loaded question: Can pastors pack heat? The answer depends on where you
worship. But the question—being spurred by an increase in headlines
about church shootings—has some state legislatures fired up. Virginia
passed a law in April ruling self-defense a “good and sufficient” reason
to carry handguns during a church service. Georgia’s Senate just
approved a law that lets churches decide if they want to let members of
the congregation carry concealed weapons, and Arkansas pastors could
allow guns in church under a proposed bill.
Ironically though, if you attend church
in Texas—a state notorious for its Second Amendment support—arriving
armed on Sundays could land you behind bars.
“The laws in Texas are quite specific
about the legality of carrying firearms in churches as a part of the
increasingly popular ‘security teams,’” says Chuck Chadwick, former
security director for Ed Young’s Fellowship Church. “You can’t just get
Bubba-Joe with his concealed handgun license to ride herd over the
flock. Actually, it is illegal and can earn the pistol-packer a class-A
misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $10,000 fine.”
