A Western Pennsylvania church will offer a four week lecture program advocating for greater gun rights. The class will be taught by the owner of a local gun shop whose website proclaims “GOD, GUNS & GUTS MADE AMERICA, LET’S KEEP ALL THREE.” According to the church’s senior pastor, the purpose of the lecture will be to offer a counterbalance to the “liberal media’s” take on guns.
One example of the liberal media’s take on guns is a best-selling book about a Middle Eastern man who, despite the modest circumstances of his birth, developed a significant following before being executed by the oppressive Roman regime. Rather than resorting to tools of violence such as firearms, the protagonist of this widely available text advised his followers to “[l]ove your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” He also teaches that “[b]lessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”