Methodists and Guns

In addition to the anti-gun Presbyterians (see my post here), and the anti-gun Jews (see my post here) looks like the Methodists also have trouble with the concept of lawful self-defense.

From the United Methodist News Service, we learn that:

Two United Methodist agencies, disappointed with a U.S. Supreme Court decision on handgun ownership, are urging church members to advocate for legislation that would tighten federal laws on gun control.

In a joint statement July 1, the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and the Commission on Religion and Race said they were "deeply disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court decision to strip local municipalities of the right to enact sensible and necessary gun restriction laws." A week earlier, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 that a Washington, D.C., ban on handgun ownership was unconstitutional.

"The Supreme Court’s decision stands in direct contrast to the stance of our denomination," the church agencies said.

The denomination’s top legislative assembly, the General Conference, condemned gun violence in a resolution at its April 23-May 2 gathering in Fort Worth, Texas.
...
In keeping with the resolution, the agencies "urge all United Methodists to continue to advocate for federal legislation in the U.S. Congress to regulate the importation, manufacturing, sale and possession of guns and ammunition by the general public." The resolution also calls upon all governments in countries with a United Methodist presence "to establish national bans on ownership by the general public of handguns, assault weapons, automatic weapon conversion kits and weapons that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal-detection devices." [emphasis added]

It seems a morally wayward stance to not recognize the importance of self-defense, if not as a moral imperative, then at least as a moral good. Advocating that the government disarm and deprive its most vulnerable citizens -- the weak, the elderly, and the disabled -- of the most effective means of defending their lives and the lives of their loved ones, doesn't seem to be a very Christian position at all.