Do you/would you carry a concealed firearm to Mass?

[stinkcat_14]

My answer is absolutely not. The probability of my getting shot at Church is slim to none and slim has been packing his bags. Second, I have a much higher probability of being shot at home than I do at Church. So I choose not to own a weapon. I am not against them though, it is just not appropriate for my life right now.

 

[Augustinian]

The probability of my getting shot at Church is slim to none and slim has been packing his bags.

Although I think you are right there, you still have to travel to the church, and if its in the middle of gangland., you might have a different viewpoint.

 

[Lmab451]

@Vonsalza
Good job replying to only a piece of what I said and not my entire answer. Classy.

 

[Vonsalza]

Good job replying to only a piece of what I said and not my entire answer. Classy.

Hey, you said pepper spray was bad because it can hit innocent bystanders.

A bunch of parishioners with C&Cs carries the same risk. Sure, we’re all ok with “Jay” having one, since he got out of the Marines 5 years ago.

But unbeknownst to you and me, “Grandma Ethel” who is almost as blind as a bat has a gun too. And God help us all, she’ll shoot nearly everyone of us trying to stop the rogue gunman…

 

[Eric_Hyom]

I think God would be most pleased if one was able to intercede and save the life/lives of one of more of His people…

When Peter tried to defend Jesus with his sword, the Lord said to put the sword away.

 

[Lmab451]

@Vonsalza
I put in all caps: “MUST HAVE EXTENSIVE TRAINING!” That was part of my original response. Before you reply to anything of mine again…read my entire response and use common sense. I know you have it, so use it.

 

[exnihilo]

Actually a lot of non military and non police are more proficient with firearms and keep up their training.

I guess blind grandmas with guns are a possible problem, but has it ever actually happened?

 

[Vonsalza]

Actually a lot of non military and non police are more proficient with firearms and keep up their training.

I guess blind grandmas with guns are a possible problem, but has it ever actually happened?

Oh that exact example? No idea.

Now, innocent bystanders getting unintentionally hit in a gunfight? Absolutely.

 

[exnihilo]

Innocent bystanders get hit by police too. It is an unfortunate thing that will happen. The answer isn’t to get rid of all good guys with guns.

 

[niceatheist]

Neither is the answer to arm everyone to the teeth for a problem that, statistically speaking, barely exists.

 

[Vonsalza]

Innocent bystanders get hit by police too. It is an unfortunate thing that will happen. The answer isn’t to get rid of all good guys with guns.

Actually, the answer may be just that. Not the “good guys” part, but the “guns” part.

But I’m fine with having a selected group serve as armed ushers, if the fear in your parish was that bad. But the general laity carrying guns to mass? Crazytown.

 

[JoshuaIsLord]

Armed Ushers would not work either unless the Ushers sit randomly.

In our Parish the Usher’s make the mistake of sitting together in the last 2 pews.

The safest place to sit in church is in the FRONT and then from there, somewhere in the middle. Use other Parish members as shielding. Most Active shooters would enter from the REAR of the Church. Yes or Yes?

Personally, you bringing a firearm into a church would invite trouble from me. I would assume you have gone off the deep end and are there to commit an atrocity and I would react accordingly. Trust me, with my Navy Seal training…well…you get the idea.

 

[otjm]

No one was killed in Texas with an assault rifle either. I carried an assault rifle in Vietnam, and they are not available to the general public. To obtain one, an individual has to apply for a special permit - expensive, and difficult to get - for an automatic weapon, and in all my acquaintances, I know of only one individual who has succeeded - and he is a full bird Colonel in the Air Guard.

The news media, which is by and large anti-gun, can’t tell the difference between one rifle and another; but if it has a pistol grip and a non-wood foregrip and is semi automatic, they call it an assault weapon; the same exact caliber weapon with a wood stock is not called that.

The shooter in Texas had a semi automatic rifle. But the media, thinking that no one “needs” one, goes out of their way to emphasize how scary it is. And all the anti-gun crowd proposes all sorts of new laws to confiscate such rifles, none of which would have stopped this or any other shootings. But hey - we made drugs illegal, and that really stopped the flow of drugs - right?

Information indicates this may have been over a domestic dispute. Getting protection for those who were the subject of the shooter’s anger might have been more effective. so also, mental health intervention, an area of an very poor track record of funding and intervention.

 

[Vonsalza]

Armed Ushers would not work either unless the Ushers sit randomly.

In our Parish the Usher’s make the mistake of sitting together in the last 2 pews.

The safest place to sit in church is in the FRONT and then from there, somewhere in the middle. Use other Parish members as shielding. Most Active shooters would enter from the REAR of the Church. Yes or Yes?

Personally, you bringing a firearm into a church would invite trouble from me. I would assume you have gone off the deep end and are there to commit an atrocity and I would react accordingly. Trust me, with my Navy Seal training…well…you get the idea.

Wow. Thanks for your elite service.

 

[JoshuaIsLord]

You are welcome. And a great service it was…But I only served as a Seal for 2 years. Spent the rest of my tour as a Navy Nuke.

 

[otjm]

A typical liberal rant. There are more people killed with knives than with guns, according to the FBI; and according to FBI crime statistics, crime goes down where concealed carry permits are issued. Likewise, more criminals are stopped by the possession of a gun by their victim - according to a widely respected report, about 2,000,000 per year - without a shot being fired.

Your opinion shows a complete and utter lack of knowledge of what mental illness is or is not.

And just a little bon mot: Among the top areas with the highest number of criminals using guns to perpetrate crime are Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Chicago - the last of which seems to be leading the entire nation. And guess what: they have the strictest gun laws in the United States. Working real well, wouldn’t you say?

 

[JoshuaIsLord]

But I’m fine with having a selected group serve as armed ushers, if the fear in your parish was that bad. But the general laity carrying guns to mass? Crazytown.

Imagine a bunch of Yosemite Sams responding haphazardly to the sound of a gunshot?

 

[Vonsalza]

No one was killed in Texas with an assault rifle either. I carried an assault rifle in Vietnam,

Thank you for your service as well.

The news media, which is by and large anti-gun, can’t tell the difference between one rifle and another; but if it has a pistol grip and a non-wood foregrip and is semi automatic, they call it an assault weapon; the same exact caliber weapon with a wood stock is not called that.

In fairness, the only real difference between the AR type rifles you can get at a quality gun shop and the M4 rifles issued to our troops is a selector switch for automatic vs semiautomatic fire. The rifles are 99.99% the same, with most components on civilian rifles advertised as “milspec”.

These are not radically different rifles, respectfully.

They’re as different as a two-wheel drive Ford F150 is from a four-wheel drive Ford F150.

But hey - we made drugs illegal, and that really stopped the flow of drugs - right?

They are harder to get a hold of as a result.

so also, mental health intervention, an area of an very poor track record of funding and intervention.

It’s hard to get a man to seek treatment for mental health, especially if you tell him he might lose his access to guns if he does. It’s very stigmatized in this nation.

 

[nearlycatholic]

Law abiding citizens with firearms aren’t the problem. As a matter of fact you don’t even know they are carrying for the most part. How pathetic that people are so evil they’ll rent trucks, make bombs from fertilizer, throw acid, or slash with knives. The gun is not the problem.

 

[Vonsalza]

The gun is not the problem.

In itself, you’re totally right.

The problem is the heart of a man. So what we do is limit the destructive capacity of that man when his heart goes to evil.

Presumably, this is why you can’t own nuclear or biological weapons (just as an example). The good man wouldn’t do anything evil with them. But the bad man could create such destruction that it’s better that access to these weapons be denied in the first place.

Folks are starting to think that maybe guns should be limited in related ways for similar reasons. A lot of other folks think they might be right.

A bad man with a semiautomatic weapon with detachable mags might be able to create too much destruction to be permitted to easily access these things