"Commend to the Ccurch" is not the same as approved.  There are respectful and responsible differences of opinion regarding that document's call for total gun registration and banning many forms of firearms that are classically used for sporting purposes, look like and are of the same style and function as those of our parents and grandparents, and bear no resemblance to "assault weapons" so villified.

Strong empirical evidence belies the effectiveness of such an approach.

If there were but one modestly armed and properly trained citizen in that theatre audience and a carefully measured response made by that citizen (irrespective of the body armor), chances are the perpetrator would have been deterred, many lives saved, and many injuries avoided.

There are many useful ideas and suggestions in the document "commended to the church."  Efforts to disarm or restrict lawful ownership and use of firearms encroach cherished constitutional rights and make it easier for evil to be unchallenged.

Let us not employ our grief after these senseless acts of insanity to cloud our vision, to erode precious freedoms and to further divide our denomination on issues on which we sharply differ.    

Pete Bloss

Gulfport, MS