4 People Died in United States Capitol Protests + Catholic Perspective on Armed Resistance

I am keeping track of this story as it is still developing. 4 people have died in the 2021 United States Capitol Protests. Reports of this can be seen here.

As of right now, details are rather unclear. One of the deaths which was known yesterday was that of Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt. She was shot by law enforcement, although the exact details are not yet publicized. There was some question as to exactly where she was shot.

Ashli Babbitt, a California resident, served 4 tours of duty over a 14 year period and was born in 1985 making her around 35 years of age. It seems she was active on Twitter under the username CommonAshSense. She made some tweets concerning the protest.

Three other people associated with the protest have passed away, yet the cause of their deaths are unclear. All I could find were references to them dying following "medical emergencies". This is very broad, and wouldn't any death be the result of a medical emergency?

So what are the relevant points in the Catholic Faith we must consider when looking at this situation? Is an armed insurrection ever justifiable? I'm not saying that is what is happening in this case. But are there ever cases where large groups of people can forcibly take control of a government? In fact, this is addressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church under the topic of armed resistance.

Armed resistance to oppression by political authority is not legitimate, unless all the following conditions are met:

1. there is certain, grave, and prolonged violation of fundamental rights;
2. all other means of redress have been exhausted;
3. such resistance will not provoke worse disorders;
4. there is well-founded hope of success; and
5. it is impossible reasonably to foresee any better solution.

Does the current situation meet the criteria above? I would say, at the very least, it would be an untenable position to say that the current American situation would meet the criteria allowing for armed resistance to a government.

Is there certain, grave, and prolonged violation of fundamental rights? I would say probably not. Yes, there are many grave injustices, such as abortion, occurring in the country. The problem is I cannot see that changing, especially by violent actions such as the ones being witnessed.

Therefore, criterion 4 is not met either of a well-founded hope of success. Criterion 3 is that such resistance will not provoke worse disorders. I cannot say that criterion would be met either as violent protests will certainly not improve the current situation and will probably make it worse.

Have all other means of redress been exhausted? I believe at this point, since the other criteria are not met, this is a moot point. But there are probably better, more effective means, that have not yet been exhausted.

Finally, #5, is it impossible to reasonably foresee any better solution? Since violent protests will probably achieve little if anything, obviously there are better solutions.

Therefore, I do not think violence is legitimate in this case. Having said that, I have not seen significant evidence of widespread violence from Trump supporters at this point. You could say that the act of breaking into the US Capitol building is itself an act of violence, but breaking into a building isn't the same as harming someone bodily. It's much less significant.

A young woman has been killed, but we do not know the circumstances in detail. We know she was probably shot by some law enforcement agency. Why was she shot? Was she threatening, assaulting, or committing battery against people? I am not sure. Perhaps her death was a tragic mistake.

As for the other three deaths, we do not have sufficient information to categorize what happened.

My point is, we cannot tell at this point how violent or non-violent the group of protesters is overall. Yes, they broke in, but are they, on a significant scale, using violence against innocent people? Are they shooting firearms at law enforcement officers? I do not see evidence of these things.

First and foremost we must pray for everyone involved in this situation. We must pray that people remain calm and things do not escalate further. We must pray that injustices are resolved in civilized ways. Let's try to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. I think we are living in a time where people are more polarized than ever. Many people are under lockdown and on social media things can often appear far more extreme which leads to further polarization.

I will keep you posted on any new developments and how they may apply to Catholic teaching.