The Maine Legislature has failed, once again, to enact sensible gun safety policies. During recent debates over proposed bills, one legislator insisted they had the “God-given right” to purchase and own guns without further regulation. I don’t know that legislator’s faith tradition, but I do know my own. I am an ordained Presbyterian minister, and I am certain that nowhere in Hebrew or Christian Scripture, or in church teaching, does it say that God has given anyone the right to purchase or own a gun.

In fact, the Bible doesn’t talk about “rights.” It talks about God-given responsibilities: to love our neighbors, to make peace and learn war no more, to turn our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. It does say that Jesus of Nazareth taught his followers to “put down their swords” and practice nonviolent resistance.

The Maine legislator who claimed a “God-given right” was likely referring to the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence: “All men … are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Written by Thomas Jefferson, these words do not come from the Bible. Jefferson attributed them to philosophers John Locke and Charles Montesquieu and leaders of the Scottish Enlightenment. And the Declaration of Independence does not mention gun ownership at all.

This distinction is important to the many people of faith who care deeply about ending the appalling epidemic of gun violence plaguing our society.

Rev. Jane Field
Portland