Gun Control and the Culture of Life

Should gun control be seen as part of the culture of life in the US? Consider the following international gun violence statistics, from a 1998 study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The US is off the charts. Clearly, there is a problem, and it takes an exercise in grand delusion to claim that the free availability of guns plays no role. In fact, studies show that homicide and suicide rates are positively correlated with gun ownership. And while gun ownership may increase deaths from firearms, there is no evidence that it reduces homicide and suicide rates by other means. In other words, huge costs, few benefits.

Some will try to pass the buck from guns, and argue that the US is inherently more violent than other developed countries. And the US is a violent country, for many reasons. Some point to the legacy of popular revolution and the frontier culture, others to the acceptability of violence as a response to problems (including in foreign policy!), others to a popular culture that glorifies violence, and others still to the greater diversity that breeds tensions. All of these explanations have some validity. But how is any of this an argument against gun control? In fact, it would be an act of gross negligence to throw an unlimited supply of guns into such a tinder box.

Many on the right will defend the free availability of guns on the grounds of “freedom”. This is surely a twisted concept of freedom that seems precisely the opposite of the Christian understanding. And besides, in the protection of the common good (which is what the law is — or should be — all about), freedoms are curtailed as a matter of course. All but the most extreme libertarians accept the role of the government in regulating behavior in the interest of the common good. Do people seriously claim that they have the right to drive any any speed, under the influence of as much alcohol as they desire? Yes, the argument against gun control ultimately derives from a selfish narcissistic individualism that thumbs its nose at the common good. And this is not Catholic.