Newtown and the 2nd Amendment

It has always been true, and it always will be: we can be safe, or we can be free.

I think this debate needs to be held, and we need to understand as much as we can what is at stake in both options.  As we discuss it with each other, we will undoubtedly invoke all the passion that we feel on both sides of the issue.  I have strong feelings on both sides warring within me, in fact.

We need to understand the 2nd Amendment's intention - which has never been to protect our right to hunt.  And we always need to be very careful about what rights we are willing to yield to our "benevolent government," particularly in these days in which the governability of the people - our own citizens and those who enter our nation from abroad using the transportation means which are available today - may be at an all-time low.

The freedom which we may yield because of our fear will be sorely missed should the tyranny of our government ever rise to the level from which we seized our freedom by force. And we should never trust our government to be immune from such tyranny.

With all that said, I do not know what the wise path is in the face of today's challenges.  I know I must trust God for my security, but do not know the degree to which he would call me to defend this freedom which our founders found so essential as to give it second place in our Bill of Rights. But why should we expect it to be sacrosanct when those listed first are themselves under assault?

Has the American experiment already failed, overcome by some combination of the threats of technology, population boom,  mental health issues and lack of good sense, and we have simply not recognized it yet?

Which loss will our posterity mourn more acutely: their fallen peers, or the right to take up their own arms when necessary?

I fear the wisdom of Solomon is insufficient for this dilemma.

God, help us to know the way that is truly wise, and to trust you in it.