The Armor of Light

Here's a common complaint: The anti-abortion movement has a lot of gall to brand itself "pro-life" when its members are often as staunchly opposed to gun control as they are to abortion. Why are they so deeply invested in "life" until birth, at which point the baby should pick itself up by its tiny bootstraps and start contributing to society? Filmmaker Abigail Disney actually asked this of Rob Schenck, co-founder of Operation Rescue. What resulted was her electrifying documentary, The Armor of Light, in which Schenck begins his journey of conservative gun-control advocacy.

Helping convince Schenck of the rightness of the cause is Lucy McBath, whose seventeen-year-old son, Jordan Davis, was killed in 2012 in Florida by a man who cited the state's "Stand Your Ground" laws as justification for opening fire on four unarmed teenagers at a gas station. Says McBath, a woman of faith (and supporter of abortion rights), "We have replaced God with our guns as the protector," an observation you can see zap Schenck right in the heart.

Disney follows as McBath fights for gun law reform and Schenck begins speaking to groups whose beliefs in unfettered access to firearms are strongly tied to their Christian faith. At a meeting of anti-abortion activist leaders, Schenck is stunned to hear Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue, sincerely say things like, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" and "an armed society is a polite society" -- ridiculous words originating with NRA president Wayne LaPierre. But one difficult meeting doesn't stop Schenck; as he puts it, "Fox News and the NRA are not spiritual authorities."