The Silencers of the Lambs

“Don’t give any of your children to be burned in sacrifice to the god Molech” —Leviticus 18:21

I first wrote this in 2017 after what was then the largest mass shooting event in American history at a concert in Las Vegas where 60 people were killed and over 400 were wounded. Deaths by gunfire continued unabated until in 2020 firearms became the leading cause of death for children under age 19. 

We like to think of ourselves as an advanced, technological society. With smug self-assurance we compare ourselves to primitive cultures, thinking that we have out-grown our ancestors' child-sacrificing ways. But in America, we have not. We continue to sacrifice our children and move on. Sandy Hook proved that. The American idol is the gun, enshrined by our culture, our courts, and the politicians we keep voting for.  

After every mass shooting in this country, the usual platitudes are proffered. Elected officials call for a "moment of silence" along with "thoughts and prayers" for the victims. Government officials will hold a press conference. It happens so often, we have memorized the script. Indeed this "shooting script" has become the liturgy of our American civil religion.

The media will camp out at the crime scene craving any morsel of information. Pundits will endlessly debate as to what motivated the shooter and what signs were missed. They will try to put together a story to make sense of it all, believing that as long as we have a motive, all is well with the world.

The supply chain will eventually be traced. What store were the weapons purchased from? Were the weapons purchased legally?  Did anyone flag the purchase of so many weapons or thousands of rounds of ammo? The insane amount of firepower available to average citizens is almost never questioned.

I thought about how to address this issue. The usual pro and anti gun arguments are well-worn. The sacredness of the second amendment. Registration leads to confiscation. So let me narrow the focus down to the religious of this country, specifically Christians, those who claim Christ as their savior.

I assume that Christians would be familiar with scriptures and the oft repeated imperative to "fear not". Yet how is it that we live in an age of fear, fear of crime, fear of terrorists, fear of government tyranny? It is because we feast on media that traffics in fear and outrage. The need for insane amounts firepower is a response to insane amounts of fear and rage.

If believers in Jesus cannot lay aside their fears, then who can? Jesus told the story of a man who was fully armed to protect himself and his home. Then one day, thieves broke in and overpowered him, leading Jesus to ask, "what became of the arms in which the man trusted?" The answer is obvious; at the critical moment, they were ineffective.

It is my hope that believers can separate themselves from this fear-driven, toxic, paranoid gun culture and see how thoroughly incompatible it is with following Christ. Otherwise we will continue the farce of being a follower of Jesus, pro-life when it comes to the unborn and pro-death when it comes to opposing any restriction on assault weapons.