Give Richard Land credit. The Southern Baptist public policy Pooh-bah did catch some flak in December for justifying the use of deadly force on New Testament grounds. But the grounds were defense of neighbor–a variant of just war theory of which St. Augustine would probably have approved.

Now, in a letter to President Obama, Land has put the SBC on record in support of some real gun control legislation: mandatory criminal background checks for all gun sales, including at gun shows; and making gun trafficking a federal crime. OK, there’s nothing about an assault weapons ban. And the letter does ask the president to “take into consideration” regional differences: