(Thanks to deolexrex for sending me this report)
"Confronting Gun Violence at Church: Practical Strategies to Protect Your Ministry" is a 22-page report prepared by Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company. I like it enough to send a link to my own church's pastor & session. (Note: In Presbyterian Churches, the governing body of the local church -- composed of ruling elders -- is called the session.)
(Some have reported that the above link does not work. For that reason, I have uploaded the pdf file & you should be able to download it from here.)
The report does have some highly quotable material like this:
“Churches are really easy pickings if you think about it,” [Dale Annis, a church security director,] said. “You’ve got several hundred people, all in one place with their heads down and their eyes closed. I tell my security team to pray with their eyes open.”
I would have expected a white paper like this to dismiss entirely the option of an armed presence during the church service. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they saw armed security as a viable option.
Then I was unpleasantly brought back to the fantasies of corporate lawyerspeak and the fear of liability when the report said that law enforcement personnel or a contract security firm should be the only ones allowed to carry firearms in church.
Here is is the statement as it appears in the report:
If you decide that your church needs an armed security team, please allow weapons to be
carried only by active or retired law enforcement officers who receive regular weapons
training. As you can imagine, a person who may shoot accurately at a firing range or while
hunting might not perform as well when faced by a gunman threatening a congregation.
This is the politically correct type of verbiage that the Mutual Brotherhood hopes will keep them from getting sued. It flies in the face, however, of real-world facts.
For a glimpse at the bitter truth about the nationwide inadequacy of police firearms training, see my post entitled "FBI Report". Also, in "Christian Martialist as Sheepdog, 4" I cite a statistical analysis that shows the abysmal hit rate of law enforcement officers involved in shootings.
And from firsthand experience, I know that armed security receives less training than the police.
A church security ministry does not need "professional" help as much as it needs godly, motivated sheepdogs who will put in the training time on their own to master the tactics, weapons and mindset to keep the flock safe.
"Confronting Gun Violence at Church: Practical Strategies to Protect Your Ministry" is a 22-page report prepared by Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company. I like it enough to send a link to my own church's pastor & session. (Note: In Presbyterian Churches, the governing body of the local church -- composed of ruling elders -- is called the session.)
(Some have reported that the above link does not work. For that reason, I have uploaded the pdf file & you should be able to download it from here.)
The report does have some highly quotable material like this:
“Churches are really easy pickings if you think about it,” [Dale Annis, a church security director,] said. “You’ve got several hundred people, all in one place with their heads down and their eyes closed. I tell my security team to pray with their eyes open.”
I would have expected a white paper like this to dismiss entirely the option of an armed presence during the church service. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they saw armed security as a viable option.
Then I was unpleasantly brought back to the fantasies of corporate lawyerspeak and the fear of liability when the report said that law enforcement personnel or a contract security firm should be the only ones allowed to carry firearms in church.
Here is is the statement as it appears in the report:
If you decide that your church needs an armed security team, please allow weapons to be
carried only by active or retired law enforcement officers who receive regular weapons
training. As you can imagine, a person who may shoot accurately at a firing range or while
hunting might not perform as well when faced by a gunman threatening a congregation.
This is the politically correct type of verbiage that the Mutual Brotherhood hopes will keep them from getting sued. It flies in the face, however, of real-world facts.
For a glimpse at the bitter truth about the nationwide inadequacy of police firearms training, see my post entitled "FBI Report". Also, in "Christian Martialist as Sheepdog, 4" I cite a statistical analysis that shows the abysmal hit rate of law enforcement officers involved in shootings.
And from firsthand experience, I know that armed security receives less training than the police.
A church security ministry does not need "professional" help as much as it needs godly, motivated sheepdogs who will put in the training time on their own to master the tactics, weapons and mindset to keep the flock safe.
4 comments:
Beautiful cause. Just to ask your opinion, what would you say to those who believe that weapons should not come into a church?
P.S. The report link seems to not be working; is it just my annoying connection?
1st question: I'd say that there are violent people out there who major in doing things they shouldn't. If you can get them all to promise that they'll never bring a weapon into church, and if you can enforce that promise, then I won't bring a weapon either.
2nd question: I just checked the link & it seems to work fine. (Sorry)
Good answer....
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