No, the ERLC does not support gun control laws. The ERLC has supported, along with the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, one order of protection which would have ensured that someone who has plans or intends to harm themselves or others does not possess the weapons to do so. For example, if someone stated that they were planning to attack a church or school, this order of protection would have permitted law enforcement to file a petition to the courts, and then, after a hearing, temporarily sequester that person’s weapons.
The ERLC took this position because of two related SBC resolutions. Southern Baptists have called for proactive steps to be taken to combat the “epidemic of mass shootings and gun violence.” In 2018, messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention gave support for “preventative measures that would reduce gun violence and mass shootings while operating in accordance with the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution,” and in 2022, messengers urged lawmakers “to take concrete steps, towards solutions that uphold the dignity and value of every human life, especially the most vulnerable among us, and to minimize the threat of gun violence throughout our society.”
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