Poll: Concealed Weapons among Plain Anabaptists?

[steve-in-kville]

Not to spread rumors, but I had always heard that BMA was big on having carry permits. I have mine, but I'm a "progressive" so its okay

[Josh]

I have been around Beachys who carry; I suspect they’re part of ADC now.

[Ken]

I don't know anything about those groups. But some of my Conservative Conference Mennonite Church cousins are pretty armed to the teeth. The kind who have 6 different calibers of rifles and as many different shotguns just because you can't use a duck gun to shoot pheasants, or whatever. Would not surprise me if they were doing concealed carry.

It's all right out in the open. Not the sort of thing conservative mennos sneak around with like drinking.

In the CMC, some members carry guns to church (and are proud of this). This is one of those things that varies widely from congregation to congregation.

The cultural change has been immense.

When I was a kid in the 70s I can remember an uncle calling me out to his car during a family reunion and showing me his handgun like it was a far more vertboten and disapproved of item than say a 5th of whiskey. People might have had a shotgun or 30-30 in the farm kitchen closet but that was about it for guns. There was hunting culture but not gun culture.

Today the guns are everywhere but drink is still very clandestine.

Now that pot is legal in much of the country I wonder to what extent that is going to filter into Anabaptist communities. Probably already has in terms of medical remedies and such. I don't really know.

[ken_sylvania]

You can also weigh in on whether a person with a concealed carry license would be able to apply for conscientious objector status in any state or country.

Interestingly, I don't think this question has ever been asked of Selective Service.

I suppose this was written with a heavy dose of sarcasm??

[Ken]

You can also weigh in on whether a person with a concealed carry license would be able to apply for conscientious objector status in any state or country.

Interestingly, I don't think this question has ever been asked of Selective Service.

I suppose this was written with a heavy dose of sarcasm??

There will never be another draft anyway. The days of mass conscription are long long over. The only reason we even have a selective service is because President Carter was trying to look tough to the USSR during the original Afghanistan invasion in 1979. And that was 40 years ago.

At least not here in the US. I realize this is an international forum. But then again, it's pretty much only in the US where we have stuff like concealed carry culture. Most Europeans would be astonished at that.

[Dan Z]

As a non US guy I find it completely bonkers that anyone would carry a gun to church, but that there are anabaptists doing it is absolutely beyond me.

Me too Swiss bro - and I'm a "US guy"

[Josh]

You can also weigh in on whether a person with a concealed carry license would be able to apply for conscientious objector status in any state or country.

Interestingly, I don't think this question has ever been asked of Selective Service.

I suppose this was written with a heavy dose of sarcasm??

I’m serious. I can’t find anyone directly asking SSS what the CO status of a CW or LCCH permit holder would be.

[Dan Z]

I'm saddened to think about this possibility - much less acknowledging the reality exists in some of our circles.

To me it is just one more litmus test related to how the Conservative Anabaptist theology and worldview is rapidly being replaced by American "red-state" evangelical rural culture (maybe you have a better name for it) . To be honest, despite some voices clearly calling folks to remain faithful to the "third way" of original Anabaptism, it feels like a loosing battle these days. We as a people are not handling the information age very well - and unfortunately many of us are not ideologically/theologically grounded or committed enough to resist the myriad voices pulling at our hearts and minds. I remember 30+ years ago being concerned by the influence of evangelical books and radio on our thinking as Anabaptists - now that seems a trifle compared to the power of the internet to form worldviews. The momentum is huge - and the costs are significant.

[Dan Z]

Interestingly, I don't think this question has ever been asked of Selective Service.

I suppose this was written with a heavy dose of sarcasm??

I’m serious. I can’t find anyone directly asking SSS what the CO status of a CW or LCCH permit holder would be.

I'd reject them outright if I sat on a draft board - the Conscientious Objector ice is pretty thin under a Mennonite who chooses to pack concealed heat.

[Josh]

Dan Z,

#1. I’m likewise as dismayed by the migration of many conservative Anabaptists towards leftism, like participating in antifa riots. I can think of several children offhand of CMC adherents whose parents are solid right wing political conservatives, but whose children are becoming left wing, politically.

#2. Perhaps those fuddy-duddy ultra-conservatives who warned of the dangers of the Internet should have been listened to. Instead, moderates like to make fun of them for too much dress regulation.

#3. Ultimately, there is a lack of introspection about just how much worldly political powers influence us (and I’d ask you to consider for a moment why I think you’re under that influence as well). Part of a sign of this influence is even caring that people carry guns. I don’t carry a gun, and my brethren don’t. But if the church down the road from does, well, that’s as much my concern as the fact they don’t wear head coverings.