Any time there is a mass shooting such as those that took place recently in Paris and San Bernardino the debate begins anew about the best way to insure public safety: to make weapons difficult to acquire for everyone, or to encourage people to arm themselves. One argument is that if guns were not so available the common criminal or mentally ill person would find them difficult to acquire and would either reconsider their actions or their crimes would be less violent. Another argument is that mass shootings take place quickly before even the best trained and best equipped first res-ponders can be on the scene, so that responsible legal gun owners are best equipped to defend against shooters. As usual the church is divided on the issue of gun ownership and concealed carry permits; Dr. John Piper seems to be of the opinion that Christians who know they are going to heaven should never take the life of someone whom they suspect may not be going to heaven (although he readily admits tha