Guns and Jesus

Matt Bernardini examines the religion of gun ownership among many Christians in America

The other week Americans were treated to another round of “thoughts and prayers” after six people, including three children, were killed in a shooting at a Tennessee Christian school. 

It has become commonplace for many Conservative lawmakers to do nothing after a mass shooting except preach the “power of prayer.” Many of these lawmakers have even argued that more guns will make our children and our nation safer. This overlap of hardcore Christianity and love of guns might seem paradoxical to people in other countries, where the problem of gun violence is virtually non-existent, but not in America. Many white evangelicals even seem to believe that guns are as American as apple pie.

According to the Gun Violence archive, there have been 140 mass shootings in 2023 alone. Nearly 11,000 people have been killed from guns this year, and guns are now the leading cause of death for children in America. Put another way, there is on average more than one mass shooting everyday.