The families of nine children who were shot and killed by 20-year old Adam Lanza in a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 won a lawsuit today against Remington Arms Company, the maker of the rifle that the shooter used. The massacre had resulted in the deaths of 20 first graders and six adults. The weapon used was an AK-15 assault rifle. It was the largest such lawsuit ever won against an arms manufacturer, and the judgment was $73 million. Remington declared bankruptcy.
U.S. gun and rifle companies had always been protected against such lawsuits by U.S. laws. But the plaintiffs won the lawsuit because they proved that Remington’s marketing of its products violated Connecticut consumer laws. Connecticut law did not allow for a combat weapon, such as an AK-15, to be marketed to the general public. The lead lawyer representing the families stated that their purpose for the lawsuit was “to do whatever they could to help prevent the next Sandy Hook.” This judgment against a gun and rifle manufacturer is believed to be a devastating loss to the firearms industry that will have negative repercussions against it in the future.
President Joe Biden made a statement just hours ago about this ruling, saying, “While this settlement does not erase the pain of that tragic day, it does begin the necessary work of holding gun manufacturers accountable for manufacturing weapons of war and irresponsibly marketing these firearms.”
In my STILL HERE series on Bible prophecy (Books 1-3 are published with Book 4 soon to be published), in my yet unpublished Book 5, entitled The Late Great Plastic Empire, I have a chapter on the future of guns and all advanced, modern weapons. In it I show from Bible prophecy that the world will eventually disarm itself of all such weapons, so that wars will only be fought with primitive weapons, such as sword, spears, bows and arrows, etc. (See STILL HERE Book 2, Warrior from Heaven, pp. 12-14.)
This is clearly stated in Ezekiel 38-39, in which a person with the title “Gog,” who I believe is the final Antichrist, will lead all of the militaries of the world’s nations in an assault against the nation of Israel at the end of the age with the purpose of totally annihilating the nation. God says to Gog through his prophet Ezekiel, “I will lead you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company , all of them with shield and buckler, wielding swords” (Eze 38.4 NRSV).
God adds, “I will strike your bow from your lefthand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples that are with you” (Eze 39.3-4).
God also predicts that after this assault is ended, “Then those who live in towns of Israel will go out and make fires of the weapons and burn them–bucklers and shields, bows and arrows, handpikes and spears–and they will make fires of them for seven years. They will not need to take wood out of the field or cut down any trees in the forests, for they will make their fires of the weapons” (vv. 9-10).
This is the final war that has been popularly called Armageddon due to mention of this term in Revelation 16.14; but that is a misnomer. (See Warrior from Heaven, p. 15.)
There are other biblical prophecies which indicate that only primitive weapons will be used in the last days to fight wars. This literal interpretation of the weapons in Ezekiel 38-39, of course, requires that the world will previously have disarmed itself of all advanced, modern weapons and will prevent their production. Of course, such world disarmament will take a long time to happen.
The main reason many evangelical Christians push back on me about this literal interpretation of the weapons in Ezekiel 38-39 is that they cannot accept that the end of the age and simultaneous second coming of Christ must await such a long period of time that total disarmament would require. That is often because they think Jesus will return “soon.” But Bible prophecies that say this in some English versions are, in my opinion, translated wrongly (e.g., Revelation 22.7; 12, 20 NRSV, NIV; but see “quickly” in KJV, NASB).
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