In the wake of a tragic shooting at a Minneapolis church that claimed two young lives, more than 700 Minnesota faith and religious leaders are urging Governor Tim Walz to call a special legislative session to ban so-called “assault weapons.”
Their letter, dated October 7, frames the proposed ban as a “moral issue,” not a political one.
“These weapons were designed for the battlefield, not for our schools and churches,” the letter reads. “They are tools of war, not peace. Their only purpose is to inflict mass casualties, to maim and destroy. Protecting lives is a sacred duty. While we cannot erase the violence that has already occurred, you can make it far more difficult for someone to obtain these weapons tomorrow.”
The clergy cited the late August shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church, where a gunman killed two students and injured more than 20 others—most of them children—as justification for further restrictions.
“We stand with the thousands of students and parents across Minnesota who are demanding action,” the letter continued. “We call on Governor Walz to immediately convene a special session, and we call on every member of the legislature to honor the lives lost by finally passing a ban on assault weapons.”
A Familiar Playbook: Disarm the Law-Abiding
The emotional appeal is familiar. But rather than focus on the failures of existing laws, these 700 faith leaders are demanding new restrictions that would further disarm the law-abiding, including parishioners who already face rising threats in churches, synagogues, and mosques across the country.
The same “assault weapon” rhetoric has been used for decades to push bans that target cosmetic features, not function. Semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15—used responsibly by millions of Americans—are no more “weapons of war” than the semiautomatic handguns carried by law enforcement and private citizens for self-defense.
Reality Check: Guns Save Lives in Churches, Too
While the call to “do something” often follows tragedy, there’s no shortage of evidence that armed citizens have stopped church shootings before they could become massacres.
- In 2019, a volunteer security team member neutralized a gunman within seconds at West Freeway Church of Christ in Texas, saving dozens of lives.
- In 2022, a legally armed congregant stopped a shooter inside an Indiana mall, ending the attack before police arrived.
- In states where armed parishioners and trained volunteers can legally carry, houses of worship are statistically safer than those where guns are banned.
Faith Leaders Calling for Disarmament Ignore a Hard Truth
The call for an “assault weapons” ban might sound virtuous in a press release, but in practice, it strips peaceable people of their means of defense—including those most at risk in soft targets like churches and schools.
Banning firearms that millions own legally doesn’t prevent evil—it simply ensures that good people are unarmed when evil strikes.
If these faith leaders truly want to protect their congregations, they should demand the right to defend them, rather than begging politicians to leave them defenseless.
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