Newspaper Columns by Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Gun Control is Not a Liberal Plot
Bishop Paul V. Marshall
June 2000I love guns. In principle. They are one of the last intricately made machines that I can understand without computers entering the picture.
I don't hunt, but before becoming bishop of Bethlehem I did a lot of target shooting; and I shot sporting clays with my adult children. My daughter at one time was the sixth-best woman shooter in Connecticut. My life is so busy now, however, that I haven't had a chance to shoot in almost five years.
When it comes to what stand I will take for my family, there have been two moments of truth in my life.
In 1978 the four of us were leaving a plane from La Guardia when there was an attempt to highjack the plane to Cuba. I knew at that moment that I would throw myself over the children if things got rough.
The second moment occurred in New Haven, at 2:30 a.m., when I subdued and held at gunpoint an armed intruder who put my daughter in fear for her life. I thought I would never point a gun at anyone; but when it came to doing that or losing my daughter, I did. Had I not been armed, we might all be dead.
I report all this because I want to say I am acquainted with guns and what they do for sport and protection when I also report that I was very proud of the strict gun control laws Connecticut maintained, and hope that most of the other states catch up.
Yes, people do distort numbers. Some statistics about "children" dying of gunshots include youth up to twenty-four years old. Numbers are not the issue. However one counts, too many children and adults die because guns were improperly stored; too many people are shot with illegally possessed firearms.
The best information I have is that federal prosecutors bring to trial fewer than 10% of the criminals caught under the "instant check" system, and an even smaller percentage under other gun laws. One wonders why the government does so little to enforce these laws.
On the preventative side, I identify proudly with the "crazies." I think that a gun should be as safe as the most lethal instrument I have -- my car. My car is registered and licensed; in most jurisdictions, it is inspected for safety. To get a license to operate it, I had to pass tests of theory and practice. The car I drive today has child-proof locks on the rear doors and will not operate at all unless the driver has a key with the proper microchip in it. Those familiar analogies do hold water, despite their familiarity.
How making guns safer is an act of "gun-grabbing" eludes me, although there are those who see lurking behind each regulation the monster of confiscation. This is the view of a number of gun groups; as murder rates decline, I cannot follow the twisted logic.
Why should sentiments like these appear in a column on religion? When I began this series of columns I pointed out that religion quite literally means that which binds things together. It is past argument that regulating what can tear life apart is a concern for all people, especially for those who profess a heaven-inspired reverence for life.
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