There is a church up the street from where I live. They have just hired an armed guard for their Sunday services. A letter from the church describing their reason(s) for this will be sent to all the neighbors soon. A few of us have been asked for input for that letter before it’s sent, but haven’t yet been forwarded the draft.
I have a great deal of trepidation about this.
Have any of you had experience with a community church in your area taking this action?
lmfao seriously?
A cult keeping guards there to keep their followers in line? Sure, sounds legit. Reminds me of Jim Jones, Charles Mason, or Waco where they had their followers armed to “protect” their followers from outsiders…sure. Whatever they say.
Aren’t you in Australia Cyber? I am pretty sure the Cops would not be happy campers for a security guard to be armed in public for no good reason …like if there is an ATM around…
Many of the synagogues around here have armed guards outside the doors during services.
Nope, Old Man, I’m in the U.S.
OMFG. No. I do not agree with this. This is bullshit. This is why we have the police system. This just makes it look like the church system is pushing for a form of government of their own.
And its a good thing to. If you hire a guard he should have arms. Without arms, he would have a terrible time stopping the bad guys, What will he do, bite them to death? I am in full support of Church guards having arms. Besides people without arms are not allowed in Churches.
" For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight, or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles."
No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the Lord’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. . . . He shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them. (Leviticus 21:21–23)
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But MrDawn, don’t you see, if Christians don’t possess CONTROL OF ALL POWERS OF GOVERNMENT AND LAW ENFORCEMENT, they are being “persecuted”. They think it’s divine fate that they be in control of everyone else. Anything less and they cry they are being oppressed. Of course they need to assert their dominance with armed guards.
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That’s their defense for everything when they don’t get their way. If they get their way, There will be Xtian Kangaroo Court for anyone who doesn’t conform to their beliefs.
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Maybe the takings are a little light when the plate goes around on Sunday? They’re planning a bit of “tough love”.
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Yup, we live in Washington state, and my wife’s church started their own security team, including armed members of the congregation. This is an open carry state with the ability to get a concealed firearm permit. Our son has a concealed permit.
They have had a few strange or homeless people walk in during their service, including one clown carrying a knife. They had him secured and lead outside in just a few seconds according to my wife.
I’m all for a person’s right to defend themself or others, and if you are qualified, to carry a gun.
I’d think that you’d feel safer knowing this.
I absolutely do NOT feel safer knowing this!
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Sign of the times maybe, I watch a local rugby union team, and a few years back noticed two armed police on the gate. Both I and my brother in law did a double take, and weren’t sure what to make of it. Since then it’s pretty much commonplace. Of course armed police in the UK is not the scary red flag flag it can be in some other parts of the world of course, at least not here and not yet anyway, but I understand what you mean, it can be disconcerting.
Another anecdote is when I left my mother’s house a few years back, early in the morning, and there were two police officers emptying an arsenal of firearms from the boot (trunk) of a police car. I was walking past, and my cheery smile and hello met some fairly inscrutable stern looks. At the time I guessed a drugs raid somewhere near, and they were firearms support, local press confirmed my theory, but it was pretty unnerving at the time.
Why would guns make anyone feel safer? The less guns the better as far as I am concerned, and especially in the hands of the public, private security or not.
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I’m an avid gun owner, and I would not feel safer. Owning guns for protection on your own physical land, hunting, hiking, sport shooting, and prepping are just fine. Carrying in a public place, no thanks on anyone carrying. The possibility of accidental death, injury, property damage, and general loss of business in an area, even after a “justified” self defense case give me enough pause to do as the man in black sang, “Don’t take your guns to town” My life isn’t worth me possibly ending an innocent persons life.
An armed society is not a polite society.
Edit: Another favorite of mine from Johnny Cash, “I hung my head”
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LOL: Absolutely I do feel safer knowing this!
What in the hell happened to this Atheist world view I hear so much about?
Sheldon, you blasphemer! If more people had guns in their homes, there would be a lot fewer people willing to risk entering those homes.
THESE ARE THE FACTS:
A report from Everytown for Gun safety identified a direct correlation between states with weak gun laws and higher rates of firearm mortality.
Eight states — California, Hawaii, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey — have the strictest gun laws and the lowest rates of gun violence.
Thirteen states — Kansas, Alaska, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, Arizona, Oklahoma, Wyoming, South Dakota, Arkansas, Montana, Idaho and Mississippi — are categorized as national failures for having the weakest gun laws along and highest rates of gun violence.
According to the Everytown findings, the 13 states categorized as “national failures” have three times as many gun deaths as the eight states with the strong gun safety profiles.
A studyTrusted Source published in The BMJ in 2019 found that states with higher gun ownership rates experience higher rates of mass shootings.
According to the BMJ report, a 10 percent increase in gun ownership was associated with a 35 percent higher rate of mass shootings.
Another report, published in in 2016, found that statewide gun ownership rates were strongly associated with firearm suicide rates.
“The studies that have been done to date show that stricter laws in a state are related to lower levels of gun violenceTrusted Source and homicide, and that universal background checks, checks for ammunition purchases and ID requirements are related to lower rates of firearm injury morbidity and mortalityTrusted Source, and that there are more mass shootings in states with higher levels of gun ownership, and more firearm related homicides in states with permissive conceal carry laws,”
These States Have the Highest Rates of Gun Violence and Deaths
Now, setting all that aside. I like my guns. I want to shoot my guns. I want to defend my home and friends. I want to spend weekends at the shooting range and the rest of the week cleaning my guns. The smell of gun oil gives me a stiffy. The Second Amendment is sacred no matter what.
And I really do enjoy owning my guns.
I owned guns and hunted. When I tired of hunting, I sold my guns and do not regret my decision.
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BLASPHEMY! Nothing is better in the world than waking at the crack of dawn, dressing in camo, greasing up the face, packing deer jerky and manly treats for the day’s journey ahead. Driving out to the bush. Feeling the brisk morning air on your face. Hearing the crisp crunch of autumn leaves under your feet as you stalk the illusive and dangerous Coors Can. Knowing that any moment a wild watermelon may rush you from a low-lying bush and only your quick reactions and the Henry gas powered ejection 12 gauge stands between you and instant death. Give up hunting? Ha! Never! The prey is out there daring me to find it. Shaving cream cans peeking out from behind rocks, full liter coke bottles dangling from the branches of trees by ropes, and bottles, don’t forget the bottles, whiskey bottles, milk bottles, baby bottles, bottles of all shapes and sizes sneaking up behind fence posts, hiding in plain sight on tree stumps, moving ever closer with their threatening reflective surfaces. How could anyone ever give up hunting?
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False dichotomy fallacy, and obvious rhetoric as well. Now for some facts, the US has the highest rate per capita of privately owned guns in the world, would you like to know how the rate of gun deaths compare? For the record the US has the fifteenth highest rate of burglaries in the world, so your rhetoric was wrong as well it seems.
Now try this for context, which would you rather, getting burgled or having a loved one even a child accidentally shot dead? You see false dichotomies that rely on rhetoric seem very compelling, but you of all people ought really to know better than use it here.
The rate of gun deaths is staggeringly high, without the correspondingly reduced burglary rate.
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Okay, okay, but setting all that aside,