Editorial

Church incident one more example of 'good guy with a gun'

Monday, December 30, 2019

The idea of “gun-free zones” is fast losing credibility as more mass-shootings are stopped short because responsible people with guns are on hand.

You may have seen the video from the incident in the church service in White Settlement, Texas. It’s a short one.

A gunman near the front of the church was quickly killed by security volunteers attending church, but not before the gunman was able to kill two worshippers.

The video ends with five members of the congregation, pistols drawn, approaching the downed gunman.

It’s a sad reality that churches and other gun-free zones are attractive “soft targets” for deranged people or terrorists bent on inflicting as much carnage as possible.

Texas is definitely not the best place to plan a mass murder.

The parishioners were able to carry guns into church in response to a law, taking effect in September, passed in response to a 2017 shooting in a Sutherland Springs, Texas, which took the lives of 26 people.

"We have learned many times over that there is no such thing as a gun-free zone. Those with evil intentions will violate the law and carry out their heinous acts no matter what," state Sen. Donna Campbell, co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement when the bill was passed in September. "It makes no sense to disarm the good guys and leave law-abiding citizens defenseless where violent offenders break the law to do great harm."

It’s important to note that the volunteers on the church security team were well trained, many with military or law enforcement backgrounds.

It’s sad that lethal weapons might be required to protect people in a house of worship, but such is the reality in today’s world.

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