Should Christians Pack Heat?

Published Thursday, December 6th, 2007 in Culture & Society

Twenty-year-old Robert A. Hawkins shot and killed eight people before turning the gun on himself in Nebraska. He left a note saying, “Now I’ll be famous.” He was right. He’s now famous. But he’s also dead. So are his eight victims who never asked to be famous.

When a senseless tragedy such as this occurs, the world scratches its head, ask, “Was this necessary?” Larry Pratt, Executive Director of Gun Owners of America, the nation’s second largest gun rights organization, offers a resounding “no!”

Then he asks a question: “When will we learn that being defenseless is a bad defense? All of the school shootings that were abruptly thwarted in the last 10 years were because a law-abiding citizen — a potential victim — had a gun.”

So, does this also apply to carrying weapons in shopping malls? Pratt thinks so. He contends that if just a single person was packing, they could have stopped Robert Hawkins dead in his tracks.

Pollsters have found that 85% of Americans would find it appropriate for a school principal or teacher to use “a gun at school to defend the lives of students” to stop a school massacre (Research 2000 poll).

What do you think? Should Christians pack heat?