Vatican & Catholic Bishops Support of Gun Ban Policies Endanger Innocent

Titusville, FL – -(Ammoland.com)- “Gun-grabbing policies promoted by Vatican and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) officials endanger victims of violent crime and terrorism,” gun rights expert John M. Snyder said here today.

“Such policies should be renounced and reversed,” he added.

“There are many news reports of murderous Islamist terrorist attacks on Catholics and others in various parts of the world, especially in the Middle East,” Snyder noted. “These victims and potential victims of terrorism need firearms to be able to defend themselves against such attacks.

“Given this reality of the world in which we live, Vatican support for small arms trade limitation is unrealistic, to say the least. Terrorist groups determined to kill Catholics would not abide by such a limitation. The limitation would affect adversely the victims’ ability to get the guns they need to defend their families.”

Snyder said, “The real effect of Vatican policy is to undermine the victim’s right to self-defense and strengthen the position of those who persecute Catholics. The Vatican should back away from this misguided policy. Instead, it should encourage the arming of the innocent for self-defense.

“There is a moral obligation to fight evil. ‘The man without a sword must sell his coat and buy one,’ said Our Lord Jesus Christ (Luke: 22:36).”

Snyder noted, “Here in the United States, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Reps. Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Mike Rogers (R-MI), Chairman of the House Committee on Intelligence, and others have warned that terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) likely will come to our shores and attempt to replicate their brand of Middle East terrorism here in America.”

“Besides, there always are murderous villains here in our country,” he continued. “It is ridiculous for the USCCB to maintain its policy calling for the criminalization of private handgun possession in the United States. American citizens need, buy and use handguns to protect themselves and others from murderous criminal violence. Is USCCB trying to undermine the traditional, individual Second Amendment civil right to keep and bear arms? Is USCCB trying to help criminals victimize the innocent by disarming the innocent?

“USCCB officials should deep-six the organization’s gun-grabbing policy. It should replace it with support for the right to keep and bear arms in order to defend life and the right to life.”

About John Snyder:
Named the Gun Dean by Human Events, “the senior rights activist in Washington” by Shotgun News, a “champion of the right to self-defense” by The Washington Times, and “dean of gun lobbyists” by The Washington Post and The New York Times, John M. Snyder has spent 45 years as a proponent of the individual Second Amendment civil right to keep and bear arms as a National Rifle Association editor, public affairs director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, treasurer of the Second Amendment Foundation, and founder of www.GunRightsPolicies.org.

A former Jesuit seminarian, Snyder is founder/manager of Telum Associates, LL.C., founder/chairman of the St. Gabriel Possenti Society, Inc., a director of Council for America, and serves on the boards of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and the American Federation of Police & Concerned Citizens. He is also the author of the book Gun Saint. Visit: www.GunRightsPolicies.org