The Scapegoat

I've deliberately kept myself out of most of the recent gun control debates since the Sandy Hook shooting. And there have been a couple more since then--one in KY and another in TX, neither as tragic, thankfully. Disturbing? Yes. But these incidents point out one major dynamic that has no doubt been expressed in many ways by those who believe we should have the right to bear arms: Don't blame the guns when the person behind the trigger is the real problem. I'm adding my voice to that argument, as it were, but perhaps in a different way. 

We have, in effect, created a metal scapegoat. 

For the nation of Israel, operating in an Old Testament world, God instituted the scapegoat as a symbolic gesture: by laying their hands on its head, the people placed their sins (figuratively) onto the goat. The animal would then be run out of the camp to perish in the wilderness. By this act, the people were spiritually cleansing themselves from past wrongs against each other and God. 

"Scapegoat" is an old word with a complex meaning, first coming into English usage around 1530. It means "one who bears the blame for others." It's also interesting to note that Webster's Dictionary postulates that the original Hebrew word was "probably the name of a demon." And, there is the number 2b definition which most accurately puts this word into my mental crosshairs--"one that is the object of irrational hostility." If that doesn't describe the current anti-gun sentiment, I don't know what does or could.

We want to lay all of our sins as a culture onto guns and then send them into the wilderness by legislation. We believe that we must do this in order to have a safer, less volatile society--and to absolve our consciences from the constitutionality of allowing nearly anyone who wants a gun to get one. Is that a moral lapse? It's certainly a legislative lapse because not everyone is fit to carry or use a firearm. There's no doubt we need to tighten this loophole. 

But we tend to think what is allowable by law is moral, don't we? It's often portrayed as such by both sides--if we don't do thus-and-such, we are negligent to our children. Those who see gun ownership as a moral right from the Constitution say it's our duty to protect ourselves when we need to: it keeps people from danger. Those who oppose guns see wide gun ownership as a moral blight on our national conscience: it puts too many people in danger. So banish guns, and we'll be safe. 

Hardly. Suppose the weapon of choice had been a slingshot. A baseball bat? A Molotov cocktail? Remove guns from our societal make-up, and these may become the next weapon available to those who are unstable and intent on harming or killing others--and themselves. 

That brings me to another point. The reason the scapegoat is such a good example in my mind to describe the anti-gun sentiment is that often, we have no one else to put the blame on: the shooter often kills himself or is killed by law enforcement (and occasionally by someone packing, whom the NRA's LaPierre called a "good guy with a gun." Why don't we hear more of those kinds of stories in the mainstream media--but that's another subject!) We can't prosecute a dead body. So, we turn to the weapon used. 

Did the scapegoat system God wisely instituted solve ancient Israel's sin problem? No. But it did point to something infinitely more useful: a coming Savior who could absolve sin for real, Jesus Christ. Sadly, Israel rejected him, too--scapegoated him. 

What does that have to do with the gun debate? Simply this: ban guns, and we'll move on to the next harmful item--one that can be used for good, but is used for evil in the hands of those who shouldn't own guns, slingshots, or bats, or know how make a Molotov cocktail. The scapegoat system, no matter how often it is instituted, cannot solve the problem. The problem is inside us. It will not begin to be addressed until we acknowledge that as a culture, we continue to dehumanize ourselves in a myriad of ways. That's bound to express itself darkly. 

When we can learn to scapegoat the right thing and eradicate it from our midst, we'll be on the path to a genuinely safer, less volatile society.  

Until we do, I'll keep my gun ready.