Increasing numbers of churches want armed security

When Chris Crews prepares for the church on Sunday morning, he follows a routine. He gets up early. He puts on his church clothes, a button-down shirt and blue or khaki jeans. Then, before leaving the house with his wife and two children, he tied a gun – 9 mm or 0.45 – to his right hip.

"I do not go home without a gun," said Crews. "It's a bit like the old American Express card announcements: I will not leave without them."

Crews, 47, is part of the Ava Assembly of security team. God, a Pentecostal 300-member church located in Ava. , Missouri. The church does not have paid security guards. Instead, he relies on a team of 18 church members to ensure the safety of other worshipers. All members of the security team are not paid and all carry handguns.

Ava's Assembly of God set up the security team 18 months ago after church pastor Buddy Boyd had received threats related to it. to a domestic conflict involving members of the community. [19659007] In response, and among the growing fears of mass shootings in general, a devotee suggested forming a security team. Boyd quickly agreed.

"Times have changed," said Boyd. "The number one concern is protecting our parishioners."

The volunteer safety team of Ava's Assembly of God is one of the hundreds of such teams created in recent years by churches and synagogues to ensure the safety of their followers. According to several security companies and nonprofit organizations specializing in the training of religious institutions to security, the growing number of teams coincides with a series of high-profile attacks that have shown the vulnerability of places of worship .

Carl Chinn, founder of The Faith Based Security Network, a non-profit organization that provides safety advice to faith communities, said he knew of the existence of more than 1,000 teams of security run by volunteers in places of worship in the United States. Two hundred of them, in 34 states, have registered with its network. in the last 11 months. Most have armed members.

Many teams were formed to deal with deadly attacks in places of worship, such as the 2015 shooting at an Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, which killed nine; the shooting of 2017 in the first Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, which killed 26 people, including an unborn child; and the October shootout on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that claimed the lives of 12 people.

"There is still a growing interest in training a team or improving safety right after an attack," Chinn said.

Most states allow weapons According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, although many, including Missouri, where Ava 's Assembly of God is located, require that the faithful receive the same. Prior approval of religious leaders

Since 2013, at least seven states have eased their restrictions on the introduction of firearms into places of worship, said Allison Anderman, senior counsel for the Center for Giffords' gun violence prevention, which advocates gun control and opposes firearms in religious contexts, and in South Dakota, for example, parishioners may carry guns in places of worship even when they are on school campuses, where firearms are generally not allowed. And last week again, the Virginia State Senate passed a bill that would allow parishioners to bring guns into places of worship.

Legality aside, guns are still not welcome in many churches. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the United Methodist Church issued statements that firearms were considered inappropriate for places of worship, and the leaders of several Catholic archdioceses, from St. Louis to Atlanta, spoke out against guns in their churches.

Gun control advocates have argued against weapons in places of worship on the grounds that armed volunteers can confuse law enforcement in the event of murder. And then there are unintentional shootings that go along with guns, like the man who shot himself in a Tennessee church in 2017 during a conversation about the shooting in the church.

Chinn says that there is evidence that church security teams can save lives, noting an incident in 2007 in which Jeanne Assam, a former police officer and member of the team volunteer security, shot at an armed intruder in a church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who killed two teenagers in the parking lot.

eventually acknowledged that they could not rely solely on 911 during an attack as a security plan, "Chinn said. "They know they have to do something more."

"Gunfights happen everywhere"

Like many members of Ava's Assembly of God security team, Crews do not has no experience in law enforcement. He worked for 20 years as a satellite engineer in Los Angeles before moving to Missouri in 2015. He decided to join the security team at his training in 2017, after being worried about the mass shots he had mentioned in the headlines.

can not just go to a church and be inside the four walls and think that what's out there can not come in here and can not hurt you, "said Crews.

"Most of us are ordinary Joe guys who hunt and fish and want to be attentive to others," he added. "We have administrators, farmers and teachers in our security team."

The men – there are no women on the team – work in teams of three every Sunday morning, according to a schedule sent every six weeks, two men are posted near the entrance church, serving as receptions that shake hands as the faithful enter the room.On Wednesday, an armed volunteer is on hand for the youth and adult prayer groups.

Fifty years ago, it could be said that no firearms should be allowed in the church, but times have changed, "said Trampus Taylor, 49, chief of police of Sparta (Missouri). ), who created the security team of the Assembly of God of Ava. "Shootings happen everywhere."

Boyd, the pastor at Ava's Assembly of God, said that volunteer security teams had economic meaning for churches like his, who can not afford to hire professional security guards or police officers on leave.

"Without volunteers, it would be difficult in our context. to be able to pay the kind of security we have every week, "said Boyd. "We are very well covered and that brings us great peace."

"Churches are sitting ducks"

Ava's Assembly of God security team is organizing Regular exercises, including tactical firing training sessions supervised by Taylor, a certified law. enforcement instructor for Missouri.

Next month, the team will participate in a simulation training supervised by Ozark Shoot, a security group specializing in training church security teams. The company charges the churches $ 400 to $ 1,000 for simulation sessions, which use real laser-modified Glocks, to show how to deal with an active shooter and aim with precision under pressure.

Michael Deans, a member of law enforcement for 48 years, including After spending 10 years at the Houston Police Department, Ozark Shoot began in 2017 because he had noticed a growing need for Churches to deal with charges that may give rise to shots.

"The public would be surprised at what is going on behind the scenes – domestic situations involving married couples, stalkers, kidnappings in police custody cases," he said.

Jimmy Meeks, a retired police officer and minister, launched his security training company, Sheepdog Seminars, in 2009, after finding a similar need.

"If your church can afford to hire a professional security team or professional guards, you should do it," said Meeks, whose company offers seminars that analyze the safety of a church, especially at its entrances and its car parks. "But many churches barely afford to pay the electricity bill. They must take matters into their own hands.

Meeks acknowledged that the idea of ​​mixing guns with God is confusing some. But those who do not see any reason to use guns in churches in 2019 are in denial.

"Churches are besieged ducks," said Meeks, noting that places of worship tended to have multiple access and open door policies. accept everyone, including those who are emotionally unstable.

"An alarm bell"

The decision to allow worshipers to carry weapons can be cumbersome. At the Beth Yeshurun ​​Congregation in Houston, the largest conservative synagogue in the United States, Jeremy Bloome, president of the synagogue, explained that some children feared that if women brought weapons into their bags, the children could achieve.

Bloome was torn by saying that he thought that "weapons are more likely to cause a problem than to save you. But after the deadly shooting that took place at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue in October, he said he better understood the case of armed worshipers.

Beth Yeshurun ​​finally decided not to train. to encourage or prohibit members from bringing guns to services. Bloome is aware of some faithful who arm themselves in order to protect others. The synagogue, which has 1,800 families, also has a team of armed security professionals.

"I think Pittsburgh for the Jewish community has been an awakening," said Bloome. "We knew it could happen, but people mostly thought," It's a place of worship, it can not happen here. "We now know the opposite."

"Protect the flock" [19659026] 14-year-old Pastor Frank Pomeroy's daughter was among the victims of the Sutherland Springs, Texas shootings in 2017.

Pomeroy said that he had felt safe. church because he was carrying a gun and knew many church members who did too. He thought that he and other members of the armed groups could defend the church in the event of a shooting. But since there was no official schedule for armed followers to follow, no one who traditionally brought a gun to the church – including Pomeroy – was present on the day of the shooting.

"We thought we were prepared," said Pomeroy, "

Since the shooting, the church has invested in cameras and radios and has also put in place a carefully choreographed program of volunteers carrying guns at the Both openly and concealed during Sunday services.

shows me that we must keep arms out of the church, "said Pomeroy." Some scriptures say that we are supposed to protect the flock. "

Mary Pflum

Mary Pflum is a producer of NBC News that covers business, technology and women's issues.