Heavenly Help for Gun Owners?
August 20, 2003
By Toby Westerman
Copyright 2003 International News Analysis Today
www.inatoday.com
Handgun owners who seek only to protect themselves and their families are often portrayed as crazed fanatics intent upon the destruction of society.
A recently released book, Gun Saint, urges heavenly assistance for gun owners in what the author describes as an "age of peril," a period which has seen both attacks from small-time hoodlums and genocide against helpless citizens.
The interdenominational St. Gabriel Possenti Society and the book "Gun Saint" about Possenti, who lived in mid-19th century Italy, are the result of the efforts of John Michael Snyder, a former Jesuit seminarian and long-time Second Amendment advocate. Snyder is urging the Vatican to proclaim Possenti patron of handgun owners, despite hostility from some Church officials.
Possenti's credentials for handgun patron are impeccable. Proclaimed a saint in 1920 after living an exceptionally devout life, Possenti faced down a gang of marauders in an incident fit for an American western.
After renouncing the pleasures of the world and retiring to a monastery to grow closer to God, Possenti renounced all his worldly possessions - including his pistol.
Possenti had acquired considerable proficiency with firearms before his religious conversion.
As Possenti sought to grow spiritually, the land around him was continually torn by armies clashing against one another during the birth of the nation of Italy. In 1860, when the civil war began to erupt in America, the Italian peninsula was already plagued by renegade soldiers, unattached to any army.
Major battles resulted not only in death and injury, but also in the formation of bands of freelance soldiers roaming the countryside. Local governmental authority collapsed under the weight of constant fighting, and individuals found themselves vulnerable to assault.
The small village of Isola del Gran Sasso, close to Possenti's new spiritual home, found itself an unwilling host to a band of twenty renegades, loyal to none and enemy to all. The plunder and rape of the helpless inhabitants began with no civil power to stop them.
Hearing the cries of the townspeople, Possenti requested permission to take his gun and defend Isola's inhabitants. His superiors reluctantly gave permission, and Possenti walked into town with his pistol, still in his clerical garb.
The renegade soldiers had little respect for the small, gun-toting seminarian. Suddenly, a small lizard ran across the road from where Possenti stood. Possenti turned, fired, and shot the head off the fast moving reptile. Possenti then turned to the leader of the marauders and declared, "the next bullet will go through your heart."
Citing the incident as an instance of "muscular Christianity," Snyder describes Possenti's use of his firearm as an example of a weapon "bringing about practical good on earth."
Gun Saint also includes Snyder's work with other gun-rights groups, including Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership , whose founder, Aaron Zelman, is also a holder of the Possenti Society Medal.
Snyder's book is an engaging, smooth flowing narrative, with 16 pages of vivid photographs and illustrations, including those of Possenti, and the basilica and shrine in Isola del Gran Sasso devoted to him. Gun Saint is a compact volume, 7 X 4 ½ inches, and is 129 pages in length, with a glossy softcover.
Gun Saint is available at $12.95, plus $2.00 shipping and handling, through:
Telum Associates, LLC
P.O. Box 2844
Arlington VA 22202
703-418-0849
Copyright 2003
International News Analysis Today
Return to INA TODAY.com homepage