7. Be reflective if you must be armed.
If you carry a weapon in public service, may God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no.
-Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny
Serious Enforcement of Background Checks, Mandatory Training and a Restriction on Possession of Assault Weapons
There are three small flags sitting on my desk — the flag of the United States of America, the flag of the State of Israel and the flag of the U.S. Army. All three are precious and meaningful to me. I had the privilege of serving our country as a chaplain in the United States Army Reserve for 38 years. During that time, the presence of a multiplicity of weapons was essential to my feeling of safety and security.
Military chaplains are designated as non-combatants. Therefore, we do not receive weapons training and are not authorized to carry weapons. We rely on the equipment and training of those serving with us for our physical protection and survival. There is great comfort when deployed in a combat zone in looking up and seeing Apache helicopters overhead. I share Snyder’s gratitude and blessings for those who serve in our volunteer forces.
Military service requires a strong sense of discipline and a no-questions-asked response to a legal order. Life and death may hang in the balance. Yet, the Uniform Code of Military Justice also articulates a requirement to disobey an illegal order. Disobeying an illegal order is not only permissible but required to maintain legal and ethical standards within the military.
Snyder’s seventh principle expands the conversation beyond the confines of the military and law enforcement. He appears to be addressing the Second Amendment right to bear arms. It is curious that he uses the term “must”: “Be reflective if you MUST bear arms.” I’m uncertain how any civilian not working in a security environment has to, must bear arms?
The Second Amendment, as reinforced by the U.S. Supreme Court, guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. It is certainly not a requirement. We retain the right not to keep and bear arms.
The real question in contemporary culture is which arms, in what context, and with what controls and regulations? The reality, for better or worse, is that no individual citizen or even “well-regulated militia” will be in any position in 2024 to stand up to the weapons available to counter a tyrannical usurpation of power. We can fight, but we will not win.
There are those who insist on possessing automatic weapons for self-defense in the event of civil anarchy. Given the volatility of our contemporary environment, such concerns cannot be casually dismissed. Yet, given the threat posed by these weapons and their abuse, I would err on the side of balancing the right to bear arms with the Jewish principle of piku’akh nefesh, almost always erring on the side of protecting life. I would argue that this means serious enforcement of background checks, mandatory training and a restriction on possession of assault weapons. In the event of a total breakdown of government control, we will not be saved by our personal weapons cache.
It is not only with regard to weapons that we must “Be ready to say no.” This is a principle that needs to guide us every day with every temptation that we face to make poor decisions and do wrong. There are many opportunities daily to “just say no.” And that, of course, includes how we utilize any weapons that we choose to possess.
