Sunday, January 20, 2013

There Are More of Us than of Them

There Are More of Us than of Them
Isaiah 2:1-5
            The National Rifle Association claims 4.2 million members.  The most powerful lobbying group in the United States says it speaks with one voice for all of its members—a claim no organization can make with total assurance.  Its leadership says Congress doesn’t “have the muscle” to pass an assault weapons ban.  Translation:  “So many congressmen are in our pocket that the other side doesn’t have the votes.  And those we control won’t break ranks because they know we’ll take them down the next time they’re up for re-election.”
            There’s a memorable scene in the movie The Power of One.  A black prisoner in a South African jail tells his Afrikaner jailer what the other prisoners are singing about.  They are saying that the jailers are afraid of the prisoners.  For his honesty he is beaten to death.  But he has one moment of triumph.  He knows, as he suffers the death-dealing blows, that what he says is true.
            I believe the National Rifle Association is facing much the same situation.  They are afraid.  They have 4.2 million members.  The population of the United States at last count is 315,156,599.  You do the math.  There are more of us than there are of them.
            The NRA is afraid that if there is ever one chink in their armor, their whole wall will come tumbling down.  This is a familiar argument.  We hear it every time there is the possibility of great change.  Those opposing the civil rights movement were sure their whole way of life would be destroyed if legislation passed assuring minorities of their rights.  Those opposing women’s rights were sure that if legislation were passed assuring equal rights for females it would mean women in combat roles and single-sex bathrooms.  Those opposing gay rights and gays in the military are sure that the whole fabric of civilization will be irreparably torn if those measures go into effect.
            Any time a group tries to claim its rights, the opposition is sure it will mean the end of life as they know it.  Witness Syria. Witness the Arab spring.  Witness (on a much smaller scale) free agency in sports.  Freedom is never won easily, nor are rights won without a struggle.
            Please do not misunderstand me.  I am not anti-gun.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  I believe hunting and target shooting are worthwhile activities even though I do not participate in either.  These were the principles on which the NRA was founded over 100 years ago.  Gun safety was stressed.  Sport shooting was stressed.  This situation continued until the 1950’s when a group, fearing the loss of a right they could never lose, hijacked the NRA and turned it into the powerful, reactionary force we see today.
            Perhaps we’ll never see the future Isaiah envisioned—not in our lifetime, not in this world.  Perhaps this vision will only be realized when Christ has come again and God has established the New Jerusalem here on earth.  But wouldn’t it be a good start if we could get guns out of the hands of those who use them to kill innocent children?  Wouldn’t it be a good first step to limit access to weapons no hunter or sportsman could ever have a use for?  I’ve never heard of anyone hunting ducks, or geese, or deer with an assault rifle.  Seems like overkill to me.  And target shooting would, I think, not be as much of a challenge with one. 
Yes, I know:  guns don’t kill people, people kill people.  But it’s undeniable that people with guns kill more people and kill them more efficiently than any other way.
            Several years ago, the NRA ran an ad campaign that featured various members saying, “I’m the NRA, and I vote.”  Perhaps it’s time for the rest of us to start a similar campaign:  “I’m not  the NRA, and I vote—and there are more of us than there are of them.”

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