Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin Asks Americans To Voluntarily Surrender Their Gun Rights

Newark, New Jersey, Cardinal Joseph Tobin wants Americans to voluntarily surrender and lay down their firearms rights protected and promised by the 2nd Amendment to the Bill of Rights. Tobin believes this should be done for the betterment and safety of society.

In his call for “synodal effort,” Tobin penned his thoughts and pleas in letter published on May 26th; which was prompted by the continued pace of shootings across the country, reported by Catholic outlet Crux.

Tobin wrote (in full) the following:

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My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

Today’s news is dominated by senseless mass shootings that take the lives of innocent people, often the most vulnerable and unprotected. Gun violence has become so prevalent that it risks becoming commonplace, and all of us are in danger of becoming indifferent to what is one of the most serious threats to our society (neighborhoods, local communities and our nation as a whole).

For many years now, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has called for action banning assault weapons. In the bishops’ 2020 statement, A Mercy and Peacebuilding Approach to Gun Violence” (see below), the bishops write, “We support measures that control the sale and use of firearms and make them safer (especially efforts that prevent their unsupervised use by children or anyone other than the owner), and we reiterate our call for sensible regulation of handguns.” I strongly agree with my brother bishops on the need to ban assault weapons and to control gun sales. 

Legislation and regulations are absolutely necessary, but they are not sufficient. Like all life issues, when it comes to the prevention of gun violence, we cannot legislate morality. However, we can, and must, regulate our behavior in order to protect the vulnerable and ensure the common good. This is why reasonable licensing of all gun purchases, and strict limitations on access to weapons whose purpose is clearly of a military nature, are so important. It’s true that we have a second amendment right to bear arms, but rights always involve responsibilities—in this case, the responsibility to protect the innocent and to secure public safety and good order. The mass shootings we are witnessing almost weekly now are a grave threat to the lives and well-being of all people. 

With this in mind, I think it’s time for me and other bishops and community leaders to call for a synodal effort to actively resist gun violence through a threefold process of prayer and work, advocacy, and voluntary self-restraint. Here’s what I have in mind:

1. Prayer and Work. The Benedictine motto, Ora et Labora (Prayer and Work), stresses the fact that both are essential to discerning and doing God’s will. Those who say that prayer is not enough are correct in this limited sense. In response to this grave moral crisis, we must combine our prayer with action to prevent the root causes of gun violence wherever it occurs. At the same time, Pope Francis reminds us: “We must never stop praying; indeed, let us pray to God more intensely.”

2. Advocacy. As an integral part of our efforts to prevent gun violence, all Americans should make local, state and federal officials know how we feel about this critical issue. We should not assume that our elected representatives know where we stand. We should make our voices heard, demanding that actions be taken to protect the vulnerable and keep our communities safe. As the U.S. bishops write, “We have an obligation to respond. Violence — in our homes, our schools and streets, our nation and world — is destroying the lives, dignity and hopes of millions of our sisters and brothers.”

3. Voluntary Self-Restraint. This is perhaps the most challenging and controversial proposal, but I honestly believe it is the best thing we can do to change the culture of violence that threatens us today. Let’s voluntarily set aside our rights in order to witness the truth that only peace, and never violence, is the way to build a free society that is lived concretely in our homes, our neighborhoods, our communities, our nation and our world. This requires us to acknowledge that we are all sisters and brothers in one human family and that we have a responsibility to listen to one another, to respect everyone regardless of our differences and disagreements, and to work together to build a better, safer, more peaceful world. In the spirit of Pope Francis, let us together cry out from our hearts: Never again gun violence, never again so much suffering!

St. Paul, in his first letter to the Church of Corinth (1 Cor 8:8–9), addresses what I have called “voluntary self-restraint.” Paul is speaking to the controversy about eating meat that has been prepared for the worship of idols, and he acknowledges that the Corinthians have the right to eat whatever they choose, but he admonishes them to think of the impact their behavior will have on others. With this in mind, he says: “Now food will not bring us closer to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, nor are we better off if we do. But make sure that this liberty of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak.” 

Unrestrained gun ownership is a serious threat to the weak in our communities. Easy access to assault weapons encourages people suffering from emotional illnesses and those who have political agendas that are destructive of human rights, especially the right to life, to take out their rage on innocent bystanders and on first responders who give their lives to serve and protect our communities. The voluntary self-restraint that I am calling for will not solve the problem of gun violence all by itself, but it can help us change our culture from one that is obsessively focused on individuals’ rights to a society dedicated to ensuring the common good. 

“Violence is not the cure for our broken world,” Pope Francis reminds us. Please join me in praying for an end to all instances of violence, especially gun violence in our schools, churches, places of business and in the public square. Come, Lord, make us instruments of your peace!

Sincerely yours in Christ the Redeemer,

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R

Archbishop of Newark

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But gunowners reject his pleas and call his statements insane. The Truth About Guns reported on the Cardinal’s squawking and many in the comments reject his wishes.

One commentor says he was a former priest himself, and he wrote:

As a former Catholic priest, I’ve been reading Church pronouncements for a long time. They have their own way of encoding intent in flowery, beautific language. Example: “…set aside our rights to witness the truth…” That is Church talk for ‘You really ought to let us tell you what to do.’

God gave us rights that Tobin says we should set aside. That is not naievite’, that is direct intent to say “You should listen to me because I have authority”.

Another posted: “I guess he missed that part of history in 1930s Germany when people of the Jewish Faith gave up their guns for the New Reich. I guess that just proves that old saying. Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat history. When the whole world falls down on its knees and worships our one true God, then and only then will it be safe to lay down its arms.” Another commentor added to that, writing, “He also ignores the fact THAT MANY IN “THE CHURCH” supported the “final solution” the NAZIs perpetrated upon humanity… and NOT just the JEWISH population.”

Furthermore, another posted, “Wonder what his solution is for not raping little boys.”

And during The Crusades they said…”People must “voluntarily” give up their gold, farms, daughters, and lives in order to build a free society “.
Not so sure that those “volunteers” would agree with them either.

Posted another person

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL0vHjZBT7U

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.

Luke 22:36

Over my dead body, creep. But of course that’s the goal for these people: they want war, they want death, that want destruction. It’s called “order out of chaos;” and from that they can then control people because of the confusion and hysteria, and/or via significant loss of life.

So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

Revelation 2:15

A Nicolaitan is someone who rules and controls the “laity,” the common folk, as they set themselves up as the authority and preeminent. This is Roman Catholicism to a “T.”

America, with all of its long list of problems and abominations – one of the last things we still have that basically everyone else does not have are gun rights. While there are still a ridiculous number of restrictions placed on them by each state, what we still have is leaps and bounds ahead what other nations allow. A society of people without guns are a peoplle of slaves forced to obey. The Covid War should have taught you this. While the States’ lockdowns were detrimental and draconian, they could not compare with the likes of Australia, New Zealand, China, India, and many others because they people have nothing to protect themselves with and stave off tyranny; whereas the U.S. is harder to bully people around with because they are still too many people with guns and ways to produce guns and ammo.

This catholic creepo wants people to be enslaved and defenseless so they then can genocide all the heretics and force everyone into lockstep again. And yet history will tell you that some of the most bloodthirsty killers, tyrants, gangsters, mob bosses, and the such like, were devout catholics to the very end.

Do not sleep on this and NEVER give up your guns.

The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.

Proverbs 12:24

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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