Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
^^^
I agree completely!
I agree completely!
Church Carry
- Thread starter Mercenary
- Start date
Considering the uncertain times we live in now , bad things can occur just about anywhere.
I think it is okay to carry concealed in Church , but if you are not a leo or security officer , keep your weapon concealed & be secret about it.
As a Christian , I believe God is always with us & provides us his safety through Angels, LEO's , Soldiers, military etc .....
It is always important to pray & keep your gunpowder dry too .
I think it is okay to carry concealed in Church , but if you are not a leo or security officer , keep your weapon concealed & be secret about it.
As a Christian , I believe God is always with us & provides us his safety through Angels, LEO's , Soldiers, military etc .....
It is always important to pray & keep your gunpowder dry too .
lee n. field
New member
I don't think PCA has a position on it. A local guy I know, young PCA pastor, told us that a number of people at the church he interned at in Florida carried. As a good Illinois boy, he didn't seem to know what to make of it.
I'm Methodist and go to a little country church. Several of us carry in church as part of our congregation's Safe Sanctuary Plan.
I don't regularly attend church. My church is the moutains and plains where my home is sited in Eastern AZ.
I have been involved in two situations were I caused weapons to be brought into a church.
The first was when I married by bride (31 and counting). Her ex had threatened to "disrupt" the event. In this case a couple of my buddies wifes carried pistols to the service. Frankly, they were better shots than my buddies. It is not easy to conceal in a rented tux.
The second was at my step daughters wedding. Once again her father had threatened my wife. He was an attendee. The wedding was in Michigan so I carried an Applegate/Fairborn folder. It was easy to conceal.
Fortunately, neither occasion required deployment of the weapons.
As allways forwarned is forarmed.
I have been involved in two situations were I caused weapons to be brought into a church.
The first was when I married by bride (31 and counting). Her ex had threatened to "disrupt" the event. In this case a couple of my buddies wifes carried pistols to the service. Frankly, they were better shots than my buddies. It is not easy to conceal in a rented tux.
The second was at my step daughters wedding. Once again her father had threatened my wife. He was an attendee. The wedding was in Michigan so I carried an Applegate/Fairborn folder. It was easy to conceal.
Fortunately, neither occasion required deployment of the weapons.
As allways forwarned is forarmed.
FrederickDav
New member
To the guys in Michigan, our law does allow concealled carry in church. We just have to have permission from the "governing authority".
I'm the only one with permission to carry in my church. When I was on the board I pushed for allowing concealled carry. Some of the "folks with other opinions" gave in and voted to allow it under one condition, the person has to be a current or former board member. I decided that I didn't want the responsibility of being the only armed person in church.
I'm the only one with permission to carry in my church. When I was on the board I pushed for allowing concealled carry. Some of the "folks with other opinions" gave in and voted to allow it under one condition, the person has to be a current or former board member. I decided that I didn't want the responsibility of being the only armed person in church.
Aguila Blanca
Staff
I respectfully submit that I think you are extrapolating from your own state's laws and don't have any real statistics. I live in a state that is generally considered unfriendly to firearms and to the 2nd Amendment, yet church carry is NOT prohibited in this state. We have 50 states. If carry in church is prohibited in "most" of them, that must mean it is prohibited in at least 26 states.farmerboy said:
Start naming them ...
Miketodd04
New member
I do conceal carry in my church, either a full size MP .40 or my .38 airweight. I go to a church of over 400 and it is in a rural area. I am also a reserve officer in my county and spoke with my pastor about this before hand. Our County only has 3 officers on at a time for 440 square miles, so if crap hits the fan, it could be a few minutes before help arrives. We are talking about putting together a security team.
Aguila Blanca
Staff
???treg said:
What is "MV"?
jhgreasemonkey
New member
Listen to yourselves. I would think the right thing to do would be to offer a couple of misguided looking guys an open hand and welcoming spirit at a church. Not meet them with a paranoid, judgemental attitute and a pistol.
That's certainly the right thing to do.
This is an example of a fallacy of composition.
In a fallacy of composition, a list is provided and the assumption or implication is made that all of the list items share common characteristics.
While it is certainly true that a "paranoid, judgemental attitude" is not the right attitude to have, listing "a pistol", in the same breath, as it were, implies that having a pistol is also somehow inadvisable/reprehensible/inappropriate.
It's not.
It's one thing to be welcoming, and being welcoming is good. It's another thing to pretend that everyone you welcome will automatically be friendly and innocuous. It is wise/appropriate/advisable to realize that not everyone in this world, not even everyone who comes to the door of a church, is harmless.
For example, the shooter in the Colorado New Life Church shooting had previously attended activities associated with the church.
Guns in Church
Many people do not know all the things that go on behind the scenes of churches. I have seen many things!
At my previous church, the husband of the church pianist was arrested for cooking meth. He had previously served time in jail for assault and robbery and other crimes. When his wife discovered that he had also been having an affair, she kicked him out while he was in jail. The pianist was in church on Sunday morning, half expecting her estranged husband to arrive during the service. (This was in a church with 80 in attendance on Sunday morning).
Another time, a registered sex offender attended the Sunday morning worship service of a church with 150 in attendance.
Another time a teenager who had been banned from the school campus for an "undisclosed" violation attended a Thanksgiving meal . After the he finished eating, he went behind the church building and had sexual contact with another teenage girl.
Still another time a woman rushed into the church during the week and announced that her boyfriend had tried to choke her. She fled with their six month old baby girl and asked for help. About 30 minutes later, the boyfriend pulled up on his motorcycle and tried to enter the building. The doors had been locked and he was told that he could see his girlfriend and baby at the police station in an hour. He got on his motorcyle and left.
And yet another time a man arrived at the church and demanded to speak to his wife. His wife had fled their house and went to a battered woman's shelter, with restricted access. The man demanded that someone from the church call the woman's shelter and let him speak to his wife. By the way, the man had been out of jail for less than six months. He had served ten years for murdering a friend.
During the Sunday evening service, a man entered the sanctuary of a large church (membership of 12,000) and began walking toward the front, muttering and in obvious anger. He got nearly half-way to the front before he turned and stormed out the back of the sanctuary. The man was schitzophrenic and had failed to take his medication for the previous two days. It turns out he was upset because someone was sitting in his normal seat and he was looking for another seat. But he got so angry that he just walked out.
These are all incidents that I have personally witnessed or have been a part of. Does this cause anyone to reconsider their opposition to carry in church?
Many people do not know all the things that go on behind the scenes of churches. I have seen many things!
At my previous church, the husband of the church pianist was arrested for cooking meth. He had previously served time in jail for assault and robbery and other crimes. When his wife discovered that he had also been having an affair, she kicked him out while he was in jail. The pianist was in church on Sunday morning, half expecting her estranged husband to arrive during the service. (This was in a church with 80 in attendance on Sunday morning).
Another time, a registered sex offender attended the Sunday morning worship service of a church with 150 in attendance.
Another time a teenager who had been banned from the school campus for an "undisclosed" violation attended a Thanksgiving meal . After the he finished eating, he went behind the church building and had sexual contact with another teenage girl.
Still another time a woman rushed into the church during the week and announced that her boyfriend had tried to choke her. She fled with their six month old baby girl and asked for help. About 30 minutes later, the boyfriend pulled up on his motorcycle and tried to enter the building. The doors had been locked and he was told that he could see his girlfriend and baby at the police station in an hour. He got on his motorcyle and left.
And yet another time a man arrived at the church and demanded to speak to his wife. His wife had fled their house and went to a battered woman's shelter, with restricted access. The man demanded that someone from the church call the woman's shelter and let him speak to his wife. By the way, the man had been out of jail for less than six months. He had served ten years for murdering a friend.
During the Sunday evening service, a man entered the sanctuary of a large church (membership of 12,000) and began walking toward the front, muttering and in obvious anger. He got nearly half-way to the front before he turned and stormed out the back of the sanctuary. The man was schitzophrenic and had failed to take his medication for the previous two days. It turns out he was upset because someone was sitting in his normal seat and he was looking for another seat. But he got so angry that he just walked out.
These are all incidents that I have personally witnessed or have been a part of. Does this cause anyone to reconsider their opposition to carry in church?
jhgreasemonkey
New member
Things have definitely changed since I went to sunday school in the 1970's and 80's. John explained his position in a reasonable and intellegent sounding way. It's just that I worry about the image of gun owners (and you should too) and some of these reasons being used as justification to carrry in church sound unreasonable to me and I'm 110% pro gun. I wonder how they would sound to the general public. Like using a troubled teen having sexual contact with a teen girl on church grounds. Really? You need a firearm to handle this kind of situation? Go ahead and carry in church or anywhere you feel the need, but be careful not to sound like fringe extremists or paranoid ninnys.