Thou Shalt Not ... uh ... Let Me Get Back to You on the "Kill" Thing

Almost as much ink has been spilled as a result of gun violence as has blood, and I've spilled my share of it here. "Pro-gun" and "anti-gun" partisans continue to snipe at each other (sorry), solidly convinced of the righteousness of their respective positions, and the carnage continues unabated.

One of the Ten Commandments tells us "thou shalt not kill," but that hasn't slowed the pace of gun violence ... 13 people were injured in a drive-by shooting in Washington, DC early Monday morning, after all.

But what can you do when, despite the admonition against murder, we have a proposal for a patron saint of handguns and handgunners, and a society devoted to advancing that cause?

That would be St Gabriel Possenti, a 19th-century Italian seminarian who supposedly scared away a group of marauding soldiers from his village when he killed a lizard with a single shot. Bad day for the lizard, but good for the beleaguered villagers ...

One might wonder that tools of violence would merit patron saints, but there is ample precedent for such patronage ... after all, Saint Barbara is the patron saint of artillerymen*, and the Russian Orthodox Church has named St Seraphim of Sarov as the patron saint of nuclear weapons** ...

So, go ahead and stock up on weapons and ammunition, and vigorously defend your Second Amendment rights ... God is on your side, and he's packing heat.

Have a good day. Aim high. More thoughts on Thursday.

Bilbo

* According to The Catholic Encyclopedia: "The legend that her father was struck by lightning caused her [St Barbara], probably, to be regarded by the common people as the patron saint in time of danger from thunder-storms and fire, and later by analogy, as the protector of artillerymen and miners."

** Oddly enough, the Patron Saint of Nuclear Weapons supposedly once said that, "God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts." And, evidently, everything within a mile or more of ground zero.