After reading all of the previous comments, I just have to jump in with another of my overlong posts:

First thing right away: I do not own a gun, nor can I ever see myself owning one. Short of getting into the military and being physiologically prepared/altered (or whatever) to kill another human being, I don’t think I could pull the trigger. The exception to this might be in the case where my wife was being raped or murdered, but even at that I see it very unlikely that I would actually have a gun available, loaded, and the chance to aim with a steady hand. I also don’t live in an area where I feel particularly vulnerable. A gun in my house would definitely be a more dangerous addition than it would be worth.

Having said all that, I do think a person should have the right to protect his or her property, and at gunpoint if necessary. That is NOT to say that stuff should be valued over a person’s life. That IS saying that the right of ownership and a feeling of security is more important than the possibility a criminal might get hurt. By entering a home to take something that belongs to another person, a criminal has already decided that the stuff in question is worth risking his or her life AND that the homeowner’s sense of security is of very little value. This was the choice of the criminal, not the homeowner. The homeowner’s decision is what steps are acceptable to protect his or her sense of security. Ultimately it would be great if the police could do this job, and sometimes they can, but there really is no substitute for a people being able to protect themselves and their property.

And while it sounds good to say that a sense of security should not be valued over a human life, the bottom line is that a personal feeling of security is that important in this culture. That is why we have laws concerning ownership, property, and trespassing. If the police had arrived at Darwin’s house before the criminals got out, they most certainly would have been carrying guns and willing to use them if necessary to protect Darwin’s sense of security. The real question is not whether a sense of security is worth protecting at gunpoint; it is whether this is a function that must be carried out by the police or whether the individual has this responsibility. Of course this is an ethical question with many different viewpoints, and the result is states and countries with different laws on the subject. But I think it’s safe to say that society has deemed a sense of security worth protecting at the risk of violence.

As far as the whole “buying into the fear,” thing, I think the point is being missed. In Darwin’s case he’s buying into the fear because the fear is real. There is no reward for pretending a danger doesn’t exist when, in fact, it does. There is no question that people are willing and able to violate his sense of security and take from him stuff that is not theirs. The only question (again) is to what extent he can go to protect himself. The idea of moving is the best one all around, and I am very glad that I live in a place where I don’t consider this violation to be a question. But increasingly this is becoming more difficult to find in today’s world. People ARE violent and people ARE willing to violate others to get what they want.

The last thing I have to say, though, is the most important: the ultimate solution is not more guns, and if we ever believe that it is we really are in trouble (this, in fact, may be exactly Moore’s point, and if so I can agree). I think the problem is that we don’t have a good solution, or at least not one that everyone will embrace. There will always be people who will take advantage of each other and no real way to motivate them not to. People have tried to fix the problem of human sin by punishment, eradication, looking for the best in others, along with a host of other methods, but to this point all have failed. I personally believe the only hope humanity ever has of finding true peace is found in Jesus and the working of the Holy Spirit within our lives, and that is why I labor to try and convince people of my faith. However, my personal beliefs aside, we are in trouble, the answer is not more guns (though I do think weapons can and are used for protection), and collectively we do not have a good solution.