Quid Sit?

“Will I ever learn that there’ll be no peace, that the war won’t cease / Until He returns?” – Dylan, “When He Returns”

I’ve witnessed quite the flap in recent days over a statement from the USCCB, issued in November 2000’s “Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice.” Since the statement hit the mainstream through CNS, it has angered some, emboldened others, and has been more-or-less misapplied by fans and detractors alike. The phrase in question — a footnote, no less — reads:

However, we believe that in the long run and with few exceptions — i.e. police officers, military use — handguns should be eliminated from our society.”

In order to ascertain what drives this statement, we have to understand our obligation as a Christian people to work for peace. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called Sons of God” (Mt 5:9). Working toward the the elimination of all violence is a direct biblical mandate, and even when we make licit use of force, we do so in an effort to bring peace.

Notice, however, that the bishops believe handgun regulation is the desired goal “in the long run.” Through the promotion of a peaceful and just society, we should work towards that long-range goal in which individual members of society have no need of a handgun for defensive purposes.[1] We would all prefer to live in a society where defensive force — especially force which has the potential to be deadly — would never be necessary.

Yet clearly, we as a society have not reached this point, and this explains why the bishops do not call for a blanket ban on the individual possession of handguns. In fact, here is what they do recommend:

“As bishops, we support measures that control the sale and use of firearms and make them safer — especially efforts that prevent their unsupervised use by children or anyone other than the owner — and we reiterate our call for sensible regulation of handguns.”

Reasonable enough, and something every responsible handgun owner would advocate (even if there will always be squabbling over what constitutes “sensible regulation”).

One of the things we must always keep in mind when reading over social justice issues is the “already” and the “not yet” of the Christian reality. In a very real way, the victory of Christ has become manifest through the Church and the world. Christ has already come into the world, triumphing over sin and death; at the same time, however, this victory is only absolutely manifest when He returns. By working for peace, we simply usher in something Christ has already established in the eschaton.

Unfortunately, those who work for peace and justice often fall into the heresy of Pelagianism. This is the belief that we ourselves usher in the “not yet” portion of reality. A Pelagian would argue that ultimate peace will be established by humanity, that we have the “power” to finally destroy the effects of sin which remain in Christ’s wake.[2] The bishops rightly avoid this error by pointing towards the “not yet” reality of peace which — while we have a responsibility to usher in through our actions — can only be delivered in that final moment of Christ’s triumph. In essence, the Christian becomes like John the Baptist, preparing the way for the Lord; but it is not John the Baptist himself who reestablishes unity with God.

To conclude, then, I’m willing to go one further than the bishops. I say we have a responsibility to prepare the way for that day when even law enforcement and military have no need for handguns, by staying true to Christ’s message of peace, which will be fully realized by humanity when He returns.

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[1] However, one can validly argue that a handgun is a moral neutral, and thus is not evil-in-itself. One must also acknowledge licit use through the hobby/sport of marksmanship, which in-itself contains no other aim but the development of good aim.
[2] Unarguably, every societal debacle in the history of the world has found its root in Pelagianism, where humanity claims to have established a utopia free from the negatives shackling previous/contemporary structures. Societies that fail to account for sin are doomed to die by it.