Inside the Mormon Debate on Gun Control
After the deadliest shooting in American history, people everywhere are looking for answers. A lot of people have turned their attention to gun control as a potential solution. So to continue our conversation series, we sat down with a few of the great minds here at LDS.net to look at how Latter-day Saints are thinking about gun control.
Lindsey Langford, our Design Director, grew up in a family of hunters and has taken advantage of concealed carry laws.
Heather Newell, who does not have guns in her home, nor does she imagine ever having guns in her home, is the Vice President of Technology.
Christopher Cunningham, the Content Director, is moderate on gun control issues.
Christopher Cunningham: I wanted to start by asking, first of all, how you feel about discussing this topic at this time? Should mass murders always prompt gun control conversation?
Heather Newell: Whether it should, I think it always will. Whether we have more gun control or not, I don’t feel like we’ll ever get an overwhelming strong consensus one way or another.
If the rapid increase of mass shootings hasn’t changed the opinion of those who are strongly against gun control, I’m not sure what will. We can’t stop every act of violence.
Christopher Cunningham: I know. It saddens me to see how politicized tragedies have become. It feels to me like we used to come together as a country. But recently politicians started to humiliate those who asked for “thoughts and prayers” following a mass shooting.
As a result, everyone now feels pressure to politicize these shootings. Of course, not everyone prefers to talk about gun control, so this moment of national mourning has instead descended into a series of fights about domestic terrorism, LGBT+ rights, immigration, radical Islam, and of course gun control too. Unfortunately, this feels inevitable. Our culture has become so tied to the news cycle.
Lindsey Langford: I see why it does lead to these conversations, but doesn’t it seem a bit late to be talking about it? If the point of gun control is to control the situations then we should be having these conversations way before shootings happen.
In my opinion, people need to be more educated. They hear about a shooting and call for tighter laws but they have probably never picked up a gun themselves.
Taking a hunters safety class or concealed carry class is super beneficial. People would understand guns and safety a lot better if they took the time to learn themselves.
There’s a stat somewhere that says in a mass shooting, an average of 14 people die, but if someone in the room is carrying, then an average of 2 die.
Christopher Cunningham: So are you suggesting that those who actually understand about guns talk about gun safety issues regularly, but only after mass shootings do people who are more uneducated on the issue start to speak up?
Lindsey Langford: Yes. Exactly.
Christopher Cunningham: I wanted to ask about our religious upbringing. We have similar religious backgrounds, yet have arrived at very different places on this issue. How did your religion affect your feelings on gun control?
Lindsey Langford: So, like I said, in these gun classes we really learn things people don’t realize. Those classes line up so well with my religion. In hunter’s safety, for example, you would be immediately terminated from the class if you ever used the word “kill.”
The class was all about hunting animals so you could eat them and be given life because of them. It wasn’t about killing or shooting animals for fun. It was very spiritual in the sense of respect for animals and life.
People who take these classes have a very high respect for life, and that is why they take the classes—so they can protect life. This lined up super well with my beliefs as a Mormon, and it only supported my beliefs. In Genesis, it talks about animals being made for man and I see that.
It’s the same thing with conceal carry classes. You are there to protect life, not to end it.
Christopher Cunningham: That’s really interesting. Most of my gun use came in the context of Scouts, so there was a big emphasis on safety, but it was never really brought to a spiritual point like yours.
For me, I think religion made me moderate in a lot of ways. It’s a little bit weird to be in a faith that explicitly asks you to be critical of its truth claims. So I think I grew up being skeptical of everything and having to be brought off the sidelines. So I tend to be moderate on a lot of issues, and gun control follows that pattern for me.
How about you Heather?
Heather Newell: I feel my faith taught me to value life. That all life is precious. All life has meaning. It also taught me to obey the laws of the land. I have a great deal of respect and owe a lot to those who serve our country in all facets, here and abroad. My dad served in the military. I was taught to respect and honor those who serve and protect us.
Growing up, much emphasis was put on us being able to have freedom, because we fought for it, and we continue to fight for it. That freedom comes at a price, but that price is what allows us to be able to worship how we chose—to believe how we so desire.
Lindsey Langford: Ooo, I like that.
Christopher Cunningham: I’m not surprised you liked that Lindsey. Heather, you seem to be using a lot of the same language that is used by strong gun supporters. But you break from that group. How and why?
Heather Newell: I’m against killing innocent people. As much as I can be supportive of those who hunt to provide, who truly do value life, who take every precaution for safety, who are capable and able of protecting others in violent situations, I don’t feel we are doing enough to protect the innocent.
As many of those who own guns do so honorably, there is too much leniency to allow those who would do harm easy access to guns. And if having stricter gun control stopped just one death, it would be worth it. The price of one life is worth that. If people have to jump through more loops to be able to have the right to own a gun, and that saved one mass shooting, one homicide, one suicide, then it would all be worth it.
Christopher Cunningham: When we talk about who has guns, you unsurprisingly paint very different pictures of who a typical gun owner looks like. And I think when you combine that with Mormonism, the picture most people get is someone like an Ammon or Cliven Bundy. A prepper, someone ready to overtake the government if necessary. Is this an accurate snapshot of what Mormon gun owners look like?
Lindsey Langford: Definitely not.
Heather Newell: That’s not my vision of a Mormon gun owner. That to me would be someone on the outskirts.
Lindsey Langford: I think we are just as broad as the rest of the country. There are lots of different levels of gun owners in the church—from the scout to the hunter, to the person who does want to be prepared.
Christopher Cunningham: I think you’re obviously right, and I think even people who envision a Bundy type would admit that this is a broad characterization.
But I’m surprised you both went so far to the no side. I’m actually surprised by the number of members I meet who seem ready to take up arms and frame their gun ownership as a last line of defense for liberty. Of course, I also live in Texas, so the members I talk to are often from Texas, and that’s significantly influencing their political feelings too.
Let’s shift to the role the church plays in this debate.
While the church remains politically neutral, they do take positions on many hot-button topics such as immigration, marriage, and abortion. But definitely not anything about gun control. How do you think this silence has affected the way members of the Church think about gun control measures?
Lindsey Langford: I think people turn to the scriptures for those opinions. We are taught in primary about the people who buried their swords and we see all the destruction of war throughout the Bible and Book of Mormon.
That’s all we have to go by though, so I think it’s one of those things where people have to follow the Spirit and see what is best for them. I think people would love to have a straightforward answer by the Church, but that’s not always how it works. Sometimes we have to trust the Spirit and take into account the few things that have been said.
Christopher Cunningham: The Anti-Nephi-Lehies are definitely an interesting story in this debate. I had a chance to interview Jeremiah Stoddard, a Mormon pacifist, a few years back. He believed that LDS doctrine accommodated pacifism very well.
In fact, he pointed to the Book of Mormon as a major example. I tried to counter with how many war heroes were there. But with how the Book of Mormon turned out, he believed that their warlike behavior should be seen as a major problem, not a feature. Really made me think.
And how about you Heather, how do you feel the Church’s silence on this specific issue has affected members thoughts?
Heather Newell: I felt that the lesson I was taught was that force was always a last resort option. That peaceful, harmony existence through non-violence is always the first choice.
Christopher Cunningham: American Mormons are overwhelming Republican. And the Republican party tends to oppose more gun restrictions. Now Mormons are clearly happy to break from Republican orthodoxy when the church does speak, such as on immigration, but do you feel like otherwise church members default to anti-gun control just because it’s their party’s stance?
Heather Newell: I think I’m a pretty liberal Republican. Hard to even know what I am these days. I feel like I don’t fit in anywhere.
Christopher Cunningham: I thought it was interesting when I was looking for folks to do this chat with me in the LDS.net offices, nobody really wanted to label themselves pro or con on gun control. There was actually a remarkable amount of nuance. Of course, our office tends younger and more female than members of the Church at large. But still, I thought it was interesting that unlike an issue like abortion where members wouldn’t have a problem labeling themselves pro-life, on this issue people really wanted to avoid a label.
Lindsey Langford: I’m not sure, but I feel like for most people, guns are either something they understand or not. Like a tradition almost. I think it’s not necessarily Mormon or Republican, but tradition. And that just so happens to mean that a lot of Mormons either did Scouts or were hunters or whatever, so they are familiar with it. And I think most people don’t really understand it or take the time to learn about it deeply, so they go with what others say?
Christopher Cunningham: Let’s move onto some of the actual proposals that are leading the discussion right now. The first is a ban on assault rifles. How do you feel about it? How do you feel your religion influences that opinion?
Heather Newell: I would say it’s a necessary start. I think the possible pro’s on this one can’t stand up to the negative they have done.
Christopher Cunningham: The interesting thing with assault rifles is they can’t really be used for traditional self-defense. No one is concealed carrying an assault rifle.
Lindsey Langford: No one is concealed carrying an assault rifle, but remember the second amendment is about more than hunting and self-defense. It’s about maintaining a militia, and you can’t really do that with handguns and shotguns.
Christopher Cunningham: Good point.
Heather Newell: I think my religion has influenced how precious life is. How important the “one” is. Every person is unique and God knows and loves every single one of them. Each life is as valuable as mine, as much as I value those I love.
It has taught me that I should support initiatives that protect the innocent, that protect the minority. It has taught me that I should love and respect others. What I have incorporated in my life from religion is such a mantra—that supersedes policies and majority influences.
Christopher Cunningham: Let’s jump over to the other proposal gaining traction right now. Banning those on the “no-fly-list” from purchasing weapons.
Heather Newell: If there are those [we] don’t want on an airplane, knowing that they have to go through that level of security to board, why should it be any question that we would want them on the ground with easy access to weapons? It feels like to me that such a ban should precede no-fly-lists.
Christopher Cunningham: I’m certainly more iffy on this than you Heather. I think you’d run into significant Fifth Amendment issues. Can we really deprive people of a constitutional right without due process of law?
Heather Newell: Doesn’t the no-fly-list already do that?
Christopher Cunningham: Nope. You can end up on the no-fly list just because you said something suspicious on Facebook. Flying isn’t a constitutional right, so there’s not the same kind of scrutiny.
Lindsey Langford: Huh. Good point.
Heather Newell: Yeah, I can see that.
Lindsey Langford: But I still think Heather is right. If they can’t fly, they shouldn’t own a gun.
Heather Newell: I just don’t think that the right to bear arms should be extended to all.
Lindsey Langford: Yep.
Christopher Cunningham: Alright, let’s wrap up with final thoughts here.
Lindsey Langford: I guess my thoughts are that it is a really complicated issue. I really think more people should have training and an understanding of guns—not how to use them, but why they are used and the realities of guns.
I think people who use guns are typically more protective than the people who don’t, but sadly they get in the wrong hands. But so many things in life can go into the wrong hands.
That’s agency. Heavenly Father gave us the chance to make choices and use things for good or bad. While we hope people always choose good, they don’t. And I’m not always sure how to deal with it.
Heather Newell: I think there is a need for gun control. That starts with education and restrictions on both those who can purchase and what can be purchased.
I think in such times, that is not too much to ask for more from those who are responsible gun owners. Such restrictions protect them too, protect the ones the ones they love, and protect the innocent who are all loved by God.
I’d like to see more red tape and not yellow tape, more prevention to stop those who use guns irresponsibly, to take another life, including their own. I don’t see this being an end to violence. But I do think it will help prevent some of these acts.
Christopher Cunningham: Thank you very much to both of you for taking the time to share your thoughts. I really do appreciate being part of a community that can be so united on so many things, but then be so diverse on others. Now it’s time to turn it over to our readers. What are your feelings on gun control? How has your religious faith influenced your thoughts?