Massad Ayoob - Gun Digests Where Can You Carry a Concealed Weapon? eShort

When and where to carry a gun is a little like when and where to go nude. In either case, there will be times and places where youll find it comfortable, and even times and places where others will be happy that youre in that condition. However, there are also times and places where it will be inappropriate, offensive, and even illegal.

I remember going to church one Sunday with my older sister when I was a little kid, and being shocked and even outraged when a state trooper who worked that area came in and sat in the pew in front of us, with his big 6 barrel Smith & Wesson Model 27 357 Magnum swinging in plain view in its flapped swivel holster. How dare he bring a deadly weapon into a house of worship!

There has been a lot of water under the bridge since that Sunday, and I have totally changed my view on the topic.

A few years ago, a maniac walked into a religious service being held in a hotel conference room in Wisconsin. He opened fire, and committed mass murder before killing himself. He apparently assumed, correctly, that in a state which had no provision for private citizens to carry concealed handguns in public, no one could stop him from carrying out his monstrous plan. That was exactly how things turned out.

In Texas, not long after then-Governor George W. Bush signed shall-issue concealed carry into law, the law was modified to allow permit-holders to be armed in places of worship. A mass murderer entered a church in Fort Worth, scouted around until he found a prayer meeting peopled exclusively by teenagers, and opened fire there, exacting a terrible toll in human tragedy. He apparently knew that elsewhere in the church, there just might be armed, responsible adults who would shoot back and put him in jeopardy. He carefully selected the one sub-group of victims who, too young to have carry permits under Texas law, would be helpless.

On the West Coast, a rabid anti-Semite looked for Jews to murder. He later admitted that he thought about hitting a synagogue, but feared someone might be armed and shoot back. So, instead, he committed mass murder in a Jewish day care center. This is typical of cowards: they seek unarmed, helpless victims.

All over the world, terrorists have learned that to strike terror literally into the souls of those they intend to intimidate, mass murder at a religious center can get the morbid attention they seek. Militant Islamists have murdered those of other belief systems at houses of worship from the Middle East to Pakistan, and a mad Israeli military reservist killed several innocent Muslims when he opened fire at a mosque. Clergyman Peter Hammond of South Africa lists the following series of terroristic mass murders at churches in his foreword to Charl van Wyks book, Shooting Back. (Christian Liberty Books, Cape Town, South Africa, 2001.)

When I saw the shocking carnage at St. James Church (in Kenilworth, South Africa), it immediately brought similar bloody scenes flooding back into my mind, wrote Hammond. Over the last 19 years of missionary work I have personally come across scores of similar atrocities, in Angola, Mozambique, Rwanda and Sudan. In August 1983, Frelimo troops killed 5 pastors and burnt down all 5 churches in Maskito Village, Zambezia Province, Mozambique. In September 1983, Frelimo troops killed over 50 Christians and burned a church in Pasura village. At Chilleso Evangelical Church, in Angola, Cuban troops shot 150 Christians during a church service. At New Adams Farm in Zimbabwe, 16 missionaries and their children were murdered in November 1987On 23 June 1978, terrorists who supported Robert Mugabe murdered nine British missionaries and four young children, including a three-week old baby, at the Elim Mission Station.

Added Hammond, It is worth noting that the only British missionary at the Elim Mission Station who had a firearm he owned a 38 revolver was also the only survivor! Being cowards, the terrorists left him alone, preferring defenceless victims. The first the armed man knew about the attack, was when he woke up the next morning to find the base deserted. He later discovered the bodies of his fellow missionaries on the sports field. Gun-free is no guarantee.

The author of the book Shooting Back: The Right and Duty of Self-Defence, Charl van Wyk, was in the St. James church that terrible day when the terrorists opened fire. Here is his own account:

He wrote, Grenades were exploding in flashes of light. Pews shattered under the blasts, sending splinters flying through the air. An automatic assault rifle was being fired and was fast ripping the pews and whomever, whatever was in its trajectory to pieces. We were being attacked!

Instinctively, I knelt down behind the bench in front of me and pulled out my 38 Special snub-nosed revolver, which I always carried with me. I would have felt undressed without it. Many people could not understand why I would carry a firearm into a church service, but I argued that this was a particularly dangerous time in South Africa

Well my moment of truth had arrived, I thought, as my hands steadied around the revolver. The congregation had thrown themselves down in order to protect themselves as far as possible from the deluge of flying bullets and shrapnel. By Gods grace, the view of the terrorists from my seat, fourth row from the back of the church, was perfect. The building was built like a cinema with the floor sloping towards the stage in front. So without any hesitation, I knelt and aimed, firing two shots at the attackers. This appeared ineffective, as my position was too far from my targets to take precise aim with a snub-nosed revolver. I had to get closer to the terrorists.

So I started moving to the end of the pew on my haunches and leopard-crawled the rest of the way when I realized that my position was too high up. The only way I could make those heartless thugs stop their vicious attack was to try and move in behind them and then shoot them in the back at close range.

I sprinted to the back door of the church, pushing a lady out of the way, so that I could kick the door open and not be hindered as I sought to get behind the gunmen to neutralize their attack. As I desperately rounded the corner of the building, outside in the parking area, I saw a man standing next to what was the getaway car. Resting on his hip was his automatic rifle. He had it pointed up to the heavens as if in defiance of the Lordship of Jesus Christ!