Who else OC's in church?

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Back when I was president people freely carried arms wherever they went, including churches. Not much has changed in the last 200+ years. The people in my conservative Christian church near Seattle don't seem to be bothered at all by me openly carrying my pistol. Of course, I'm a former "President".

1. Who else OC's in church?
2. I once saw an article discussing early American history in which New Englanders were REQUIRED to show their guns to get into church. I can't find the article. Do you where I can find it?

Here's a suggested response if anyone asks why one openly carries in church:

"God has not granted me the gift of prophecy. I don't know when the next violent criminal is going to plan his next massacre. Therefore, I stay prepared at all times."

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The only one I know of is NarrowPathPilgrim (Zack Doty). I CC at church only because I do not want to become a distraction away from the message.

LoveMyCountry

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Guns are specifically banned in houses of worship in Ohio (without permission from the clergy in charge), so it doesn't come up much here. I'm not a churchgoer in any case, but Iam curious how common a practice this is...

-ljp

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Mr. President,
times have changed since the laws requiring arms be carried at church were passed. Sadly, many people now have an irrational fear of arms, or are fixated on them as one would on a viper, as few men today preserve the patriotic spirit by carrying arms, and thus we've tragically become fearful of what enabled you to win our freedom. My advice for you today, is that you conceal (which is now much more acceptable than in your time) your firearm, so as not to distract from the worship Providence on the Lord's Day, as our attention should not be distracted, but rightly be fixed on the King of Kings.

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First post

This is something I've given quite a bit of thought to. Since I'm inside city limits in CA I can't very well OC at church right now, but I think I would try it if it was legal. At least once, just to see if people are alright with it. If it's too distracting I would probably switch to CC. Normally I wouldn't care what other people think about me OCing, but I think it's important not to be a distraction at church and for people to be comfortable.

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CaliforniaCarry wrote:

First post

This is something I've given quite a bit of thought to. Since I'm inside city limits in CA I can't very well OC at church right now, but I think I would try it if it was legal. At least once, just to see if people are alright with it. If it's too distracting I would probably switch to CC. Normally I wouldn't care what other people think about me OCing, but I think it's important not to be a distraction at church and for people to be comfortable.

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Welcome aboard. It's refreshing to see another Californian on board.

But allow me to be the Devil's advocate for a moment...

Is someone's comfort ever a reason to sacrifice personal safety? Churches are as great a target for violence as schools ever were- and certainly, there are those who would target a church for the sake of their beliefs. I would say that having openly armed churchgoers or 'ushers' shouldnt be that unusual, considering how radical islam view Christians and Jews.

I seem to recall not long ago there was a criminal shooter who targeted a Synagogue pre-school... Its not a big leap to imagine someone else picking a Christian target.

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NO COMMENT!!!!

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Is someone's comfort ever a reason to sacrifice personal safety? Churches are as great a target for violence as schools ever were- and certainly, there are those who would target a church for the sake of their beliefs. I would say that having openly armed churchgoers or 'ushers' shouldnt be that unusual, considering how radical islam view Christians and Jews. I seem to recall not long ago there was a criminal shooter who targeted a Synagogue pre-school... Its not a big leap to imagine someone else picking a Christian target.

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I think that in the situation you describe OC loses many of its advantages. I mean, if someone wants to walk into a church and start shooting, they're probably not going to look around and see if anyone has a gun first. Even if they did, in any church service with more than a few people it's probably going to be difficult to spot any OCers. In that situation it doesn't matter whether you're OCing or CCing, all that matters is that you have a gun and you're not afraid to use it.

I'm sure you could come up with a situation where OCing in church might stop a potential rampage (e.g. the shooter has been to the church before and seen me with a gun, and decides not to go on a rampage because he knows there are armed people there), but I find such situations highly unlikely.

So, to summarize, I agree with you: some else's personal comfort is never a reason to sacrifice personal safetly. I just don't think that at church I would be sacrificing any personal safety by CCing.

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I wish I could carry to church. Unfortunately, that is one of the places Ohio prohibits the carrying of firearms. Mine goes with me, but has to stay in the car. Churchesmake such a soft target today, but I guess that gives me something to work on getting changed.

By the way Legba, do you have a link to Ohio law that lays out the rules on carrying at houses of worship? I did some looking around and wasn't able to get anywhere. I have not heard of being able to carry with the clergy's permission, but I may have to talk to my pastor if that is allowed by our wonderful (sarcasm) gun laws.

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From the ORC sec. 2923.126 Duties of the Licensed Individual (list of prohibited places)

(B)(6) Any church, synagogue, mosque, or other place of worship, unless the church, synagogue, mosque, or other place of worship posts or permits otherwise;

[emphasis added]

-ljp