Wanted to add a bit more to my original post:
I'm so used to firearms and enjoying shooting them and using them legally, as per the Second Amendment, that I'm always genuinely puzzled when people are surprised, puzzled, offended, angered and in some cases, yes, outraged, to learn I do take full advantage of the rights I have as a US Citizen, including the right to...well, you know...keep and bear...arms. I also bare arms when the weather allows, but that is another post.
The point is that as a Christian, I know that God has given my reason and all my senses. Using that reason and those senses, there is nothing wrong with defending oneself from those who would kill or do bodily injury to me, my family and friends, and neighbors. "Turning the other cheek" is not about legitimate self-defense, but about accepting persecution precisely because of the fact that you are confessing your Faith. Some Christian pacifists do not, and refuse to, understand this point. Furthermore, as a Lutheran I believe that the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is about murdering, not killing in legitimate self-defense or defending others, for as we Lutherans explain that commandment we teach that we are to do nothing to hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but rather help and befriend him in every bodily need or danger to his life and body. That's pretty straightforward self and explains why I carry.
