Mao's little red book?

The idols of power and deadly force command immense “spiritual influence” over those who are tricked into believing that power and deadly force are essential for reconciliation between nations and for solving human conflicts here at home. Americans have not always been quite so gullible. I was in high school during the Chinese Cultural revolution when Chairman Mao Tse Tung issued his famous declaration: “Power comes from the barrel of a gun.” From coast to coast we let out a collective gasp. We were furious over the blasphemy. The American church quickly denounced his heresy. We knew instantaneously Mao’s words were evil.

Alas, in the first decade of the twenty-first century, many of us appear to be converts to Mao’s philosophy. When the Gun Empire repeats comparable comments, there is hardly a whisper of dissent. Wayne La Pierre, the chief spokesperson for the NRA, has repeatedly proclaimed, “In America, the ones with the guns make the rules.” His friend and colleague, David Kopel of the Cato Institute and adjunct Professor of Law at Denver University adds: “Guns are the tools of political dissent . . . and they should be privately owned and unregulated.” Those who are armed will determine what kind of country this will be. As they proclaim the authority of bullets over ballots in our democratic society, there isn’t even a whimper from the White House or Congress, and to our shame, the church house is as quiet as its church mice.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 74

<idle musing>
I know I'm sounding like a broken record here, but if violence is considered an option, it soon becomes the only option. "Blessed are the peacemakers" has been co-opted from Jesus and become the nickname of the Colt .45. What a travesty!
</idle musing>