Are there any Christian denominations that consider it sinful for believers to own weapons for any reason, even if the weapon is legal to own?

Does the Catholic Church have any *explicit* laws regarding priests and the ownership of or the carrying of firearms? I am under the impression that Canon Law (someplace) forbids for all clerics from anything "unbecoming to their state." But alas, if this is true, such is by no means explicit.

I recently heard someone who describes themself as an ardent Christian state that Christianity is "a fighting man's religion". They backed this up by claiming that when Jesus sent the disciples out he sent them armed. Is this - the arming of the disciples - a widely held belief and if so, on what basis is it argued? I certainly don't recall reading it that way.

As you know there were many prophets in the Bible who were armed and had swords for self-defence. Jesus himself allowed St. Peter and his apostles to buy a sword for self-defence. But did any of the Early Church Fathers believe that being armed to defend yourself was ever justified?

Question on Jehovah's Witnesses view about owning guns that are not used for hunting or for protecting against wild animals. Let's say for example someone in USA who likes to collect automatic weapons and machine guns (which can apparently be purchased in Nevada according to this article ). What is Jehovah's Witnesses viewpoint about a baptized member owning guns such as machine guns? Does that affect the members standing in the congregation?

This other question mentions a harm threshold above which an offender's participation counts as "serious". The examples given include - defacing more than 10 postage stamps in a 48 hour period - possessing more than 2 unregistered machine guns Actually both of these are sort of interesting to me, but for different reasons. (**Note:** commenters brought out that these are hypothetical examples, not to be taken as representative of actual rules.) The question I would like to ask though is about owning guns that are not used for hunting or for protecting against wild animals, such as is the case with machine guns. What is the LDS Church viewpoint about a baptized member owning machine guns? Does that affect the members standing in the congregation?

I have come across a chapter in the Book of Mormon that is very interesting. It details how the Nephites thought it would be better to bury their swords and never kill another person again. The Lamanites came against them for war, but the Nephites did nothing and about 1000 of them were killed. After that some of the Lamanites felt regret for killing them anyway and repented of their sins. They then joined the Nephites and buried their swords as well. Alma 24:18 Sums up the Nephites' disposition: > And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they never would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching and covenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands. With this story in mind, what is the LDS position on war, self-defense, and keeping weapons?

In America, there is a large group of people where being a Christian, active in the gun culture and protecting their right to fire arms is proudly the basis of their identity. For example, at the shooting range you may see a bumper sticker on a car stating "***All I need is my Bible and a gun***". (The movies also eat this one up romanticizing, glorify and macho-fy this phenomenon.) What denomination or general belief is the root of this phenomenon and is it like that in other countries?