Another connection between weapons control laws and Bible text fidelity goes back to the middle ages - before rifles. The RCC Pope Urban II banned crossbows at the Lateran Synod of 1097. In 1139 at the Second Lateran Council, Canon 39, Pope Innocent II limited the ban to use against Christians, allowing it's use in war against Moslems. Crossbows were a problem for both wealthy nobles trying to keep the working class terrified and the inquisition murderers because crossbow bolts could penetrate the armor used by knights. Crossbows were affordable by working class people but suits of armor were only affordable by people who lived off the working class; those in good with the religious establishment. The ban was widely ignored. During the inquisition, people using Textus Receptus Bibles were attacked by armored soldiers representing the Alexandrian Text RCC. The RCC claimed that the attacks were necessary because these people (some were called Waldensians, Albigensians) were supposedly a gnostic cult posing great danger to the continent. This sounds like a rather bold lie to me because it is the Alexandrian texts that are most "gnostic friendly." I think the crossbow bans preceded the inquisition and were not instituted specifically for that purpose, but the attempt continued into the inquisition. If anyone knows more about this history I would be glad to hear about it.
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