Church Security & Legally Armed Parishioners

  • Thread starter Thread starter childinthefaith
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I agree with this. I have been around guns my whole life. I always chuckle inside when people explain to me how they are so prepared for self-defense or defense if others with a gun because if their extensive training. I think the military knows how to train people for hostile situations, police academies to a lessor extent, but I am skeptical if all others.

Look at the number of questionable police shootings. And these guys are always well trained.

People who carry around guns and believe they can deal with a real situation are deluding themselves most of the time. It’s probably a 50-50 chance that they could stay calm and handle an active shooter situation.
 
Is the current consensus of this thread that more Catholics would prefer to not have any Catholics carry a gun to church ?
 
littlebird said:
Is the current consensus of this thread that more Catholics would prefer to not have any Catholics carry a gun to church ?
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I think the consensus may be that people should follow the policies of their bishops.
 
Ok. So then if the bishop says that it is ok to carry your guns then all of to the parishioners will be ok with it ?
 
I have no idea if people would be ok with it, in the sense of approving it.
But it wouldn’t be a crime, unlike carrying a gun where the bishop has prohibited that.
 
littlebird said:
Ok. So then if the bishop says that it is ok to carry your guns then all of to the parishioners will be ok with it ?
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Ok with it? I doubt it. Nor do they need to be “ok with it”. At best, they might accept it. Some might choose to visit a different parish 🤷‍♂️
 
I was just curious about the parishioners thoughts. If more parishioners preferred that other parishioners did not carry.

I was not addressing the Bishop’s role and if it was a crime if not.
 
I do not want people toting weapons into Church. God is the only security that I need.
 
littlebird said:
I was just curious about the parishioners thoughts. If more parishioners preferred that other parishioners did not carry.
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I can only speak for myself. I’m fortunate to live near a diocesan boundary, so if my bishop changed his mind and allowed guns in church, I’d switch parishes to the other diocese.
 
It would probably depend on how the law is written.

The pastor isn’t the property owner.
 
Not concerned about the law, but we owe obedience to our pastor with regards to parish matters. In most parishes, parishioners would not be okay with people carrying a gun in church if the pastor specifically said not to. I don’t think most parishioners would be as concerned about the legal aspects .
 
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If a person is carrying a gun concealed, the other parishioners probably wouldn’t know.

Should we poll the parish on whether or not women should be allowed to wear perfume, or whether people should be allowed to wear sandals, or carry a pocket knife, or pepper spray, or have children at mass that cause disruptions.

Not certain I want parish wide polls on any of the above subjects. If someone isn’t breaking the law or violating church policy, not really anyone else’s business how they choose to attend mass.
 
In our dioceses, the Bishop has asked that parishioners not open carry during mass. Both open and concealed carry are allowed in our state.

I am not a fan of open carry, but if I were, I would respect the Bishop’s wishes and carry concealed during mass. It would just be the right thing to do, and not a huge personal sacrifice in the change in carry method.

If the Bishop asked that parishioners not carry at all, I would expect the parish to post the appropriate signage to disallow people from carrying either concealed or openly. This signage is not very aesthetic, so it would require that the parish take that into consideration before making their decision. If they did so and placed the appropriate signage, I would either choose to obey the law and go unarmed to mass, or choose to go to another parish which hadn’t made the decision to ban the carrying of guns into their property.
 
Most states have laws that allow the property owner or someone with apparent authority to make the decision.

The pastor would certainly fall into the category of “apparent authority”.
 
Rau said:
The premise is faulty. Self defence is a natural right. Arming oneself with one’s weapons of choice in church - in case something might happen - is not.
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Lethal force must be met with lethal force. To force me to respond to gunfire with my fists is to deprive me of my right to be able to defend myself.
 
Hyperventilated hyperbole doesn’t serve you well.

The right to keep and bear arms is a pre-political right that the Constitution recognises and protects; it is not a right granted to us by it as if it could be legitimately taken away by any government.

You would never feel threatened by me carrying a concealed firearm, because it’s concealed. And if (God forbid!) I had to use it, afterwards you’d be very relieved that I was able to. Not to put too fine a point on it, but your unreasonable fears do not trump my fundamental right to be able to defend myself or my responsibility to defend you if necessary.
 
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neophyte said:
The right to keep and bear arms is a pre-political right that the Constitution recognises and protects; it is not a right granted to us by it as if it could be legitimately taken away by any government.
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In the Founding Fathers’ opinion and/or in your opinion.

Gun ownership and carrying is not a God-given right and the CC has never considered it a God-given right, nor does it condemn it in countries which heavily restrict gun ownership. The Church has a grave obligation to denounce laws that are intrinsically evil.
 
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