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Mounting Threat of Home Intruders: Weighing the Moral Option of Armed Self-Defense

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Part One of the book provides evidence about the growing threat of violent criminals. Part Three offers the authors'suggestions for an effective firearms policy. (They make a good argument for a "smart card" to be used as identification for gun purchases.) But the most important (and the longest) part of the book is the middle part, titled "Moral and Religious Grounds for Self-Defense." The authors start with the Old Testament, work their way through the New Testament, and into modern theological ethics. Carefully considering all contrary arguments, the authors come to the solidly-argued conclusion that (within the Judeo-Christian framework) there is no valid basis for denying the right to use deadly force against a violent predator. The "moral" assertion of the gun prohibitionists that use of deadly force against criminals is always wrong is intellectually unsupportable. It has no genuine basis in Judeo-Christian ethics. Furnish and Small treat the anti-force argument respectfully, and their arguments may prove convincing to pacifists who are willing to read the book with an open mind. The Mounting Threat of Home Intruders, besides being a good analysis of a particular ethical issue, also serves as an introduction to modern academic theology, including the work of the great theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. Review by Dave Kopel, Independence Institute, http://i2i.org.