Americans are exercising their right to keep and bear arms with crime surging.
That has the Left worked up in a fit of rage.
And churchgoers are preparing for the worst with self-defense, and the media is fuming.
Churches are training with firearms for self-defense
Attacks on churches began to rise after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. More congregations are preparing themselves by training to handle the worst-case scenario. The Family Research Council found that violent incidents at churches have jumped from 50 in 2018 to 436 in 2023.
Police officer and Army veteran Kris Moloney launched Sheepdog Church Security in 2014 to train church volunteers on how to handle emergency situations like active shooters while “keeping faith at the center.” He’s trained more than 6,000 people in churches around the country.
“You want it to be open and welcoming and so forth, and yet provide (the) safety and security needed,” Moloney told the Idaho Statesman. “So those of us who do carry firearms, we do so on a concealed basis. We have the protection we need, and yet we’re not ostentatious about it.”
Canyon Springs Christian Church in Middleton, Idaho, hired Moloney to train their security team. Steve Boyle – the head of the church’s security team – said that the training being catered to the church setting was a help.
“You want it to be open and welcoming and so forth, and yet provide (the) safety and security needed,” Boyle said. “So those of us who do carry firearms, we do so on a concealed basis. We have the protection we need, and yet we’re not ostentatious about it.”
Changing attitudes toward churches
Moloney said that crimes against churches are either random acts or increasingly ones intentionally targeting them. The summer after Roe was overturned criminal acts against churches began to spike. He said that “changing attitude toward churches” was leading to an increase in targeted acts against them.
“When I was a teenager, the churches were essentially unlocked 24/7,” Moloney said. “Even as a kid who was not exactly a very good kid, it never occurred to me to go into a church and do something stupid.”
Former police officer Keith Graves launched Christian Warrior Training, a website to give churches more information about improving their security. He said that more churches are beefing up their security after the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel. “Everybody’s nervous about the direction of what’s going on in the world, (and) you have the same thing in the church,” Graves said.
Moloney said that one of the obstacles to overcome is hesitancy among some of the congregation. He works with churches about overcoming objections from nervous members. His strategy is to start with the basics and build toward self-defense.
“Some of those people that are against it, we can … move them slowly towards the idea of having armed safety team members,” Moloney explained. “Let’s start with medical. Let’s start with fire safety … something that’s not going to disturb anyone at all.”
“At some point, we’re going to have to have the discussion of violent shooters,” Moloney added. “We have to.”
Graves said that he’s gotten pushback from church members because they believe they should be pacifists. He added that that attitude is starting to change, given the state of the world.
“Some people say, ‘you’re a Christian — you should be a pacifist,’” Graves stated. “And there are other people who say, ‘look at (the Gospel of) Luke: Jesus said, “sell your cloak and buy a sword.”‘ “One of the things I like mentioning is OK, yes, God is going to protect us, but you still look both ways before you cross the street. God is going to look out for you, but he also gives you these tools to help you watch out for yourself.”
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