In the United States, the Supreme Court Heller decision ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. Thus, the Constitution’s individual protection of “the right to keep and bear arms [as] necessary to the security of a free state” comports with the Catechism’s declaration that “preserving the common good requires [that] those holding legitimate authority have the right to repel [aggressors] by armed force.”
On May 3, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops announced its opposition to HB 1927, Texas’s Constitutional Carry legislation, in a non-magisterial letter.
Rather than insisting on protections for “legitimate defense” using “armed force,” which the Catechism states is required in order to “preserv[e] the common good,” the bishops’ conference letter reads more like a laundry list of poorly researched anti-gun activist platitudes—promoting several disturbing gun control myths in the process. …
While the Catechism plainly supports individual Americans’ constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms for “legitimate defense,” the same cannot be said of our bishops.
According to Apostolorum successores, the function of a Bishops Conference is to facilitate, “the transmission of the doctrine of the Church in a more incisive way and in harmony with the particular character of a nation and circumstances of life of its Christian faithful.”
Unfortunately, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops’ letter lacks both doctrinal support and “incisive” commentary for any of the Christian faithful who choose to exercise their legally and magisterially protected “right to repel [aggressors] by armed force.” The letter also utterly fails to harmonize with the “particular character” of the United States, given the Second Amendment to our nation’s Constitution.
By slandering legitimate defenders who are intent on “preserving the common good” through the exercise of the “right to repel [aggressors] by armed force” with no reference to magisterial teaching, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops has committed a great disservice to the public policy voice of Holy Mother Church.
— Aidan Johnston in Catholic Bishops Should Support Constitutional Carry
Are these the same bishops that turn a blind eye allowing child molestation?
They don’t turn a blind eye to it. They actively work to cover up cases and protect the offenders from prosecution.
True story:
I noticed 30.06 / 30.07 signs on the doors of a church I used to attend. I kindly told the priest I didn’t understand why people with a license are not welcome with a gun to defend against people who would do us harm. The priest kindly responded that I was very much welcome to take my gun in the church, they just don’t want violence. ***** He said the signs were given to him by a police officer to put at the church entrances. *****
The priest is from Mexico and had/has no knowledge of U.S. / Texas gun laws.
Ahh, citizenship without educating one self on their rights. He might as well check the Dem box Everytime. Also, fuck those cops. I’m not religious, but that story is a shit show of tyranny and negligence.
You don’t state if CITIZENSHIP has been gifted to him. But he no doubt votes in the US.
“The priest kindly responded that I was very much welcome to take my gun in the church, they just don’t want violence.”
Excellent!
You will not be bringing the violence, you will be *stopping* the violence, if necessary.
You can carry, and defend, with a clean conscience… 🙂
I really don’t understand how constitutional carry is better than a low-cost, low hassle shall issue system. I learned A LOT when I got my permit about holsters, laws, things like how to use a public restroom, how to have a safe in the car for places you can’t carry, etc.
And I was quite proficient with the M9 from the Army, and I open carried while hunting. Let’s face it, Mr. Cholo Cartel Jefe is not going to seek out training on his own.
So again- why are we pushing the constitutional carry thing so hard? All this is going to do is put the CCW trainers out of business.
Also- I’m Catholic. My priest joins us at the Parish range day.
Putting/requiring a qualifier in order to exercise an enumerated negative right moves the needle from right to privilege.
Pretty much this. There will always be a market for training and it will be far more affordable for new shooters when it is not required to exercise a civil right.
“I really don’t understand how constitutional carry is better than a low-cost, low hassle shall issue system.”
Off-topic for this thread, but I’ll answer anyway. I was in your camp until 2020. We don’t have a training/testing/qualification prerequisite in PA; just NICS. So, why bother with the permit? Someone who is a prohibited-person ought to know he is and refrain from any possession.
The real problem is that you still need that permit; and you might need it in a hurry. And just when you need it in a hurry, the application window might suddenly close. Moreover, even if you can get your application in, they might not process it quickly. Such problems are possible, but not intrinsic, to the best of permitting systems (such as we generally have in PA). But under the worst of circumstances, such as in 2020, they force you to carry illegally or go out without being armed.
I’d like to see more training as well. But forcing it as a prerequisite to carrying is a violation of my principles that I can’t advocate.
Instead, I’d like to see either universal training-to-arms in elementary and high school or promoting training as something one takes the initiative to pursue.
MarkPA:
“Instead, I’d like to see either universal training-to-arms in elementary and high school or promoting training as something one takes the initiative to pursue.”
So would I. But, regrettably, it isn’t going to happen anytime soon. While I really like the idea of “…universal training-to-arms in elementary and high school…” don’t hold your breath.
Because you giving them permission to regulate you just a smidge turns into the massive Constitutional infringements we have now. Every inch you give them turns into a light year.
i need to check my distance to time conversion chart. is that how long it takes light to travel an inch or how slow is movement required to cover an inch in one year?
in one year and out the other.
my hovercraft is filled with eels.
“my hovercraft is filled with eels.”
Whoaaaaaa….. 😉
Perhaps YOUR clergy DOES understand what 30.06/30.07 means.
Getting a Concealed Handgun License registers the user. The 2nd Amendment does not come with a prerequisite of registration. It would not make any difference if the cost was only one dollar.
There is no reason at all for trainers to be put out of business. People STILL need to be adequately trained. Constitutional Carry doe not change this. These are two separate things and would still be even without permitless carry. What? You think everyone will just magically wake up the next day and know everything there is to know about guns, gun laws, safety, and handling? What all did YOU do to be so proficient with your M9?
Qualify as expert. Carry one in a SERPA the Green Zone.
And I learned a lot about Concealed carry from the class. Like why SERPAs are garbage. I don’t think people realize how little Mil/LE know about guns.
i learned how to use a public restroom as a child on family vacations. gulf stations and dog n suds; dad hated stuckey’s. but that was open carry six shooter cap guns. i didn’t conceal a wasp until jr. high.
{Family vacations}
“dad hated stuckey’s. ”
Your dad too?
Every time they saw that sign, either dad or mom would say “Get stuck at Stuckey’s”.
To this day (are they even still around?) I’ve never been in one… 😉
The Reason Constitutional Carry is better than “Shall Issue” is many faceted. The first reason is; Rights that need a government permission slip are really privileges that can be curbed by officials, fees, training requirements and waiting periods, etc., etc.
Also, you need a gun, when you need a gun. Most people aren’t going to bother jumping through any hoops to get a permit. Something like 5% to maybe 10% end up doing it in a Shall Issue state. Sometimes its laziness or time and cost that keeps people from signing up and attending a class and waiting for a permit. So somehow to think, firing 50 rounds one day and listening to a 1 hour lecture and maybe taking a written test, while better than nothing, its not really training. Using these “Common Sense” requirements to deny 95% of the Adult population their Rights, granted to them by their Creator, is neither legal, ethical or moral.
Most People are not “Gun People” and to deny these People their rights, because we want to keep out the unworthy is thinking that makes me, frankly sick to my stomach. We all have a Right to Life and therefore, we all have a Right to Preserve Life, with any tools we choose.
Also saying we should keep Shall Issue to keep the CCW trainers in business, is like saying you support the New York City rules that require you to hire a law firm, just to get permission to possess a pistol, wait a year for approval and spend even more time and money to get an unrestricted permit to carry in public, etc.
As a former Catholic, not even going to address the whole church support, thing, etc.
“All of which are controlled by … the same type of people who control this blog.”
If you have a problem with those who practice the Jewish faith, you aren’t gonna like this blog, son.
‘Stormfront’ is what you’re looking for… 🙁
“All this is going to do is put the CCW trainers out of business.”
Any business that exists only because the government forces people to patronize it deserves to die.
Lockheed Martin and Halliburton and public schools deserve to die.
Yes government schools going away (or being forced to compete) would be good.
Halliburton? You’re an idiot
Lockheed Martin? The feds chose to buy from them not you but – You’re still an idiot.
I’ve had a CCW since my state became shall issue. Right now, I spend more monthly for ongoing training than I spent for my CCW qualification class. Good trainers can always find responsible citizens who want to improve their skills, understanding, and confidence. The more you learn, the more you know that there’s more to learn.
I wonder if they are misreading “[that] those holding legitimate authority . . . ”
These words, which I take come from the Catechism, are controlling. They raise the question of who it is that holds legitimate authority.
One answer might be to point to some singular authority in each prevailing case; e.g., the Queen within the UK. But that doesn’t work in the US where we simultaneously have legitimate authority from both the Feds and the States, and, incidentally, overlapping municipal authorities. A still more serious problem is that all power – in our system of government – is ultimately vested in the People. No executive or judge has any power which does not originate in the People themselves.
From this notion comes the power of a citizen’s arrest and the duty to respond to hue and cry. In some cases, failure to do what one could do is a punishable offense at law.
So, if the Bishops are to interpret this doctrine “in harmony with the particular character of a nation and circumstances of life” it is obliged to square its teaching with the authority of the individual citizen.
In a grander sense, each individual owes a duty to promote and defend his own life and welfare. Moreover, he sometimes has an explicit duty to do so with respect to his dependents. There is no higher secular authority then these obligations to one’s self and dependents.
In bear country it would be irresponsible to venture out unarmed; as much as to go to sea without a life preserver. While there are plenty of places which are safe enough – e.g., a gated community – to require no precautions there are likewise places where going armed is prudent. And particularly so if one is particularly vulnerable: handicapped; elderly; slight of build; escorting children.
Shouldn’t the bishops be teaching that one has a duty to go armed? In some circumstances, to neglect to do so is to shirk one’s reasonable responsibilities to self and others.
Another way to look at it is that life itself is a gift from God — the greatest gift each person will ever have. Would God not want each individual to be able to protect and preserve that divine gift?
That gated community is only safe if you have armed guards that will protect you over themselves. A gated community may keep most homeless, prowlers, and burglars out, it won’t protect you from someone who really wants to harm you or a resident with extreme mental health issues that has gone off his meds.
If it’s not some holier than thou priests, doctors, police chiefs, politicians calling for Gun Control it is going to some other ignorant piehole with a media amplifier. Denying decent people their right to survive comes from either pure selfish ignorance or the minds of closet perverts day dreaming about rape, molesting kids or doing something to someone that requires the victim to be defenseless and in their total control. So obviously they get their closet jollies when they hear “Control.” It gives the gutless wonders some hope that maybe one day they’ll have all the victims they want and if Americans were not armed to the extent they are that day would be today.
Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box
Religion is the smile on a dog
chocolate frosted sugar bombs/ earl
At Stuckey’s… 😉
The catholic religion has historically hated you being armed. Not so my good old Baptist church where even the head pastor is armed. No poop from a pope. In other “newz” Fadda Pfleger has been “cleared” by da cardinal for molesting at least 3 boy’s. Yep Snuffy who threatened to murder Chuck of Chucks Gunshop in Riverdale,ILLinois.
Apparently you’re not keeping up with Southern Baptist and their orgazmist lovefest with “Critical Race Theory”. I guess for the millennial Baptists, that’s what all the cool kids are doing.
I am NOT a Baptist-southern or otherwise. We attend. It’s independent,fundamental and bible believing. Hammond,IN 1st Baptist. You are a doofus. And an idiot as you label other’s…
A a lifetime recovering Catholic, I am NOT surprised. The Catholic church has always striven to be the power behind the power. They allowed royalty to “lord” it over the populace, they accepted 3rd sons in as bishops(3rd daughters in as superiors in convents).
The schools teach children to use the pain of a scraped knee as a prayer(pain is NOT a prayer), they teach the children of the haves one way, but the poorer areas get taught to kneel down and accept their fate.
The whole purpose of the Catholic church is control over everything and they do not like competition from other Christian groups who do not bend knee to the pope.
I know there are many good Christians inside the church, but I feel that my walk with God is personal, I do not need to kiss some clergy ass to get to heaven.
Since the forefathers of our country chose freedom to worship as you please(no state religion), maybe religion should butt out and not try to set political issues.
“maybe religion should butt out and not try to set political issues.”
Not the problem. The PROBLEM with American Christianity, in particular the Catholic Church in the US, does not expect (or enforce) their standards on their, self-selected membership, secular gov’t. Name the last degenerate Demtard “Catholic” who was excommunicated. OR even denied communion. OK then Name ONE.
Heck even the mooooslems in the US don’t reject THEIR POS – Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Mooooslem radical progtard broads are their reps into the US Western world. Pathetic laughable.
I’ve carried a gunm into church when I was around 10 years old. It was a water pistol. I liked to sit behind ball headed guys and squirt them in the head.
That vestibule is where you get your ass beat by Dad for water pistols.
Bless me father, for I have sinned, but I swear it was holy water.
Bahahaha
😀
Just another group telling you how to live, even outside of religion, that y’all do extra for to be in. Makes bout as much sense as paying an HOA to tell you how to live.
Long ago my father said the church( Lutheran) needs to stay out of politics, or pay taxes. I agree with that statement.
Politics and religion are all to commonly used as control mechanisms for the populace.
Neither priests nor politicians should have any say in how or if someone wishes to be armed or not.
A Catholic that promotes Marxism is committing heresy.
Comments are closed.