Tim Donnelly, a Republican in the California state legislature, went on a Christian radio talk show recently and made the bizarre statement that guns are absolutely essential to living the way God intended us to live. See if you can make any sense of this:
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.”
How odd that they’re essential to living the way God intended, yet every single person in the Bible, including Jesus, managed to live without them because they hadn’t been invented yet.
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shouldbeworking
January 22, 2013 at 12:19 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Lucky for the money changers in the temple that JC didn’t have an assault weapon.
some bastard on the net
January 22, 2013 at 12:20 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Don’t you remember that great biblical line? The one that says, “If a man strikes you on the cheek, turn your Uzi on him and pop three-dozen caps in his ass!”
eric
January 22, 2013 at 12:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I thought bimetallism was absolutely necessary to living the way God intended for us to live. Or slavery was. Or no-mixed marriages was. Or no gay marrige was. Funny how what God intends seems to always closely match the beliefs of the individual doing the harangueing.
dingojack
January 22, 2013 at 12:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Uh 3 million times a year is about 8214 times a day.
Some of those uses aren’t protecting lives or property. some of them are to shoot skeets, or deer, or ducks, or ….. well – primary-school children.
Murdering small children is all in ‘god’s plan’ – doctors providing legal abortion procedures, to get rid of unwanted clumps of cells are murders and agents of satan. Makes perfect sense.
@@
Dingo
Sastra
January 22, 2013 at 12:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I have to admit that I’m real curious to know what examples Donnelly has for guns being used in America — on what must be at least a fairly regular basis — to defend faith.
I’m trying to think of an example where this would even be called for. A burglar who only steals Bibles? An arsonist sneaking into a church? Happens all the time, that’s why God wants guns, to protect and defend Christianity.
Or is this in their plans for the future?
John Pieret
January 22, 2013 at 12:43 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
… they are used to defend human life. They are used to defend our property and our families and our faith and our freedom.
Just how are they used to defend property, families, faith and freedom without, at least potentially, taking human life rather than defending it? Is this like ‘we had to destroy the village in order to save it’?
Abby Normal
January 22, 2013 at 12:43 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
As it says in Luke 6:27-31
Moon Jaguar
January 22, 2013 at 12:44 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
When Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers” he must have mean the Colt Single Action Army.
At last, the Sermon on the Mount totally makes sense!
Gregory in Seattle
January 22, 2013 at 12:50 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Which certainly would explain why God gave Adam a gun, and why Jesus said “Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called Colt single action army.”
theschwa
January 22, 2013 at 12:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Didn’t tiny David take on huge, armored Goliath, armed with nothing more than a Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle?
democommie
January 22, 2013 at 12:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Donnelly is probably referring to the number of DGU’s (Defensive Gun Uses) that are estimated to happen annually. The number is part of a set of bullshit assertions made by John Lott in his autoseminal* work,
“More Guns, Less Crime”, building on the bullshit assertions made by Gary Kleck in his “studies” of DGU’s. Both authors’ work has been pretty thoroughly debunked by any number of studies done by, among others, the DoJ.
I gotta say, though, that if Adam had had one of these bad boys:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GAU-8_Avenger_contrast.jpg
he would owned YHWH’s three asses!
democommie
January 22, 2013 at 1:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Overlooked the (*) in the previous comment. It was to this:
* Jerk-off
in reference to Mr. John “The dog ate my data” Lott.
We regret the errror.
Abby Normal
January 22, 2013 at 1:10 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Disparages women, a general distrust of government, pervasive gun culture… Who would have guessed that gangster rap would be the new Christian rock.
John Hinkle
January 22, 2013 at 1:11 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Donnelly:
It makes perfect sense once it’s summarized like that.
scienceavenger
January 22, 2013 at 1:19 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
John Pieret said: Just how are they used to defend property, families, faith and freedom without, at least potentially, taking human life rather than defending it? Is this like ‘we had to destroy the village in order to save it’?
Don’t be obtuse, it distracts from the main point here. The life being defended against is not the same as the life being defended. We defended American lives in WWII by taking Japanese lives.
Of course guns have the potential to take human life, that’s their defensive power, same as a black belt in jiu jitsu. The problem with the “God intended” comment isn’t that guns can’t be used to defend life and property. Clearly they can. The problem is best summed up by #2 above. Jesus didn’t say “defend your property”. He said “if your brother asks for your coat, give him your cloak as well”. No place for guns in Jesus’ world, so I’d love to hear what God this nitwit legislator is talking about, because it isn’t the God of the new testament.
Abby Normal
January 22, 2013 at 1:19 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Oh, and how could I forget rampant homophobia. Choir directors take note, some classic NWA or Cyprus Hill may be just the thing to get new butts in the pews while at the same time promoting your Christian values.
d.c.wilson
January 22, 2013 at 1:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And Jesus did say, “he who lives by the sword shall eat hot lead motherfucker!” And then he popped a cap in Judas’s ass, climbed into his Blackhawk, and ascended into Heaven. And he will come again to kill ‘em all and let His Father sort ‘em out.
Yippi ki yi yay motherfucker! Amen.
Zinc Avenger (Sarcasm Tags 3.0 Compliant)
January 22, 2013 at 1:50 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Just think how many people would be dead if they weren’t allowed to use guns to defend lives thousands of times per day!
fifthdentist
January 22, 2013 at 2:09 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
So why did He allow those heathen, foreign-looking Chinese to invent gunpowser?
fifthdentist
January 22, 2013 at 2:09 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Gunpowder, obviously …
John Pieret
January 22, 2013 at 2:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The life being defended against is not the same as the life being defended. We defended American lives in WWII by taking Japanese lives.
Some studies have shown that for every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides.
We has met the enemy and he is us.
umlud
January 22, 2013 at 2:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Of course, he can use the Bible to justify his position. Matthew 10:34 states:
Just make the argument that “a sword” in modern parlance means “a gun”, and there you go! Never mind that this passage has been used (and is continued to be used) to justify murder and genocide. It must be God’s will, of course… unless and until we decide after the fact that it wasn’t.
baal
January 22, 2013 at 2:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Clinton Justice Department” <-?!
He doesn't have more recent data.
"They (guns) are used to defend …our faith "
God intend us to be ready to blow folks away with out a moments hesitation when they disagree with your faith? Scary much?
naturalcynic
January 22, 2013 at 2:26 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Just think of all those Christians that were fed to the lions in the Coliseum. If they had guns…
Crudely Wrott
January 22, 2013 at 2:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
‘s OK. They didn’t need guns. The had lots of rocks. Er, stones. Later they got sticks. Pointy ones. Some even put pointy rocks on the ends of the sticks. Then they figured out ways to make the sticks fly though the air. At that point they were off to the races and now we got guns. See how that works? Ain’t God amazing?!
jnorris
January 22, 2013 at 2:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hey Timmy, how about instead of guns y’all only use the same weapons Jesus used. I am sure all Bible believing Christians will agree.
oranje
January 22, 2013 at 2:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Do they really see the world as a place where, every single second, someone is defending their family with a weapon? Is this like living in one of those home security system commercials, where the husband/father figure is always missing, but the scared wife with the monster rock on her finger gets the children out of trouble and calls the nice white man at the service center? The themes in those commercials remarkably match their values/worldview, but the idea kind of scares me.
They must be terrified all the damn time.
thebookofdave
January 22, 2013 at 3:48 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@baal #23
Yes, you read it right the first time. Bush never wasted time on studies. They would have only muddied the matter with a bunch of pointless stats easily debunked by his gut instinct. You don’t need numbers to prove guns are God’s gift to our freedoms. Check your Book of Armaments.
jufulu
January 22, 2013 at 4:08 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@oranje
I think this is the money quote. These people are afraid of everything that is not like them. I was listening to some one (anecdote time) talking about the guns he carries and the bullet proof vest he had in his trunk. This guy must live in constant fear of being assaulted by who knows what.
Steven Rowlinson
January 22, 2013 at 4:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Actually, I’m afraid the wingnut has on this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMDuvIoeYWQ
Totally god’s will y’all.
greg1466
January 22, 2013 at 5:10 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yes, guns weren’t invented yet, but that is just a technicality. I’d say that he simply means that having the most efficient means of killing people available at the present time is essential to living the way God intended. How else are you going to kill all of those people who don’t agree with you? I would actually agree that guns are very Christian. One more reason to get rid of both.
WMDKitty (Always growing and learning)
January 22, 2013 at 5:58 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“They are used to
defendsteal our property and harm our families and our freedom, and they are absolutely NOT essential to livingthe way God intended for us to live”Fixed.
Seriously, the biggest risk factor for violence (and for being targeted by criminals) is having a gun in the house. Guns DO NOT make you safe — decent locks and outdoor lighting, however, DO.
anubisprime
January 23, 2013 at 2:24 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Kiddies in the schoolyard have more cogent pouts when their toys are threatened with the dumpster!
How the fuck do these knuckledraggers eat and breath at the same time?
And what is really sad is that there will be some fucktards out there nodding sagely and brainlessly to any sentence beginning with ‘jeebus’ in it!
‘I want what I want therefore god’ …fucking amazing!
shouldbeworking
January 23, 2013 at 8:55 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If only guns were around in the time of the NT the parable of the Good Samaritan would be completely different.
eric
January 23, 2013 at 10:37 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sounds like he lives in constant fear of his trunk being assaulted.
***
I wonder how Donnelly thinks his faith is defended with a gun. How could that even work? When he’s not packing heat, does he get doubts about the existence of God? Does a revolver prevent some liberal mind control laser from changing his mind?
frog
January 23, 2013 at 12:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“They are used to defend our property and our families and our faith and our freedom”
I’m sure they can be used that way, but I’m pretty sure most of the time guns are fired, it’s for one of these reasons:
1. Shooting at an inanimate target
2. Shooting at an animal for sport*
3. Shooting at a person with intent to harm
Granted, #3 may occur in defense, but I would need to see some statistics on that. I would also like to know how many times guns are fired in defense against another gun, vs how many times guns are fired in “defense” against unarmed people.
Let us also consider the people who are shooting in defense, but hit innocent bystanders. Not sure how we would count that. Do intentions trump results? <–this question is rhetorical
*One might also shoot at an animal in defense, but again, I'm skeptical about how often that occurs vs how often the human goes looking for something to shoot.