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PA
World News

Gun control can't solve sin problem: Liverpool US pastor

The comments come after President Obama tearfully announced he was using executive orders to bypass Congress and introduce tighter controls.

Ken Lippold from Christ Church Liverpool, but originally from Chicago, said: "It's not enough to put our hope in legislation to solve what is actually a problem of the human condition of sin.

"The human capacity for violence is still there. You can think it's crazy that the government doesn't just take (guns) away, but I think it's just as crazy to think that if guns were taken away then all violence will end."

Speaking alongside victims' families, President Obama recalled the 2012 Sandy Hook primary school shooting in which 20 children and six adults were killed, as well as other recent tragedies.

PA

The White House says that more than 30,000 people die from gun violence in the US ever year.

The President's new regulations include:

  • Background checks for all gun sellers
  • States providing information on people disqualified from buying guns due to mental illness or domestic violence
  • More than 230 new FBI staff to process background checks
  • Congress being asked to invest $500m (£339m) to improve access to mental healthcare in the US
  • The departments of defence, justice and homeland security exploring "smart gun technology" to improve gun safety

Mr Lippold added, "They all seem like normal progress to me. I think by and large they are good measures and I'm not sure too many people are going to be upset with the substance of what they are."

However, senior Republicans have vowed to fight the proposals, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz who has been backed by many evangelicals.

The right to bear arms is contained within the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and Ken Lippold agrees that making changes to it does create problems.

"If you give up the second amendment what's to keep you losing the first amendment, which is freedom of speech and freedom of religion? That is why so many hold to (the second amendment)."

Mr Lippold believes the majority of Americans who believe in God are Republicans, and for that reason, "you'd find many Christians siding with the gun lobby. But I think it's just a symptom of Christians placing their hope in something other than the gospel - as if getting their preferred politician into office is going to bring about some sort of great Christian society."

The largest gun lobby group in the United States, the National Rifle Association (NRA), said Mr Obama's steps would not have prevented any of the country's recent mass killings.

Commentators believe the significance and the timing of the President's move sets it up to be a key battleground in the Presidential elections later this year.

Listen to Premier's Antony Bushfield speaking to Ken Lippold on the News Hour:

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