"A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." 2nd Amendment, US Constitution
This short sentence is the subject of some of the most intense feeling, the grandest propaganda efforts, and one of the longest-running political debates in the United States today. Anyone who does not realize that those who composed that amendment meant for every man to be free to carry a loaded firearm anywhere he wished just does not know history. What is still fair game for debate is whether that concept belongs in our world today.
In American colonial times, the average long gun was accurate at up to about 60 yards, something not too difficult to match with modern handguns or archery. The reloading time for a second shot was long enough that opposing lines of enemy soldiers marching toward each other only got off one or two shots before they would be engaged hand-to-hand. Much has changed since then.
Where the 2nd Amendment is most dishonored is in American cities. What we know of in America as "a city" did not arise until around the early 1900s. Our national founders had only experienced the European version.
Anyone who has had a chance to compare the US and Europe knows instinctively that the concept of "city" is quite different between the two. In fact, for most Americans, virtually the whole of Europe seems one long series of cities and towns with practically no open country at all. I seem to recall that in no part of Europe I saw could one travel in any direction so much as 3 miles without finding some sort of dwelling or business. European cities, most far older than the US itself, are full of narrow streets, running at all angles and in curves, with fewer skyscrapers, many ancient structures, and exhibit far less pre-planning of their layouts. There is a whole different feel about them.
The point is not so much to justify abandoning our founders' intentions, nor even to inform the debate over it, as to illustrate how futile is the attempt to regulate the future. These men operated from a high concept of honor that is all but forgotten today. It's not that there were any fewer scoundrels in their day, or that people were inherently better. There were simply more people ascribing to those higher standards, and it was a great deal easier to live by them.
Setting aside for a moment possible ulterior motives in the drafting of our current US Constitution, the presumption of its authors was that a system could be constructed on the principles of honor they espoused. Wise ones admitted it could easily be subverted, but they tried to build that honor into the system itself.
With our 20-20 hindsight, we see so clearly that it was doomed from the start. There is plenty of reason for heaping praise on at least part of what was built on that system, but easily as much reason for scorn at how it has been twisted by those merely pretending to uphold that old honor. And we discover that bad precedent, while not the same as the document itself, is almost as hard to undo. Is there any adult convinced that everything in US government today is just what it ought to be? Ask them to wake up.
When it comes your turn to write the rules, to publish policy, to establish procedures, never forget: Systems cannot be honorable; only people can. What you put forth for the future can call out to the honor within a human heart. It cannot create that honor, nor forbid dishonor. We do not write Scripture. We can at best only interpret. And if Scripture is so often ignored by those claiming Christ, can we hope for better of the things we write?
It is not only our successors in leadership who can so easily betray us. The quality of those being led may also fluctuate. Who would claim that today's average citizens are the moral equivalent of those from just a couple of generations before? Such a claim would be false on the face of it. Seldom do following generations claim moral superiority; they usually ridicule those before as unnecessarily sticky and fussy. This is not simple nostalgia for the old days -- read popular literature. What was popular of each generation betrays much. Again, it's not their ability to adhere to their sense of honor, but what they held as honorable.
Look at modern US Military regulations. Has there ever been constructed by mankind a more complicated, micro-managing, and inflexible system? It even gets down to the precise method for lacing up one's boots. This whole mess is backed up by a culture of mutual nit-picking officially encourged at all levels. Virtually every line today is the result of someone taking liberties with commonly accepted meanings. It's not enough that there is a massive layer of military tradition undergirding everything; it's simply not possible to make everyone adopt that tradition. And because commanders themselves are so varied in quality, none can trust that they will individually adhere to a common core of application of those traditions. So out of fairness, much minutiae is taken out of their hands and the whole service must do it just so down to the last detail. Never mind that it is humanly impossible to make detailed rules that cover all situations.
We are not to lust after the monolithic control so favorable with civil government elites. God called His people as individuals, saving each one separately. Some are called to one thing, some another. Though the basic terms of our calling are the same -- we surrender all to His Lordship -- how that plays out is inevitably an individual matter (Philippians 2:2).
Practice restraint in writing the rules. Prayerfully seek to express the power and grace of God in that writing, knowing that no human organization -- however divine the purpose -- can function without some sort of law. We write to guard against the monster of sin in every man's heart, with the hope that redemption will rule their actions. The rest is simply God's problem.
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Ed Hurst
02 October 2002
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior -- "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23).