Are You OK with Guns in Church?

I must admit I was rather startled by the headline I saw in last Sunday's edition of the News-Press, our local newspaper.  "Pastors mostly OK with guns in churches," it read.  Excuse me?  Reading through the article I did not see any statistical information to back that up, just some anecdotal materials from two local churches.

Now I realize reporters don't generally write their own headlines.  And it isn't unusual to find a headline doesn't fully reflect a story's content.  But this was pretty blatant!  I went on line to see if there was any poll or survey information to back up this claim, and came up empty handed.  I could have easily overlooked something, so I am not making any scientific claim here.  But still, if such information was readily available I suspect it would have shown up in my search!

The newspaper article itself had to do with a bill currently before the Florida legislature (HB1437) that would allow for concealed weapons to be carried in churches, synagogues, and other religious institutions that are housed in properties where there is a school.  We, for instance, house a preschool that we operate.  This bill would allow for concealed weapons to be carried on our campus.

I don't know about other pastors (or other clergy in general) but frankly, I am not OK with guns in church.  We do pay a fair amount of money for a police officer to be posted at the entrance to our property on Sunday mornings, and he (or she) is armed.  That in and of itself makes me uncomfortable, but security experts have told us that is the best thing we can do to ensure the safety of our congregants.

But concealed weapons?  In the worship service?  No thank you.  I know the recent mass shooting in a Texas church was a most likely shortened by the presence of persons with concealed weapons.  But that could have gone down a whole different way--more innocents caught in the cross fire, for example.  Maybe I am being naïve, or idealistic.  Maybe I'm just a coward, after all, I'm upfront in worship--a prime target I suppose.  But I am not OK with guns in churches--headline notwithstanding--and I just needed to say that clearly.