such circumstances may be understood in light of the Orthodox category of “involuntary sin”, which includes actions that damage the soul despite the fact that they are done without malice and out of necessity. The church knows that killing does not have to be murder for it to be spiritually damaging.​

​

Orthodox Perspectives on Peace, War and Violence – Incommunion

[abstract: Recent international conferences on Orthodox peace ethics held in Bucharest (Romania), Leros (Greece) and Saidnaya (Syria) drew participants from around the world and provided unique opportunities for Orthodox scholars to reflect on common themes such as peacemaking, the definition of...

incommunion.org

 

[Divide]

Granted, some instances of killing may be tragically necessary,

This is the only thing that I am talking about.

If you get an invading enemy and war breaks out, I would expect the US Military to be fighting them of course. But suppose the war comes to your state...They have a seblance of a battle lones drawn and the action is 30 miles north of you. You may not have to fore a shot. But if foreign troops come marching down your street got dropped in the wrong place or something, there might not be soldiers around to fight them. Do we give up the neighbrohood? Love your neighbor as yourself and no greater love there can be but one who lays down his life for his friend? If they are attacking your neighbor, will you not help them?

Now don't misunderstand me and think that I am suggesting to have more faith in guns than the Lord! But believe me, if you have ever shot guns then you know...there is plenty of room for faith in the Lord with a gun in your hands! Even if you are a very good shot, you've never faced Soldiers before! Your adreniline will be going crazy. PLENTY of room for Faith in the Lord!

Most pistol rounds are woefully under powered. Luckily, people go down easy. You can shoot a man in the arm with a .22 and he's out of the fight, lol. looking for a place to lay down and lick his wounds.

And as I said before, Guns are for when there is not time to pray.

 

[PsaltiChrysostom]

This is the only thing that I am talking about.

If you get an invading enemy and war breaks out, I would expect the US Military to be fighting them of course. But suppose the war comes to your state...They have a seblance of a battle lones drawn and the action is 30 miles north of you. You may not have to fore a shot. But if foreign troops come marching down your street got dropped in the wrong place or something, there might not be soldiers around to fight them. Do we give up the neighbrohood? Love your neighbor as yourself and no greater love there can be but one who lays down his life for his friend? If they are attacking your neighbor, will you not help them?

Now don't misunderstand me and think that I am suggesting to have more faith in guns than the Lord! But believe me, if you have ever shot guns then you know...there is plenty of room for faith in the Lord with a gun in your hands! Even if you are a very good shot, you've never faced Soldiers before! Your adreniline will be going crazy. PLENTY of room for Faith in the Lord!

Most pistol rounds are woefully under powered. Luckily, people go down easy. You can shoot a man in the arm with a .22 and he's out of the fight, lol. looking for a place to lay down and lick his wounds.

And as I said before, Guns are for when there is not time to pray.

The Eastern Orthodox church does not have a concept of a Just War. If I were a member of the military or an authorized authority, then I would reluctantly raise arms in defense.

I've been working at a VA hospital for the last 7 years. Even those vets who did not experience combat often suffer from PTSD. And the vets who did, have often been in some kind of therapy for years.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Another murderer with a gun..........When society places little to no value on human life - this is not unexpected behavior...

Cops close in on Atlanta gunman, 24, who killed one and injured four

Officials have named the suspect as Deion Patterson, 24, and are warning members of the public not to approach him.

www.dailymail.co.uk

This happens fairly local to me and I did not get to watch my TV show last night because the news was reporting on that all night long. Do they seriously think people like that care? They say that he was seeking mental health treatment at the VA that alone tells me that it is not the gun though I already knew that and it never is.

 

[dogs4thewin]

The Eastern Orthodox church does not have a concept of a Just War. If I were a member of the military or an authorized authority, then I would reluctantly raise arms in defense.

I've been working at a VA hospital for the last 7 years. Even those vets who did not experience combat often suffer from PTSD. And the vets who did, have often been in some kind of therapy for years.

Well you cannot be a member of the U.S military ( do not know about other countries if you do not believe in bearing arms.

 

[Wings like Eagles]

This happens fairly local to me and I did not get to watch my TV show last night because the news was reporting on that all night long. Do they seriously think people like that care? They say that he was seeking mental health treatment at the VA that alone tells me that it is not the gun though I already knew that and it never is.

But according to the gun control crowd, it is always the guns fault. No matter how they try to spin their argument, always comes down to blaming the firearm.

 

[Brihaha]

But according to the gun control crowd, it is always the guns fault. No matter how they try to spin their argument, always comes down to blaming the firearm.

It's not about blaming guns. It's about the data. The one variable that separates America from other countries is our astronomical number of guns in America. And the fact that other nations actually legislate to lower their numbers of unnecessary gun deaths. America not so much. Hence, our record numbers of sacrificial citizens willfully offered to the gun deity. You can argue till you are blue in the face, but the facts are facts. Americans do not prioritize lives of their neighbors. They prioritize their unfettered idolization of their guns.

Why Does the U.S. Have So Many Mass Shootings? Research Is Clear: Guns. (Published 2017)

Americans advance a lot of theories for why they have so many more gun deaths than other countries do. The answer is lying in plain sight.

www.nytimes.com

What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.

While the number of gun deaths in the U.S. fell for the second consecutive year in 2023, it remained among the highest annual totals on record.

www.pewresearch.org

 

[Wings like Eagles]

So as I said it's the guns fault, not the person who comits the crime. The murderer cannot be responsible because there are just so many firearms everywhere he/she has no other choice.

The fact is, millions of people use firearms to protect themselves from evil doers every year.

Second Amendment Protects Everyone, as 12 Examples of Defensive Gun Use Show

The Supreme Court last month struck down a New York law that effectively prohibited ordinary citizens from carrying handguns in public for self-defense. As some New Yorkers joined gun control activists in decrying the decision as making them less safe, one young woman explained how, for her, the...

www.heritage.org

 

[dogs4thewin]

So as I said it's the guns fault, not the person who comits the crime. The murderer cannot be responsible because there are just so many firearms everywhere he/she has no other choice.

The fact is, millions of people use firearms to protect themselves from evil doers every year.

Second Amendment Protects Everyone, as 12 Examples of Defensive Gun Use Show

The Supreme Court last month struck down a New York law that effectively prohibited ordinary citizens from carrying handguns in public for self-defense. As some New Yorkers joined gun control activists in decrying the decision as making them less safe, one young woman explained how, for her, the...

www.heritage.org

and we do not know how many things do not happen because people may legally be armed ( even if no one happens to be legally armed at the time.

 

[dogs4thewin]

It's not about blaming guns. It's about the data. The one variable that separates America from other countries is our astronomical number of guns in America. And the fact that other nations actually legislate to lower their numbers of unnecessary gun deaths. America not so much. Hence, our record numbers of sacrificial citizens willfully offered to the gun deity. You can argue till you are blue in the face, but the facts are facts. Americans do not prioritize lives of their neighbors. They prioritize their unfettered idolization of their guns.

Why Does the U.S. Have So Many Mass Shootings? Research Is Clear: Guns. (Published 2017)

Americans advance a lot of theories for why they have so many more gun deaths than other countries do. The answer is lying in plain sight.

www.nytimes.com

What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.

While the number of gun deaths in the U.S. fell for the second consecutive year in 2023, it remained among the highest annual totals on record.

www.pewresearch.org

plenty of people die from alcohol and tobacco each year and yet people do not blame either of those things, to the point of going nuts. Do we have regulations yes, but is that really something that a lot of time is spent enforcing I would argue no most of that is secondary enforcement. Meaning that pass the point of sell the only way they really enforce or even can enforce procession and use of those underage is by catching them doing something else ( sometimes they are caught just drinking or smoking, but police do not usually go looking for that as primary violations. Also, at this point I am not even sure how much enforcing those laws are worth it in terms of ratting on people if I know my 18, 19, 20 year old cousins are drinking or smoking and I call the law ( especially in larger areas they may well say basically we have bigger fish to fry than just underage use of either of those. All of this to say there are things that take far more lives ( even drugs at this point and yet people do not raise cane at all those deaths.

 

[Wings like Eagles]

Fentanyl coming across the open border alone is killing tens of thousands more people than murderers with guns, even including suicides'.

Communism wants people disarmed for full effect and will keep beating that drum no matter what. The sacred/uninformed are useful in keeping the agenda circulating.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Fentanyl coming across the open border alone is killing tens of thousands more people than murderers with guns, even including suicides'.

Communism wants people disarmed for full effect and will keep beating that drum no matter what. The sacred/uninformed are useful in keeping the agenda circulating.

fentanyl is very strong stuff What I am unsure of though in that respect is how to address the root issue of why so many people turn to it and heroin to start with. My dad was on fentanyl patches during his final months of his battle with colon cancer (eight years ago) and do you know they literally told my mom not to change the patch without gloves as doing so would likely kill her that told me the stuff was crazy strong.

 

[Wings like Eagles]

I have shot USPSA for over 20 years and if anyone want to get into shooting sports, it is good fun. Even the women are joining at a very fast rate and they can shoot. If competition shooters were the problem with guns, you would know it.

 

[Eschatologist]

And this is why I believe American Christians are cowardly in regards to their Christian faith. We read

He said to them, "Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight, and tell him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him,' and he from within will answer and say, 'Don't bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give it to you'? I tell you, although he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs."​

​

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.​

But no, American Christians are prepping and arming themselves not for spiritual combat but out of fear of the "other".

In this light, it is not hard to see why warfare, and any taking of human life, is fraught with spiritual peril. Death comes into the world as the result of sin. Christ has come to conquer death, to raise humanity to the eternal life for which humanity was created. To kill a human being is to do the work of death, to involve oneself in a paradigmatic act of spiritual brokenness and of estrangement from God and neighbour. Granted, some instances of killing may be tragically necessary, such as the actions of a soldier in defending his or her nation from invasion by a conquering power. Killing in such circumstances may be understood in light of the Orthodox category of “involuntary sin”, which includes actions that damage the soul despite the fact that they are done without malice and out of necessity. The church knows that killing does not have to be murder for it to be spiritually damaging.​

​

Orthodox Perspectives on Peace, War and Violence – Incommunion

[abstract: Recent international conferences on Orthodox peace ethics held in Bucharest (Romania), Leros (Greece) and Saidnaya (Syria) drew participants from around the world and provided unique opportunities for Orthodox scholars to reflect on common themes such as peacemaking, the definition of...

incommunion.org

And I believe people who hide behind faith to justify not defending others are cowardly.

There are many reasons to prep. Arming up is only part of the process. It's ultimately about making sure you aren't dependent on the malevolent entity we know of as the state. This involves stockpiling food and learning survival skills while building a social network of other believers you can depend on if the grid goes down or rule of law evaporates. Summer of 2020 was just a small glimpse of when the system breaks down and hoodlums run wild. Should you be unlucky enough to have that happen in your area, you need the right resources and skills to avoid violence or use it if it becomes necessary.

It is best to avoid killing when you can, but it is also vital to know how to and be willing to kill when it comes to self-defense or defense of others. Unconditional pacifism is a luxury that can only exist in a society protected by braver men that are willing to kill and potentially die to protect others.

 

[Eschatologist]

It's not about blaming guns. It's about the data. The one variable that separates America from other countries is our astronomical number of guns in America. And the fact that other nations actually legislate to lower their numbers of unnecessary gun deaths. America not so much. Hence, our record numbers of sacrificial citizens willfully offered to the gun deity. You can argue till you are blue in the face, but the facts are facts. Americans do not prioritize lives of their neighbors. They prioritize their unfettered idolization of their guns.

Why Does the U.S. Have So Many Mass Shootings? Research Is Clear: Guns. (Published 2017)

Americans advance a lot of theories for why they have so many more gun deaths than other countries do. The answer is lying in plain sight.

www.nytimes.com

What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.

While the number of gun deaths in the U.S. fell for the second consecutive year in 2023, it remained among the highest annual totals on record.

www.pewresearch.org

The NY Times article is hidden behind a paywall, but I'm familiar with the data. Mass shootings are only part of the picture. Overall homicide by guns is the big picture.

Plenty of countries with strict gun control still have a lot of gun deaths and gun homicides, more specifically.

Gun Deaths by Country 2024

worldpopulationreview.com

Brazil has more gun deaths per capita than us, yet legally getting a gun isn't easy there.

Many countries have higher gun homicide rates than us despite most of them having much stricter gun laws than even the strictest states here. So, it isn't about gun laws or the proliferation of guns. It's about a variety of factors that are often economic and cultural.

 

[dogs4thewin]

And I believe people who hide behind faith to justify not defending others are cowardly.

There are many reasons to prep. Arming up is only part of the process. It's ultimately about making sure you aren't dependent on the malevolent entity we know of as the state. This involves stockpiling food and learning survival skills while building a social network of other believers you can depend on if the grid goes down or rule of law evaporates. Summer of 2020 was just a small glimpse of when the system breaks down and hoodlums run wild. Should you be unlucky enough to have that happen in your area, you need the right resources and skills to avoid violence or use it if it becomes necessary.

It is best to avoid killing when you can, but it is also vital to know how to and be willing to kill when it comes to self-defense or defense of others. Unconditional pacifism is a luxury that can only exist in a society protected by braver men that are willing to kill and potentially die to protect others.

Well I have no issue with people who do not wish to kill in SELF defense. Not that anyone wishes to kill, but if it is just you and the other person or group of people meaning you harm and you feel strongly enough to be unwilling to kill to protect you I have no issue with that it is when OTHER people are involved that I have a problem with that position.

 

[Divide]

The Eastern Orthodox church does not have a concept of a Just War. If I were a member of the military or an authorized authority, then I would reluctantly raise arms in defense.

I can wrap my mind around the fact that, there never has been a just war.

But what if you are not a member of the military or authorized authority and some enemy comes to your door and there are no soldiers around to fight for your Family's safety?

We all have heard how Soldiers act during wartime. They will rape the women, and loot your house and usually kill them men.

You might have to fight one day, to save your family and loved ones. It doesn't mean you want to fight. It doesn't mean you want to kill. It means you Love, your Family and want to help them to Live. God told His people to fight a lot in the OT! What makes us immune from that? This is the valley of tears, the valley of the shadow of death here on earth! And even a .22 Rifle is a lot better than a sharpened stick.

But please don't misunderstand me! "We wrestle not against flesh and blood", I know this. And I pray that I never have to shoot another human being! But I might have to because there are many evil people in the world who are under such an amount of demonic oppression, that they have learned to be viciously evil.

So there may be some shooting.

 

[Divide]

I have shot USPSA for over 20 years and if anyone want to get into shooting sports, it is good fun. Even the women are joining at a very fast rate and they can shoot. If competition shooters were the problem with guns, you would know it.

Good video.

If you shoot USPSA then, you are reloader? I bet you are! Not many of us out there I see! Nice to run into a fellow reloader.

About time I put a picture on my avatar.

 

[Wings like Eagles]

Good video.

If you shoot USPSA then, you are reloader? I bet you are! Not many of us out there I see! Nice to run into a fellow reloader.

You bet, nice to meet you!