A California Republican legislator, who is a vocal opponent of President Barack Obama's gun control proposal, believes that guns are "essential to living the way God intended."
Assemblyman Tim Donnelly called in to the AM740 KBRITE Christian radio show, "The Bottom Line," to discuss gun control on Wednesday, when he revealed that he believes firearms are part of God's plan.
“Guns are used an average of 3 million times a year according to the Clinton Justice Department,” Donnelly said via RawStory. “That’s like 6,900 times a day. That’s the high end of the statistics. Other people say it’s only 200 times a day. Whatever that number is, they are used to defend human life. They are used to defend our property and our families and our faith and our freedom, and they are absolutely essential to living the way God intended for us to live.”
Annie-Rose Strasser of ThinkProgress notes that Donnelly's "God and guns" argument can be disputed by Bible verses pointing to the notion that "life should focus on family, not firearms."
Isaiah 2:4, for example, reads thus: “He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."
Many religious people have mobilized against guns recently. On Jan. 15, a group of 45 clergy and heads of religious organizations headed to Capitol Hill to petition lawmakers to reinstitute a ban on assault weapons, require background checks and make illegal weapons trafficking a federal crime.
Just two days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the dean of the Washington National Cathedral, Rev. Gary Hall, alluded to scripture to promote his pro-gun control stance. He preached a passage from the Gospel of Luke in which John the Baptist addresses a crowd that comes to him out of desperation.
"What does he say to them?" asked Hall at the Dec. 16 service. "'Bear fruits worthy of repentance.' [3: 10-14] What he means is: stop doing the crazy thing you’re doing and do a new thing, a new thing that will bear fruit, that will bring about the change you seek."
As for Donnelly, he does not only advocate for guns, but he has also been know to carry them. Illegally.
Last January, he was detained by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for trying to bring a loaded Colt .45 handgun with four rounds onto a flight, the Associated Press reported. The gun was discovered in the Christian legislator's carry-on bag as he went through screening at Ontario International Airport. A magazine with five additional rounds was also found.
Donnelly didn't have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, permission he should have obtained from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, according to the AP. He claimed he had the gun with him because of death threats he had previously received.
[h/t RawStory for the find.]
Related
Before You Go
