Dave Ninehouser – 2/8/13

This page was last updated on February 11, 2013.

God doesn’t love guns; Dave Ninehouser; Beaver County Times; February 8, 2013.

Mr. Ninehouser and his wife Erin are activists working for leftist special-interest groups in Southwestern PA, including but not limited to PA Wants to Work and Pennsylvania Health Access Network.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Tim Donnelly, a Republican politician from California, recently said on a radio interview show that guns ‘are absolutely essential to living the way God intended for us to live.’”

[RWC] You will find this letter is based on cherry-picked quotes taken out of context.

The interview took place on Christian talk-radio station AM740 KBRITE in Costa Mesa, CA. You likely won’t be surprised to learn Mr. Ninehouser omitted the majority of Mr. Donnelly’s comment. Mr. Donnelly said, “Guns are used an average of 3 million times a year according to the Clinton Justice Department. 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.” It’s interesting how the cherry-picked excerpt changes meaning when you read the whole quote, isn’t it?

Whether Mr. Ninehouser or the BCT provided the letter’s title, Mr. Donnelly didn’t say God loves guns.

“Christians who are caught up in the idolatry of gun-worship need to re-focus on the example of Jesus -- who counseled Peter to put down his sword -- and on the Sixth Commandment, ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill,’ and rebuke the toxic rhetoric of the NRA and its bloodthirsty misreading of the Second Amendment.”

[RWC] You have to give Mr. Ninehouser “credit” for chutzpah. In the same sentence Mr. Ninehouser writes of the alleged “toxic rhetoric of the NRA,” he claims at least some Christians “are caught up in the idolatry of gun-worship” and the NRA is “bloodthirsty.” You’ll note Mr. Ninehouser didn’t describe “the idolatry of gun-worship” and the NRA’s “bloodthirsty misreading of the Second Amendment.” There’s a reason.

The “example of Jesus” Mr. Ninehouser gave (the arrest of Jesus) is completely irrelevant. According to John 18 (Douay-Rheims Bible), “Again therefore he asked them: Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way. That the word might be fulfilled which he said: Of them whom thou hast given me, I have not lost any one. Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus. Jesus therefore said to Peter: Put up thy sword into the scabbard. The chalice which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” Jesus’ admonition to Peter was not “anti-sword;” it was about not getting in the way of what Jesus knew had to happen.

Now let’s look at Luke 22, just before the actions in John 18: “When I [Jesus] sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, did you want anything? But they said: Nothing. Then said he unto them: But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a scrip; and he that hath not, let him sell his coat, and buy a sword. For I say to you, that this that is written must yet be fulfilled in me: And with the wicked was he reckoned. For the things concerning me have an end. But they said: Lord, behold here are two swords. And he said to them, It is enough.” If Jesus didn’t believe in using weapons at least for self-defense, why say “But now he that hath a purse … let him sell his coat, and buy a sword?” When told “Lord, behold here are two swords,” why did Jesus say “It is enough” instead of telling his disciples to get rid of the swords?

For Catholics and Lutherans, “Thou shalt not kill” is the Fifth Commandment. In any case, what does it have to do with law-abiding citizens possessing firearms? The very people who acquire firearms for criminal purposes don’t care about the Ten Commandments and gun-control laws. I’ll go out on a limb and guess most criminals already violate our firearm laws. All new laws will do is cut purchases by law-abiding citizens and/or turn law-abiding citizens into criminals when they bypass new laws.

I believe Mr. Ninehouser needs a refresher course on the purpose of the Second Amendment. Please read my critiques of “A shaky ladder” and “Time for talking is over, gun control now” for more info on this topic.