Church Conference Repeats Tired Talking Points to Advance Citizen Disarmament

By David Codrea

USA – -(Ammoland.com)-  “Church conference in Chapel Hill examines gun violence,” The News & Observer “reported” approvingly on Saturday’s exercise in wailing and moaning. The keynote speaker, the Rev. Matthew Crebbin, senior minister of the Newtown Congregational Church in Connecticut (and UC Berkeley graduate), came to spread the “progressive” gospel that what worked so well at Sandy Hook is just the ticket for North Carolina.

Quickly apparent from the story is that it was an exercise in hand-wringing and parroting tired talking points originated by the totalitarian lobby and propagated by supportive media. It was designed to play on the emotions and good intentions of those with little actual knowledge.  And of course it was totally one-sided, presuming – despite the evidence – that defensive gun uses are a “myth,” and that to believe otherwise is “a perverse theology.”

As we see every time they offer an opinion, with “progressives,” every day is Opposite Day. In this case, perverse theologians would rather see those who would defend themselves with a firearm dead than armed.

In a classic bit of hoplophobe projection, motives for firearms ownership were dismissively attributed to “fear,” and instead attendees were warned how guns are most often used to harm family members. Lumping ordinary Americans in with dangerously-behaving criminals has long been a tack used by the gun-grabbers, and as we’ve seen, the fact that an assailant is not a “stranger” hardly makes a lethal dispute between “acquainted” gangbangers a mishap between “loved ones.”

Likewise, if suicide prevention is a goal, the group would do well to look at one demographic that suffers a higher rate than the general populace – the police. The Chicago Sun-Times notes “The rate of suicide among CPD officers is 60 percent higher than other departments across the U.S.”  The Philadelphia Inquirer did a report some years back concluding “New York City officers kill themselves at a rate of 29 per 100,000 a year. The rate of suicide in the general population is 12 per 100,000 … Nationally, twice as many cops – about 300 annually – commit suicide as are killed in the line of duty…”

So naturally, the gun-grabbers would have us believe police are the “Only Ones” trustworthy enough to keep and bear arms. And naturally, opportunistic oath-breaking political creatures like Police Chiefs Chris Blue of Chapel Hill and Walter Horton of Carrboro were quick to bolster that sentiment, opposing concealed carry, supporting “gun-free zones,” and throwing out the “arms race” canard to scare those who don’t know any better into wanting to ban standard capacity magazines from those who do.

For his part, Newtown’s Crebbin put his ignorance of the intent of the Second Amendment — as understood by the Founders and as supported by the Supreme Court – on full display, harkening back to the pre-Heller days when the gun-grabbers were insisting it’s not an individual right:

“The right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed,” Crebbin said, citing the Second Amendment. “I like the Constitution too,” he continued. “I like that other part. Do you know what that part says? A well-regulated militia being necessary to a free state.”

Alexander Hamilton addressed “well regulated” in The Federalist No. 29, conceding:

“To oblige the great body of the yeomanry, and of the other classes of the citizens, to be under arms for the purpose of going through military exercises and evolutions, as often as might be necessary to acquire the degree of perfection which would entitle them to the character of a well-regulated militia, would be a real grievance to the people, and a serious public inconvenience and loss … Little more can reasonably be aimed at, with respect to the people at large, than to have them properly armed and equipped…”

Hamilton recognized that soldiering is a profession, and knew that people had farms to work, shops to tend, trades to ply. But the value of them being “properly armed and equipped” was nonetheless recognized, even if they weren’t “well regulated” as a body — what regulation they would be subjected to would come if and when mustered for militia service, but there was no precondition on arms ownership imposed on what they could possess outside of such duty.

All arguments exhausted, the “conference” ultimately devolved into ad hominem, dismissing those who believe unbendingly in the right of the people to keep and bear arms as “gundamentalists.” That’s hardly surprising, as the event was backed by the “social justice”-focused North Carolina Council of Churches, and  since one of the speakers was Mark Carman of the Astroturf “American Coalition for Responsible Gun Ownership.” Representatives also attended from North Carolinians against Gun Violence, Moms Demand Action and Moms Rising.

At least they didn’t call us “ammosexuals.”

“They call it a divine right to keep and bear arms,” self-styled “theologian” James Atwood said. “When did God say they have a divine right to have guns? I don’t know. I can’t find it.”

Atwood evidently has not read the Declaration of Independence, where better-educated men than him acknowledged “that all men are … endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” He, along with the NC Council of Churches (which organized conference attendance) empowering anti-gun (and otherwise hostile to Christian tenets) politicians, are blissfully oblivious of a Philadelphia sermon from 1747 declaring:

“He that suffers his life to be taken from him by one who has no authority for that purpose, when he might preserve it by defense, incurs the Guilt of self murder since God has enjoined him to seek the continuance of his life, and Nature itself teaches every creature to defend [it]self.”

Over the years, many gun owner rights advocates, me included, have addressed the fools and the scoundrels hiding behind religious titles to enable tyranny. There’s a book that does a great job at exposing the lies and providing Biblical justification for the right to keep and bear arms. I’ve been meaning to call to your attention for some time, and now appears the perfect opportunity to do so.

It’s called “A Time to Kill: The Myth of Christian Pacifism,” by Alabama attorney Gregory N. Hopkins of BibleSelfDefense.com. As an aside, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Hopkins on a sad occasion— the memorial service for our mutual friend and colleague Mike Vanderboegh.

Per Hopkins:

“This book is about decisions. Not the everyday kind such as “What should I wear today?” or “Where shall we eat tonight?” but decisions that deal with life, death, and protecting the innocent. Self defense is not only about individual survival; self defense can also decide the fate of a nation and all its citizens. ‘A Time to Kill: The Myth of Christian Pacifism’ answers questions such as: Do federal, state, and local laws allow citizens to defend themselves against criminal attack? What means are available for self defense? What strategies should one use to avoid potential conflict. Can Christians defend themselves against Islamic extremists? Is pacifism in the Bible? Do the Gospels say Jesus was a pacifist? What if God commands us to use deadly force to defend the innocent? How do Jesus and the New Testament writers feel about the military? What does the Bible say about the death penalty? Can Christians sit on juries and vote for the death penalty? Can Jesus’ teachings help soldiers with combat-induced PTSD? Does the Bible have a consistent message about self-defense from the Old Testament to the New?”

It’s evident that those who intend to see you and me disarmed will use all means to do so. They’ll exploit a natural inclination of good people to respect and heed lessons of spiritual uplifting. Those who otherwise have no use for Christianity — other than to condemn it — are not above employing its trappings to deceive well-meaning but nonetheless useful idiots.

“A Time to Kill” gives gun owner rights advocates a resource to educate the faith community and to counter the lies of those who would misrepresent scriptural teachings and turn the faithful toward the worship of government idols. As such, it’s an invaluable addition to the ideological arsenal of every gun owner rights advocate, including non-Christians and those considering themselves agnostic or atheist.

You can pick up a paperback copy from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s or Books-a-Million, or if you prefer, download an e-book copy from Kindle.

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.

In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.