>DODGING THE BULLET
> Methodists vote
> for handgun ban
> Delegates overwhelmingly urge U.S.
> to outlaw private ownership
>
>
> By Jon E. Dougherty
> © 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
>
> Delegates to the quadrennial General Conference of the
> United Methodist Church voted by a 3-1 ratio to call on
> the federal government and other governments to outlaw
> "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."
>
> The conference delegates, who met this week in
> Cleveland, made the decision to put the resolution up for
> a full vote to all 922 attendees after deciding whether or
> not to include handguns in the measure. Conference
> officials said the measure was "one of the most debated
> pieces of legislation" to be considered thus far.
>
> According to conference sources, delegates voted 724 to
> 205 in favor of the statement on weapons, which will be
> included in the church's Book of Resolutions. Before
> adopting it, officials said, delegates rejected a separate
> proposal to remove handguns from the list of weapons
> that the church would like barred from private ownership.
>
> The debate, while contentious at times, centered primarily
> on whether or not members felt keeping handguns off the
> list would be better for members concerned about
> self-defense and the protection of loved ones.
>
> "If someone breaks into my home in the middle of the
> night to do bodily harm to myself or my wife, I can't pull
> out the Book of Resolutions and say, 'Wait a minute, I'm
> a United Methodist. I've got a position on this,'" said the
> Rev. Scott Kelso of Pataskala, Ohio.

<snip>

> Critics also point to the fact that many of those counted
> as "childhood" gun deaths each year are over 17 years of
> age and are often related to drug and gang involvement.


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