Churches are a favorite target of would-be mass killers. It's easy to see why, after all. You've got a lot of people in a confined space with limited entrances and exits, all facing one direction. Plus, in many states, churches are off-limits to concealed carriers.
But a lot of states recognized this fact, and Mississippi is one of them. They have taken some steps that will likely do wonders to prevent these shootings.
After all, it's one thing to meet the threat with deadly force. It's another to scare the threat away entirely.
Some churches have security teams who wear suits and conceal their weapons. Others put the security officer on display, full law enforcement uniform and gun on the hip.
The First Baptist Church of Tupelo falls in the latter category. Not only do they have uniformed and armed Lee County deputy sheriffs inside, there is a marked patrol car right outside.
Changes in the state law now allow off-duty officers to use their official vehicles while working private security details. Having the marked patrol vehicle right outside the church serves as a deterrent.
“With that level of visibility, we hope it will be a deterrent,” said Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson, who is a member of the church and helped tailor the security plan.
There are a pair of state laws that let churches place armed security personnel on their property. Both were spawned by church shootings around the country.
“Shootings do trigger conversations,” Johnson said. “There was a big push several years ago, and there were two laws that were looked at.”
The first law, “The Mississippi Church Protection Act,” allows churches to vote to have their own security teams and to designate members who are “authorized to carry firearms for the protection of the congregation of the church or place of worship, including resisting any unlawful attempt to commit a violent felony.”
...The second law simply allows off-duty certified law enforcement agents to use their uniforms, weapons and official vehicles for private security duties.
“Most churches deal with an off-duty management company. I asked for and received an attorney general’s opinion on this,” Johnson said. “The church contracts the company, who handles the scheduling, documenting and the payroll. They are paid by the hour, but there is a minimum fee. They supply fully armed, uniformed officers with arrest powers.”
Now, there are issues with the first law in question, because it requires these security team members to be certified by the state with an enhanced concealed carry permit, and the church has to have special insurance, though off-duty police officers don't have to have the special permit if they're part of their church's team.
Still, the idea of good guys with guns is a good thing. The idea that a police car is in the parking lot of many churches, thus warning would-be killers that there is most definitely someone with a gun inside, is even better.
Yes, the possibility exists that a would-be killer would simply kill the cop first--that's more or less what happened in the Buffalo grocery store shooting, though that was an armed security guard--but it also stands to reason that an officer working as security is going to be a bit more wary of people coming in during the middle of a service than someone guarding a grocery store would be.
And if the would-be killer comes in with everyone else, then pulls the gun in the middle of the service?
In White Settlement, Texas, a scumbag tried that at the West Freeway Church of Christ in 2023. There was a member of the congregation serving as armed security, named Jack Wilson. When the bad guy got up and opened fire, he managed to kill two people before Wilson popped him. The entire thing happened in just a few seconds, but the bad guy was reverting to room temperature quick, fast, and in a hurry.
Good guys with guns save lives.
A cop car outside may well discourage a would-be killer. If not, well, a bullet to the noggin works even better.
