When Guns Stopped a Rampage - ePanic Button

Security at Church: This is an excellent article from Johnny Lee the President of ePanic Button. The mainstream media has been overflowing with reports of why guns are bad. Johnny does a great job sharing the other side of the story!

When Guns Stopped a Rampage

By: Johnny Lee

In the wake of the tragedy at the Newton, CT school shooting, there has been a call for more gun control laws to prevent similar events. The logic is if a person intent on mass violence were unable to obtain a firearm, violence and shootings can be prevented. Citizens and law makers want to restrict who can obtain a firearm, specifically people with mental health issues. A fine point involves types of firearms and accessories such as large capacity magazines. Even the generic term “assault weapon” has conflicting definitions for those familiar with firearms. Regardless of the weapon’s appearance, all semi-automatic firearms have been identified by some as too dangerous for the general public.

But the heart of the gun control argument is there are too many guns, and adherents point to the growing number of reports that provide timelines, graphs and catalogs of workplace and school shootings. Opponents of gun control measures state that readily available firearms can actually stop these events, but lack a similar collection of accounts when armed citizens ended rampages. This following short list does not include cases of armed citizens stopping robberies, which kill many more people than mass shootings.


December 2012, Clackamas, OR – Clackamas Town Center Mall
As the Mall shooting in Oregon is still a current news topic, one story that has not garnered much attention is why the shooter, identified as Jacob Roberts, ended the rampage to take his own life. Nick Meli had a concealed carry permit and was one of the shoppers when the shooting began. Meli confronted Roberts with his sidearm but did not fire because a bystander could have been hit. Roberts might have killed himself when he realized he faced an armed individual. While impossible to ever determine definitively, the assailant may have feared being wounded and did not want to survive to face court and public outrage (video of interview).

August 2012, San Antonio, TX – Bonham Academy
While focus is on school safety, there is also the case of a woman who had just dropped off her child at school when her ex-partner, who had a history of abuse, confronted her and began arguing. She had just filed for divorce the week before, and as common in abusive relationships, he was not going to let her leave him. His anger escalated to the point where he began stabbing her. An armed citizen with a concealed carry permit drew his gun and stopped the assailant.

January 2009, Houston, TX – Texas Components Corp
Julie Parker entered the technology company where her father worked carrying a bow and what appeared to be a handgun. She shot one worker in the chest with an arrow and then pointed the fake firearm at other workers. Two employees were armed and returned fire, striking her and forcing her to retreat to a restroom. She aimed her bow at arriving police officers, causing them to shoot her again. Parker survived to face charges for the assault.

December 2007, Colorado Springs, CO - New Life ChurchMatthew Murray killed two people at a missionary center before traveling 80 miles to his second target, an affiliated church. Police described him as being armed with an assault rifle and two handguns with as many as 1,000 rounds of ammunition. He killed two teenage sisters and wounded their father in the church parking lot before entering the church building. Jeanne Assam, a volunteer guard and parishioner, fired her own weapon at Murray, ending the rampage by killing him.

July 2006, Memphis, TN – Schnucks Grocery StoreAn employee, upset over a workplace dispute, grabbed a knife and wounded eight co-workers. As he chased one employee out into the parking lot, the manager of a neighboring business in the same shopping center intervened. According to an interview with the manager, “When he turned around and saw my pistol, he threw the knife away, put his hands up and got on the ground. He saw my gun and that was pretty much it.”

May 2008, Winnemucca, NV – Players Bar and Grill
A man entered a crowded bar looking for members of a family with whom he held a grudge. Ernesto Villagomez found and killed two young men before another patron pulled out his firearm to shoot and kill Villagomez. Although the intervening patron was initially apprehended, he was released after Humboldt County District Attorney Russell Smith determined the shooting was justifiable homicide.

August 2005, Albuquerque, NM – Walmart
Again we have a customer, not an employee, intervening to save a victim as seen in this video. A female employee was working behind the counter when her ex-partner approached her with a knife and began stabbing her numerous times. A co-worker tried to intervene, but a customer rescued her. The 72-year-old customer had a concealed carry permit and a 9 mm handgun that he used to kill the assailant. The victim survived the assault.

Whether a firearm is the cause or cure for senseless violence, real prevention is based on establishing communities and relations that limit grievances and frustrations assailants perceive and experience. If a threat has been identified, it needs to be reported and the appropriate interventions put into place. The concern on the actual crisis may be short-sighted if it is the only focus.

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Update: Arkansas Lawmakers Advance Guns in Church Bill

From: Insurance Journal

An Arkansas Senate panel advanced a proposal this week to allow concealed handguns in churches, but rejected an amendment to require places of worship to carry more insurance if firearms are permitted.

A House committee also endorsed a resolution encouraging government officials to not infringe on gun rights, the first among several bills aimed at loosening firearms restrictions in the newly Republican-controlled state Legislature.

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"Armor Bearers" Become Common in Churches?

Note: This article was written by Bob Chauncey who runs the Church Security Institute (not to be confused with the Christian Security Institute, which is run by Chuck Chadwick). Bob published this story on his blog and offered to share it with us to aid in this weeks topic of guns in churches.

‘Armor Bearers’ Become More Common in Come Churches

By: Bob Chauncey

www.Churchsecurityinstitute.wordpress.com

This minister is the “armor bearer” of his Senior Pastor. An armor bearer — a Biblical reference to the one who carries the spear & shield of a warrior — is traditionally the person in the church who assists the pastor in everything from adjusting the temperature in the sanctuary to picking up visitors at the airport to running interference for the minister.

This minister’s day job is working as a deputy sheriff. But on Sundays, for the past 10 years, he has been the spiritual bodyguard of his Pastor. During the service, he is seated behind the pastor, his attention directed at the congregation in the pews.

“I’m looking for new people coming into the sanctuary. I see what clothing they are wearing, if they have their hands in their pockets. I look at their ankles — a bulge could be a firearm,” said the armor bearer, who has served as an armor bearer for more than half his life.

In many churches, the armor bearer is not armed and is not responsible for protecting the minister. He is more of an unpaid personal assistant. “The term ‘armor bearer’ was basically a person who assisted the pastor,” one pastor. “What it has evolved into is men and women who are prepared to assist and deter any kind of attack.”

In most small churches, the responsibility for church security falls to the deacons, ushers and greeters. While larger churches can afford private security and off-duty police officers, small churches rely on the keen eyes and quick responses of a few men trained to intercede.

Greeters are instructed to watch for people entering the church who behave oddly or look suspicious. Ushers are trained to deal with those who become disruptive. Often, it is someone who arrived at church intoxicated, high or angry. Without disrupting the service, ushers will escort the person outside the church.

“The key to security of a church is not about bodyguards. It’s about layers of security — from the guy directing traffic to the greeter to the deacons who might help them to their seats,” said a former security director, who now heads his own faith-based security company.

Rarely are they required to intercept someone who is violent or threatening — nor are they expected to put themselves in danger. “You can’t tell people to put themselves in harm’s way,” said one pastor.

“I consider that my role — to make sure the man of God is protected,” said one armor bearer, who served in the Army and nearly 10 years in law enforcement. “Before he would die, I would die. That is my job.”

At one Worship Center, trouble has to pass through the discrete but discerning eyes of greeters and ushers who are instructed to sense danger from the averted gaze, the sweaty-palm handshake, the shirking of an embrace. If trouble makes it past those full-body screeners, there’s the person or persons who i/ares the Armor Bearer.

If lethal force is required,” said the pastor, “we have a person serving here who is armed and dangerous.

At the same time, nearly every congregation has men and women with military and law-enforcement experience whose training and background have prepared them to step in when there is trouble inside the sanctuary. Churches need a Safety Security Plan, Teams to carry out the Plan in order to Be Prepared for whatever may come, a natural disaster, fire, medical illness or injury, disorderly or disruptive persons, a lost child, kidnapping or even an attack.

It’s too late after it happens to be sorry you did not have a Plan… take time to make one before it happens so you can show you were Good Stewards of what He provides, a church should have a Good Shepherd, usually the pastor or Rabbi, or ministry leader, whose job, like the Shepherd, is to provide for and protect his flock under his care.

Guns in Church from an Elders Prospective

Note: I received the following comments from a colleague who is an elder at a Michigan church that is currently working through the matter of how to handle church security as it relates to concealed carry. He holds a concealed pistol license, is an avid shooter and is also a freelance writer for magazines that review and report on firearms and the shooting industry. As you read his comments, keep in mind that Michigan law requires a church's presiding officials to grant or deny permission for someone to carry concealed on church property.

Below are his thoughts related to guns in church:

"I actually haven't found many articles that address this topic. On the one hand, of course, the stories such as those found on goodguyswin.org are very helpful as are the NRA's Armed Citizen reports. And the principles of those encounters usually apply in church settings. On the other hand, the reason that there's not much to read about church settings is that the notion of carrying in church is quite new, and at a surface level,seems (but isn't) inconsistent with what most regard as basic Christian principle -- trusting God, loving others, "How could we allow guns in church?", etc.

It begs more detailed study and discussion, of course, and I think the theology and facts bear out that carrying guns in church does not actually violate any biblical principles of self-defense nor Christian love. In fact, it may be a wise course of action. All that to say: Part of what [people] are looking for is found at least in having some well-developed theology of self-defense and gun ownership and use. For an excellent introduction to that I recommend Wayne Grudem's lecture. See also the essay on self-defense in the resources at the back of the ESV Study Bible.

Moreover, a study of church security incidents would be helpful to help establish that violent situations do actually occur in churches (and your web site is very informative).


PROCESS

With those as a foundation, this process unfolds in my mind: it seems each church's leaders should be further challenged to think through physical security measures, irrespective of concealed carry weapons for security, ushers, or in the congregation. Church leaders should consider the principles that apply to handling any incident: What are their thoughts on the use of a pocketknife, kubotan, pepper spray, etc. as tools of self-defense? Continue that line of thinking -- and the tools that might be used -- all the way to the use of firearms (by trained, responsible people). Then consider what weapons are likely to be used by lawbreakers (firearms and other lethal tools). Unfounded biases (on the part of church leaders) against firearms will show themselves quickly as each kind of tool is considered and what level of security is considered appropriate. One test: If a church locks its doors at night then they obviously see some need for physical security. That kind of thinking needs to expand to handling incidents where the congregation is in the building and something goes down that is a threat to life.


WHO CARRIES

Personally, I'm not against concealed carry in church but I prefer that is occurs within the context of an organized volunteer security force that is comprised of ushers and some key people planted in various parts of a sanctuary. This of course provides a context for ushers to train in how to handle an incident -- and at least some notion of who's carrying -- but also gives church leaders the opportunity to say "no" to some requests for carrying concealed weapons in church (e.g., Michigan law requires a church's presiding officials to grant or deny permission for someone to carry concealed on church property). With this, church leaders, who have so much on their plate already, have the luxury to be able to 1) simply delegate security to a small security force and 2) be able to say "no" to those who ask because of #1 -- they already have a security team in place who are armed, trained, etc. Moreover, there's a good kind of shepherding that the people of the church can benefit from when they hear from their leaders that the ushers are trained to handle general security measures. Of course I don't recommend publicizing that some may be carrying firearms; rather, congregations should know, as a general principle, that they are cared for on a multitude of levels when they're on church property.


MILITARY, POLICE, CIVILIAN

The matter of experience and training is important but in my opinion there are civilians who practice and practice so well that they are actually more competent and careful than those who have military or police experience. My point is not to denigrate military and police training, which is valuable and can be a great asset -- especially when it comes to awareness. My point is to emphasize the need to train and practice, regardless of one's background. Every church building is different in layout and construction; every incident that goes down is probably different as well. So this matter of security is far more than just having a gun in the congregation. It's helpful at least; but it's far more than that. A coordinated usher/security team can (we hope) spot trouble before it occurs and act accordingly. Again, this is what church leaders need to consider when it comes to security.


CHURCH LEADERS

Bottom line is that church leaders need to be informed on these issues and pressed to organize something when it comes to security -- as a matter of the faithful shepherding of their congregations. Leaders need to lead in this area. Likewise, however, church leaders need to realize that congregants with concealed weapons are not necessarily the best people to serve on security teams. Most church leaders don't know about or think about concealed carry laws or how it applies to their congregations, which can be different, state-to-state. They also don't know about all of the many resources that help in this area (your web site, church security conferences and webinars, etc.). So all of this must start with education and awareness of the church leaders. A congregant with an interest in church security must carefully and wisely introduce the idea to a church's leadership. Not: "I'd like to carry my gun in church" as the first thing he says but "I'm interested in helping out with ushering at church" and then discerning the level of efficacy the church leaders have toward security. From there he can bring in educational materials and resources to help make the points and gain interest in enacting thoughtful security measures in a church."