Ep. 25 - A Gun for Every Appendage w/ Shane Claiborne

Growing Up Christian

Today, we ask the age-old question: "Does Jesus own an AR-15, or does he own ALL AR-15s?"

There are an estimated 390,000,000 guns in the US - a country with a population somewhere around 328,000,000. In January alone, Americans bought over 4.1m guns, which is a 60% increase! Within five years, every man, woman, and child in the country will be able to dual wield AK-47s to combat the impending alien invasion invasion, and I just don't know that we can, in good conscience, condemn that strategy. However, easy access to firearms comes at a price. 2020 saw an increase in gun violence, with 20k deaths attributed to firearms, as well as 24k suicides using guns. Regardless of where you stand on the 2nd Amendment, we should ALL strive to curb those statistics.

Our guest, Shane Claiborne, is an accomplished Christian author, activist, and founder of Philadelphia-based non-profit The Simple Way. His most recent book "Beating Guns: Hope for People Who Are Weary of Violence" (coauthored by Michael Martin) is an in-depth critique of gun culture in the United States. Shane and Michael examine the history of gun culture in the US, it's strange relationship with American Christians, and the real world implications that gun laws have on people, especially in our most vulnerable communities.

This is a difficult subject to tackle. Many of you (like me) are probably gun enthusiasts, and have been staunchly opposed to gun regulations of any sort. Others may have little or no association with guns, and think that this whole issue is insane. Regardless of which side of the fence you're on, we have to learn how to have productive, respectful conversations about the realities that access to firearms creates, and in my opinion there's no better person to do that with than Shane Claiborne!