{"id":2070,"date":"2013-02-13T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-13T08:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/02\/one-of-the-stranger-arguments-in-the-gun-debate.html"},"modified":"2013-02-13T08:45:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-13T08:45:00","slug":"one-of-the-stranger-arguments-in-the-gun-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/02\/one-of-the-stranger-arguments-in-the-gun-debate.html","title":{"rendered":"One of the stranger arguments in the gun debate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Occurred yesterday<\/a>. \u00a0Somehow, Americans who may in some vague and non-stated way not support the measures currently proposed by the Obama administration are\u00a0hypocrites\u00a0because \u2013 wait for it \u2013 Obama said we have to get serious about North Korea\u2019s recent nuclear weapon test. \u00a0It took me\u00a0forever\u00a0to figure out what was being said. \u00a0A link to the Drudge site didn\u2019t help. \u00a0In the end, based largely on watching the comments pick up, I concluded there was an attempt to draw a moral\u00a0equivalency\u00a0between wanting to keep a country like Korea from getting nuclear weapons and wanting to keep maniacal killers from having fire arms. \u00a0I suppose. \u00a0But the worst part was this:<\/p>\n

As near as I can tell, it boils down to acceptable losses. The thousands we lose each year to gun violence are an acceptable tradeoff for us. Los Angeles is not an acceptable tradeoff. So we accept the idea of states regulating the access of evil maniacs to one sort of arms, but reject the idea of states regulating the access of maniacs to another sort of arms.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this illustrates a pockmark upon so much of our modern dialogue; a tendency that suggests we haven\u2019t learned much from the mistakes of the past. Even assuming we can draw comparisons between an\u00a0oppressive\u00a0and evil dictatorship obtaining nuclear weapons with not having enough regulations on guns, do we actually\u00a0think that those who\u00a0oppose\u00a0these suggestions\u00a0conceded\u00a0they are good, but because of some gun-worship don\u2019t want them, and are happy to let innocents die to keep their precious guns? \u00a0Really? \u00a0Could it be they think that regulations or changes might do more harm than good, or cause even more innocents to die? Or maybe they want to get to the root causes, rather than spend 99% of our efforts on things that might possibly only prevent 01% of the problems? \u00a0I should also add that the tendency of these vague and non-committal\u00a0swipes and poorly defined groups that I mentioned some time ago<\/a> doesn\u2019t excuse the tactic.<\/p>\n

I have news for the Internet, especially the Catholic variety. Jack Chick sinks that low sometimes<\/a>. \u00a0Some\u00a0fundamentalists\u00a0<\/a>and more radical liberal denominations have gone there<\/a>. \u00a0But for the most part, not following the talk show\/cable news approach and manifesting the worst those outlets have to offer would go a long way. \u00a0Resisting the notion that there\u2019s beautiful me and the hip cool people like me, and everyone else who disagrees because they are stupid and\/or evil could elevate the discussion. We should be showing the world how it\u2019s really done. \u00a0Not taking the worst of what the world has to offer and justifying it because we\u2019re obviously so right. <\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s why this little and oft ignored gem in that \u2018optional\u2019 section of the\u00a0Catechism\u00a0 right next to the all important \u2018never lie for any reason\u2019 portion, should be moved to the \u2018real Catechism we should all listen to\u2019 portion:<\/p>\n

2477<\/b>\u00a0Respect for the reputation<\/i>\u00a0of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury.278<\/sup>\u00a0He becomes guilty:<\/span>\u2013 of\u00a0rash judgment<\/i>\u00a0who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor;<\/span>\u2013 of\u00a0detraction\u00a0<\/i>who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another\u2019s faults and failings to persons who did not know them;279<\/sup><\/span>\u2013 of\u00a0calumny\u00a0<\/i>who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.<\/span>2478<\/b>\u00a0To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor\u2019s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way:<\/span>Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another\u2019s statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.280<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Occurred yesterday. \u00a0Somehow, Americans who may in some vague and non-stated way not support the measures currently proposed by the Obama administration are\u00a0hypocrites\u00a0because \u2013 wait for it \u2013 Obama said we have to get serious about North Korea\u2019s recent nuclear weapon test. \u00a0It took me\u00a0forever\u00a0to figure out what was being said. \u00a0A link to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOne of the stranger arguments in the gun debate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Occurred yesterday.  Somehow, Americans who may in some vague and non-stated way not support the measures currently proposed by the Obama\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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