Are Guns in Church A good idea?

[soulster]

Some people think so:

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/pistol-packing-parishioners-468104259615

[MotownSteve]

Some people think so:

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/pistol-packing-parishioners-468104259615

I wonder where they will suggest next.

[Roberta75]

some people think so:

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/pistol-packing-parishioners-468104259615

no no no no no.

[marv2]

I wonder where they will suggest next.

Well in Ohio, they did more than suggest it, but it is now legal to carry guns inside a bar! Can you just imagine how stupid that is?

[Roberta75]

Well in Ohio, they did more than suggest it, but it is now legal to carry guns inside a bar! Can you just imagine how stupid that is?

Another reason to avoid the state of Ohio.

[jobeterob]

Until America gets a grip on its gun obsession, there will continue to be these horribly senseless acts; and more and more of them seem to be carried out by mentally unstable, self entitled white brats.

[RobertZ]

Until America gets a grip on its gun obsession, there will continue to be these horribly senseless acts; and more and more of them seem to be carried out by mentally unstable, self entitled white brats.
... and who, thanks to the NRA, can easily obtain a gun at a minutes' notice. Perhaps not "guns in church" per se, but a security guard? Tragic but while the NRA rules America perhaps necessary.

[Jerry Oz]

It's a bad idea. Most churches cannot afford a security guard for Sunday service, let alone for various prayer events and meetings. If you secure the churches, the killers will go to the beaches where they can tell who has a gun and will shoot them first. It's never going to end.

The whole debate about church security is a Faux News red herring. The massacre was not an assault on a church or a religion, it was a terroristic attack against people of color but mainstream media refuses to call it terrorism or even racism. Why? They didn't even call the murder of the UNC dental student, his bride, and her sister a hate crime, let alone an example of terrorism.

Watching the news outlets, it's hard to believe that White people are capable of racism or being terrorism. They frame every event differently when they do it than when others do the same things. I will do attending when my church starts encouraging parishioners to carry weapons. A lot of these mass murderers are carrying weapons within the law. Who will suggest that someone legally carrying don't flip out one day?

[marv2]

It's a bad idea. Most churches cannot afford a security guard for Sunday service, let alone for various prayer events and meetings. If you secure the churches, the killers will go to the beaches where they can tell who has a gun and will shoot them first. It's never going to end.

The whole debate about church security is a Faux News red herring. The massacre was not an assault on a church or a religion, it was a terroristic attack against people of color but mainstream media refuses to call it terrorism or even racism. Why? They didn't even call the murder of the UNC dental student, his bride, and her sister a hate crime, let alone an example of terrorism.

Watching the news outlets, it's hard to believe that White people are capable of racism or being terrorism. They frame every event differently when they do it than when others do the same things. I will do attending when my church starts encouraging parishioners to carry weapons. A lot of these mass murderers are carrying weapons within the law. Who will suggest that someone legally carrying don't flip out one day?

None of that shit is going to work [[allowing people to carry guns everywhere etc.) Schools have security and they get shot up fairly regularly in the United States. Banning of guns is a start in the right directions. If the NRA does not like it, then they can leave and go somewhere else! Better yet, arrest them for treason!

[arr&bee]

Guns in church??? Talk about the devil havin his day.

[soulster]

Marv, I disagree. I've been listening to a LOT of the media, and they are using terms like "terrorism".

Remember that most of our current anti-gun laws were created in reaction to groups like the Black Panthers arming themselves. That a Black militant group could legally carry firearms scared a lot of white people. Today, those same people who were scared are now arming themselves because they are scared of Blacks and other minorities. They call it self defense, and exercising their Supreme Court affirmed Second Amendment rights. So, who can't Blacks arm themselves, too?

Also, although there are very recent studies that show that crimes go down where there are required background checks, and where strict gun laws are enforced.

Some of this post is playing devil's advocate.

The only problem I now have with people carrying firearms into churches is that someone could walk into a church service that is not familiar, someone would panic, based on this week's events, and wrongfully shoot someone.

[Jerry Oz]

Now the NRA is blaming the pastor for the murders because he publicly spoke against permitting guns in churches. Wow.

[marv2]

Now the NRA is blaming the pastor for the murders because he publicly spoke against permitting guns in churches. Wow.

I saw that too. The NRA are nothing but demons. When I was a young teenager, Martin Luther King's mother was shot to death right inside her church by this deranged guy. Having a shot out in a church between the pastor and the perp is not the answer!

[Jerry Oz]

You're right. But on Faux News, they're framing this as an assault on religion instead of a racist attack. Let me get this right: The killer said he's a racist, he has a racist web site, he has racist clothing, he has a racist license plate, his friends confirm he's a racist, he passed several White churches to shoot nine people to death in a Black church and Faux News is suggesting that this isn't an example of racism.

If not, I guess the Birmingham bombing that killed the four little girls wasn't either. Or slavery or Jim Crow or what happened to Emmitt Till. And people keep calling for a 'dialog' about race in this country. If everybody isn't talking, there's nothing that a dialog can accomplish. I wish there was somewhere better for me to move to.

[marv2]

You're right. But on Faux News, they're framing this as an assault on religion instead of a racist attack. Let me get this right: The killer said he's a racist, he has a racist web site, he has racist clothing, he has a racist license plate, his friends confirm he's a racist, he passed several White churches to shoot nine people to death in a Black church and Faux News is suggesting that this isn't an example of racism.

If not, I guess the Birmingham bombing that killed the four little girls wasn't either. Or slavery or Jim Crow or what happened to Emmitt Till. And people keep calling for a 'dialog' about race in this country. If everybody isn't talking, there's nothing that a dialog can accomplish. I wish there was somewhere better for me to move to.


They will say anything rather than admit that America is and has always been a very racist country. They deny that racism exist in every poll, in every survey!

[marv2]

You're right. But on Faux News, they're framing this as an assault on religion instead of a racist attack. Let me get this right: The killer said he's a racist, he has a racist web site, he has racist clothing, he has a racist license plate, his friends confirm he's a racist, he passed several White churches to shoot nine people to death in a Black church and Faux News is suggesting that this isn't an example of racism.

If not, I guess the Birmingham bombing that killed the four little girls wasn't either. Or slavery or Jim Crow or what happened to Emmitt Till. And people keep calling for a 'dialog' about race in this country. If everybody isn't talking, there's nothing that a dialog can accomplish. I wish there was somewhere better for me to move to.

They cover up those stories of Emmitt Till and the four little girls that died in the Birmingham Church bombings. They didn't even teach or cover it in school! NEVER.

[Jerry Oz]

Yet, you and I know about them. When people suggest that Black History Month is not needed, they're really wanting to hide the ugly truth about race in US history.

[marv2]

Yet, you and I know about them. When people suggest that Black History Month is not needed, they're really wanting to hide the ugly truth about race in US history.
I knew about them as a child mainly from my parents and the old Ebony and Jet Magazines in the house!

[Jerry Oz]

Me too! My Mom taught me a lot that I never learned in schooI. I remember she taught me about Billie Holliday's song "Strange Fruit" and what it was about years before I heard it. Sadly, that song and "What's Going On" are just as relevant today as they were when they came out decades ago.

And we had prescriptions for both Johnson publications.

[marv2]

Me too! My Mom taught me a lot that I never learned in schooI. I remember she taught me about Billie Holliday's song "Strange Fruit" and what it was about years before I heard it. Sadly, that song and "What's Going On" are just as relevant today as they were when they came out decades ago.

And we had prescriptions for both Johnson publications.

Jerry, so you know...that's how it was! We learned about our history from our families at least until years much later.

[soulster]

And we had prescriptions for both Johnson publications.

You mean subscriptions, right? :)

[Jerry Oz]

You mean subscriptions, right? :)
But of course I did. I hope that wasn't a Freudian slip...

[arr&bee]

We all know about[John Brown]and the attack on Harper's Ferry in[1959]now how is he portrayed in history to this day?...as a madman, this country could've used a few more like him..I mention him because he stood up against wrong...and he was-WHITE!!

[soulster]

We all know about[John Brown]and the attack on Harper's Ferry in[1959]now how is he portrayed in history to this day?...as a madman, this country could've used a few more like him..I mention him because he stood up against wrong...and he was-WHITE!! Some us aren't as old as you are. :)

[arr&bee]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....very funny soulster,i didn't know the man personally.

[Roberta75]

"It's by faith in Jesus that we are standing here and sitting here," Rev. Norvel Goff said at AME Emanuel. "It has been tough. It has been rough. Some of us have been downright angry. But through it all God has sustained us...The doors of the church are open. No evildoer, no demon in hell or on Earth can close the doors of God's church."

[RobertZ]

Maybe guns PROTECTING places of worship are a good idea if the NRA provides FULL FUNDING from NRA coffers to any place of worship that asks for an armed guard.

[Jerry Oz]

Nothing will stop a determined killer. The proliferation of guns only makes it easier that he will succeed.

[RobertZ]

Nothing will stop a determined killer. The proliferation of guns only makes it easier that he will succeed.
Sadly I guess I have to agree; when I hear from pro-gun people I know as well as NRA loonies that the world would be safer if EVERYONE carried a gun, my "... ability to reason just slips away". But I have to believe there is hope - I just don't know how to achieve it.

[marv2]

Sadly I guess I have to agree; when I hear from pro-gun people I know as well as NRA loonies that the world would be safer if EVERYONE carried a gun, my "... ability to reason just slips away". But I have to believe there is hope - I just don't know how to achieve it.

There is no hope. Get a gun or be left at the mercy of the rest of the country!

[nysister]

If we get to a day where everybody comes to church packing, it's time to shut the church down!

[Jerry Oz]

Yeah. The day that my church allows or encourages people to bring guns is the day that I'm quitting. I'll give my tithes to charity and begin a determined course of study at home.

[soulster]

There is no hope. Get a gun or be left at the mercy of the rest of the country! Why are Black people, and church people so afraid of guns?

[Jerry Oz]

Clearly Black people are not afraid of guns. A disproportionate number of us go to jail for gun crimes. My pastor collects guns. Don't generalize.

[arr&bee]

It shows what a sad state of affairs it is that this is even being discussed...guns in church??? I would venture to guess that if a survey was taken asking the safest places to be that the church would most likely be no.one...maybe not!!!

[Jerry Oz]

The safest places are the halls of congress where the people who make it ridiculously easy to get and carry firearms are protected from the people who do.

This all reminds me of a feminist speaker who had to cancel a speaking engagement in Utah last year because the state permits concealed carry on college campuses and the school would not be permitted by law to install metal detectors at the door. She took a stand that suggested that video games are misogynistic and encourage harm toward women [[they do) and a lot of nerdy video gamers are afraid she'll influence their entertainment of choice.

Since she regularly receives threats of death and rape on her Facebook and Twitter accounts, she didn't think speaking in a public forum full of gun toters was best for her welfare. Think about the ramifications of that. A preacher might one day parse his message for fear that it offends somebody. And one of the points of preaching is to offend people by showing them what they need to do better.

[arr&bee]

Yeah i guess pretty soon the ministers will be riding around in those life protecting mobiles like the pope...sad.

[nosey]

I have no fear of guns. Being raised in a home by southern based parents who went hunting, etc, we knew better than to even think about touching daddy's gun. I guess the ushers will now have to frisk the congregants as well as pass out the fans.

[arr&bee]

I too was raised in a house where guns were kept,and like you said we knew better than to even think about messing with em...different times.

[marv2]

I too was raised in a house where guns were kept,and like you said we knew better than to even think about messing with em...different times.

I got my first gun when I was 20 going on 21. I still have it, so no not afraid of guns. I do find in inappropriate to take firearms into house of worship. That is just how I personally feel. You should not take alcohol or smoke inside a church either. There must be a better solution than arming the congregation, parishioners, members or whatever you call those attending.

[arr&bee]

You're right of course about the guns...now as for the alcohol [hehehe]i ain't touchin that one.