Guns are not a usual topic of discussion in this magazine. That is more likely the domain of Field and Stream or the crime section of the newspaper. So you would hardly be faulted for raising a quizzical eyebrow at the title of this article. But what if guns were being used as a scapegoat for sinful behaviour? What if guns were being targeted as the culprit for some of the most horrible atrocities committed in our society? What if guns were being used as a smokescreen which avoided what is really the underlying root of violent behaviour and attitudes in our society? Suddenly we find ourselves saying, maybe we ought to have a talk about these guns.

During the past year, some terrible acts of violence have been carried out with the use of guns. On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold strode into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, and unleashed a fury of gunfire which killed thirteen people and wounded twenty-three others. Then they turned the guns on themselves and committed suicide. Only eight days later, a young teenager shot and killed a seventeen-year-old fellow student at a school in Taber, Alberta. It was clear that he was fully prepared to kill others as well. There have been other cases of multiple shootings and murders during the past year – one particularly horrible case occurred in a church building in the United States – but what is so horrifying about the two examples of Littleton and Taber is the spectre of very young people indiscriminately murdering other young people.

It is an understatement to say that guns are extremely lethal. Obviously, everyone who owns a rifle, shotgun or handgun has a momentous responsibility to keep his guns and ammunition stored away safely. The sixth word of the covenant has clear implications in this regard. What is so disconcerting, however, is that after a tragic incident such as the shooting at Columbine High School, some people and some media sources start crying out: the problem is guns. They level an accusatory finger at guns and say: it must have been the guns! Guns are the problem! Get rid of the guns and an essential part of the problem will be obliterated!

No one will deny – I hope – that guns can be deadly and therefore require responsible ownership and operation. But to suggest or state that guns are the problem in murder and other violent crimes, is to create a smokescreen which ignores the underlying problem. Now that is a danger. Unless the real problem is addressed, the violence and the bad attitudes will continue. Even when we look at the example of the two young men who did all the shooting at Columbine High School, we see that the guns which were used by them are only part of the complete picture. They had set up a large number of homemade bombs throughout the school which were designed to destroy the entire school. They used guns. But if they did not have guns, they could just as easily have used their bombs made from pipes and propane tanks and caused far more damage and loss of life. This suggests that there is a bigger problem here than just the type of instrument of violence one chooses. The bigger problem is why there was an intent to kill. To underline this, we can think of the murder of fifteen-year-old Dmitri Baranovski in Toronto last November. He was killed by a gang of teenagers who wanted his cigarettes and money. What did they use to kill him? They used their boots. They kicked him to death. Think also of fourteen-year-old Reena Virk who was severely beaten, brutalized, and drowned in Victoria exactly two years before Dmitri. Again a group of teenagers murdered her with their bare hands. Clearly one cannot make guns the scapegoat of society’s violence. There is something deeper to be considered.

All of this does not make for appealing discussion. But it is the reality of the world in which we live. The question needs to be asked: why? Why do healthy, privileged young people kill? Thankfully there has been some sober reflection in the media during the past year. Because of what happened in Columbine, some writers and thinkers have begun to examine the question why such things can happen. A number of questions have been raised which are really rhetorical in nature. What could the problem be? Could it be the disintegration of the basic family unity in our society? Could it be television shows and video games which take glory in acts of violence and destruction? Could it be that the whole matter of life and death have become banal or bland in a world desensitized by violence? Could it be that our narcissistic or self-centred society has become so preoccupied with the pursuit of personal pleasure that egotistic pleasure has become more important than the needs of others? Could things have come to the point where a young person is so bent on his own happiness that he is willing to murder others if he can get personal satisfaction from it? Here we are getting to the heart of the matter. Guns, fists, boots, a pool of water, a stick or a knife are only the symptoms of a human nature which has an inclination for evil and will do evil when not controlled. Unless this inclination to do evil is understood and addressed, the violence, hatred and damage to life and property will continue unabated.

We confess in Lord’s Day 2 of our Heidelberg Catechism, “I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbour.” This is no exaggeration, as David makes clear in Psalm 51 where he reflects over his sin of adultery and murder: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” David was not trying to excuse himself with these words. He was acknowledging the reality of original sin and the power of that sin which acted as a corrupting influence in his life. This led him to fling himself on the tender mercy and awesome grace of his God:

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

From this we learn two things. First, that man is inclined by nature to hate God and his neighbour. That is why people take guns and shoot their neighbour. Even children of God are never free from temptation and the power of sin in their lives as Paul outlines very clearly in Romans 7. We need to acknowledge this so that we also learn to do the second thing, and that is to ask God to create in us a pure heart which causes us to fight against our old sinful nature and to demonstrate the nature of God instead. God’s Word strengthens us to understand this and to drive us to the throne of God’s grace to find help in time of need. Moreover, the Lord has given us Christian homes and families where parents have the duty and gifts to train their children to recognize their sinful nature and to seek God’s grace and guidance to control their anger, selfishness, jealousies and feelings of revenge, and to replace it with love for God and neighbour.

What our society needs as it reels under the load of its fractured existence is the Word of God which reveals the truth about sin and misery, the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ and the way of thankfulness which glorifies God and builds up the life of our neighbour. We pray that all men may submit themselves to the Word of God. Meanwhile, we keep close watch on our own lives and the lives of our families to seek continued forgiveness and recovery in the blood and Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Only then can there be peace in the place of violence.