Quote of the Day — S. Michael Fort (2000)

Buried in this post over at The Captain's Journal, I found this link to an article from way back in 2000:

As a group, the pro-gunners must stop arguing the issue on the terms of the other side. We must make this a worldview issue and not lower it to a level of who has the better facts and figures. We must stop worrying about the number of gun owners who have joined pro-gun organizations and start focusing on how faithful we are. We must remember the lessons taught through Gideon (Judges 7); the Lord fights our wars for us and our greatest weapon is the strength of our faith. Fight relentlessly and work to build that which God desires for us. In the end, we will be vindicated.

Amen to that.

While I strongly encourage you to read the whole thing, I must make a small counter-point to one argument: In quoting Exodus 22:2-3 (NIV) — "If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed." — the author defines it as a question of knowing the thief's intent: as in, during daylight hours, his/her intent is more readily known and he/she may not be willing to bring harm/death to you and yours.

In my Bible studies, we used the English Standard version ("If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him.") or the King James Version ("If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him...."). In our studies, it was generally understood that "the sun risen upon him" meant that the thief broke into the home, left, and then the homeowner tracked him down and killed him later, i.e. the next day. That would be murder; it has nothing whatsoever to do with the time of day the actual break-in occurred — rather, it's a matter of whether the thief is struck down during the commission of his crime (self-defense) or later on (vigilante murder).

And thus ends my minor quibble. On the whole, still a great article.

Stay safe.