Who Needs Guns in Church?

Well, here's one nitwit who still doesnt' get it. We have 'gun control' in the largest cities in the nation, New York, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Chicago. It's worked well there, hasn't it? But his answer, is more gun control. What a tool!


Michael Arceneaux
Contributor

AOL News (July 19) -- No matter what name you call your deity, there's a common theme among religious institutions in the land of Louisiana: You cannot trust your fellow man, not even in the House of God.

Gov. Bobby Jindal signed into law a bill that could easily be mistaken as satire: Concealed handguns are now a go in places of worship.

House Bill 1272, known has the "gun-in-church bill," was introduced by Rep. Henry Burns, R-Haughton.

The new law allows licensed gun owners who are part of a security force to carry concealed weapons into churches, mosques and synagogues.

Those who wish to pack heat while giving praise will have to take an extra eight hours of tactical training each year.

Does that make you feel any safer? No? If it helps, churches, synagogues and mosques choosing to allow concealed carry will have to inform their congregations of the decision.

Perhaps protective vests will finally get sold in the gun aisle at Walmart, too.

To be fair, the bill was not issued as an open love letter to the NRA.

It was presented as a way to give worshippers in "declining neighbors" a means of defense against criminals. More importantly, places of worship will not be forced to allow guns on their property.

Is this really the way to go?

While gun-rights supporters erupted in cheers for Gov. Jindal, a churchgoer in Wisconsin was startled at the sight of a fellow parishioner openly carrying a loaded Glock 9 mm handgun in church.

In response, the police were called. Though the gun carrier wouldn't mention her name, she did tell NBC's TM4J why she carries it.

She said: "I started carrying earlier this year. I'm getting older and fatter and slower and criminals are getting meaner."

Sadly, church violence is not uncommon.

There have been incidents of gun violence in Colorado and New Jersey in recent years. Back in 1980, a teacher by the name of Alvin Lee King III stormed inside a church with an AR-15 assault rifle, a hunting rifle and handguns and opened fire -- killing five and injuring 10.

In an interview with CBS 11 on the 30th anniversary of that shooting, Detective Jimmy Meeks of Hurst Police Department in Texas, who also travels the country teaching church security, argues that there's a certain mentality many religious people need to get over.
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Meeks says his mission "is helping get churches get beyond the mentality that 'we're safe in the house of God.' It is not a safe house in the mind of the criminal."

It's a sentiment echoed by John Monroe, an attorney for a gun-rights group assisting a Georgia minister suing Upson County to get guns inside his church.

Monroe told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, "Things happen in church. ... What we really want is the state not to say what can happen in church."

As frightening as the thought of criminals repeating such awful crimes in religious institutions is, I'm more alarmed that none of these gun rights supporters has concluded that if we had more gun control, the psychotic people who brought terror into church never would have had the opportunity to do so.

Though House Bill 1272 was introduced under the guise of preventing violence, I worry that it may ultimately make churches, synagogues and mosques more susceptible to it. Violence begets violence. How many more examples do we need to prove this point?

I understand the urgency for security in the religious community, but I don't believe laws like the "gun-in-church bill" are the answer.

Gun control is.

Here's a more complete list of church shootings over the last few years, and why more people need to have guns in church. Maybe this knucklehead needs to study his history a bit more.

March 8, 2009 - Maryville, Illinois - Suspect Terry Joe Sedlacek, 27, of Troy, walks into the First Baptist Church, and shoots pastor Fred Winters dead, point blank. Several church members are injured by a knife in the struggle to capture after the attack, The suspect also had stabbed himelf, but survived, when his gun jams.

Feb. 18, 2009 - Garden Grove, California - A man walks into the internationally known Crystal Cathedral, hands a greeter a note, then kneels in front of a cross and shoots himself in the head, leaving him dead at the altar.

July 27, 2008 - Knoxville, Tennessee - A gunman opens fire in a church during a youth performance, killing two people and injuring seven.

Dec. 9, 2007 - Colorado - Three people are killed and five wounded in two shooting rampages, one at a missionary school in suburban Denver and one at a church in Colorado Springs. The gunman in the second incident is killed by a guard.

May 20, 2007 - Moscow, Idaho - A standoff between police and a suspect in the shootings of three people in a Presbyterian Church ended with three dead, including one police officer.

Aug. 12, 2007 - Neosho, Missouri - First Congregational Church - 3 killed - Eiken Elam Saimon shot and killed the pastor and two deacons and wounded five others.

Oct. 2, 2006 - Lancaster County, Pennsylvania - Attack by a gunman who killed five girls and then himself, while not a church, occurs at an Amish school targeted a religious site.

May 21, 2006 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana - The Ministry of Jesus Christ Church - 4 killed - The four at the church who were shot were members of Erica Bell's family; she was abducted and murdered elsewhere; Bell's mother, church pastor Claudia Brown, was seriously wounded - Anthony Bell, 25, was the shooter.

Feb. 26, 2006 - Detroit, Michigan - Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church - 2 killed + shooter - Kevin L. Collins, who reportedly went to the church looking for his girlfriend, later killed himself.

April 9, 2005 - College Park, Georgia - A 27-year-old airman died after being shot at a church, where he had once worked as a security guard.

March 12, 2005 - Brookfield, Wisconsin - Living Church of God - 7 killed + shooter - Terry Ratzmann opened fire on the congregation, killing seven and wounding four before taking his own life.

July 30, 2005 - College Park, Georgia - World Changers Church International - shooter killed - Air Force Staff Sgt. John Givens was shot five times by a police officer after charging the officer, following violent behavior.

Dec. 17, 2004, Garden Grove, Calif.: A veteran musician at the Crystal Cathedral shoots himself to death after a nine-hour standoff.

Oct. 5, 2003 - Atlanta, Georgia - Turner Monumental AME Church - 2 killed + shooter - Shelia Wilson walked into the church while preparations are being made for service and shot the pastor, her mother and then herself.

June 10, 2002 - Conception, Missouri - Benedictine monastery - 2 killed + shooter - Lloyd Robert Jeffress shot four monks in the monastery killing two and wounding two, before killing himself.

March 12, 2002 - Lynbrook, New York - Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church - 2 killed - Peter Troy, a former mental patient, opens fire during Mass, killing the priest and a parishioner. He later receives a life sentence.

May 18, 2001 - Hopkinsville, Kentucky - Greater Oak Missionary Baptist Church - 2 killed - Frederick Radford stood up in the middle of a revival service and began shooting at his estranged wife, Nicole Radford, killing her and a woman trying to help her.

Nov. 1, 2000, Kansas City: The wife of a minister fatally shoots her daughter and then herself.

Sept. 15, 1999 - Fort Worth, Texas - Wedgewood Baptist Church - 7 killed + shooter - Larry Gene Ashbrook shot dead seven people and injured a further seven at a concert by Christian rock group Forty Days in Fort Worth, Texas before killing himself.

April 15, 1999 - Salt Lake City, Utah - LDS Church Family History Library - 2 killed + shooter - Sergei Babarin, 70, with a history of mental illness, entered the library, killed two people and wounded four others before he was gunned down by police.