Should There Be Guns at Churches?
Posted in Homeschool View on Monday, August 13, 2018
In Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the teenage boy Huck describes a worship service attended by the Grangerford and Shepherdson families who are involved in a 30-year-old feud.
“Next Sunday we all went to church, about three mile, everybody a horseback,” Huck narrates. “The men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them between their knees or stood them handy against the wall. The Shepherdsons done the same. It was pretty ornery preaching—all about brotherly love, and such-like tiresomeness; but everybody said it was a good sermon, and they all talked it over going home.”
Twain, of course, is quick to point out the hypocrisy of the church-goers in his famous novel, but more than 130 years after Huck Finn was first published, the topic of guns in churches has become a hot topic due to the growing epidemic of church shootings.
According to Facts & Trends published by LifeWay Christian Resources, there have been 18 fatal church shootings since 1999, including the 26 victims in the 2017 shooting at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Due to these incidents, some organizations are urging churches to be more prepared and willing to use force if necessary.
“Most churches spend far more time and money training their choir than they do investing in the safety of their staff and guests,” said Carl Chinn, a church security consultant. “Odds are their church will never face a serious threat, but if their congregation does face a serious threat, the odds won’t matter much.”
Instead of taking an approach that a tragic event will never happen, Chinn recommends the following guidelines:
1. Confirm support from your church’s leadership team.
2. Do a baseline readiness evaluation.
3. Start with what you have, where you are.
4. Keep it simple.
5. Keep it legal.
6. Know your insurance agent and policies.
7. Network with your community.
8. Train and drill.
9. Develop policies and procedures.
Should churches be armed? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Comments(1 comment)
Veritas 08/14/2018 22:33:09
I think that if pastors really care about their congregation, they will want trained and armed people there. It can be a simple thing: just allow those with concealed carry permits to carry. They can even notify the leaders or person in charge of security that they will be carrying, so those who carry can be seated near each entrance or where they can be most beneficial.