Mormons Ban Guns

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has just updated its policy on firearms, moving from a recommendation that lethal weapons, including guns, were considered “inappropriate” on church property to an outright prohibition of them.

The new policy clarifies that “churches are dedicated for the worship of God and as havens from the cares and concerns of the world. With the exception of current law enforcement officers, the carrying of lethal weapons on Church property, concealed or otherwise, is prohibited.”

This marks the latest in a series of small steps the church has taken away from the Republican Party, either by tweaking its own policies or by simply upholding its usual position to the right of center, while members of the GOP swing ever further to the right.

Consider the new firearms policy. Latter-day Saints have long had an understanding that guns were fine outside of worship. I’ve been in a ward where boys were taken to a shooting range as a youth activity. I’ve heard church members talk about using their guns to protect their food storage in the event of a cataclysmic event. And I’ve known plenty of Mormons who like to hunt.

The difference is that all these things happened outside of the consecrated property of the church itself. Then, in July 2018, a church member in Nevada entered his ward’s chapel with a gun, sat quietly through sacrament meeting and then killed a fellow member. (Read more from “Mormons Ban Guns” HERE)

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