Many points of view on this. I know some who’s church’s have sought out people who are known to carry regularly and ask advice, or even ask them to carry.
Thoughts?
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i believe so
its most unfortunate that you have to
however its the reality playing out.
Lots o great information and videos here at USCCA to pay close attention to. they will benefit you
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Several of our church members carry at church. We have regular folks, law enforcement, corrections officers, even a game warden or two. We have a rotating church patrol, that has some of those members on it. Our pastor is aware, and encourages people to be vigilant in the protection of their loved ones at all times. We also have keypad coded doors to our children’s areas, and lock all but the main entrance once services have started. We also make available to all interested church members, our church safety protocols and procedures. When we have bug “outdoor” events, it usually draws a county or city cop who lingers on premises.
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I carry when I go to services. And I have a holster that hide my gun when I it on. I have a Sneaky Pete holster and it looks like I have a tablet or cell phone instead of a gun. And I’ve also had the Rabbi ask me if I knew someone who does firearms training. Because he wanted to offer it to members that wanted to take it. I told him that I do the training and that I’m an Affiliate Firearms Instructor with USCCA. And I’d be more that happy to teach a course. but so far he has not contacted me to teach one. And I’ve had no issues carrying when I go to services. And some of the people do know that I carry. And have not said anything about it.
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In our church, we have a security team in place that monitors activities at all times. Very much out of the common knowledge of our congregants. Although, our state is widely a carry state. The leadership of the church are aware, of course. Our strategy is to not show ourselves. If someone is there for nefarious purposes, they won’t know what, who, how many, where the security team are. Therefore, by lack of visual cues, a perp won’t be able to accurately ascertain the threat against [him]. We also keep a close eye on individuals that may seem “out of place” to the normal activity. We do that, by greeting them, even sitting with them during the service. We want to show them they are cared about. And at the same time, protect ourselves and other families attending. (We’ve had a couple incidents that have been resolved in this manner)
For what it’s worth…
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@Skeebo - be sure to check out this other thread we have going on, too: House of Worship Safety - #15 by Dawn
It’s about churches having safety teams so it’s different enough from this topic that both are good to keep open. 
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That’s awesome @Reloader54!
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It’s worth a lot @Matt_W! Sound like you have a good plan in place!
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Our church has an annual missions conference where a few missionaries come in, set up displays, and share with us about the various areas of the world they work in. After one service I overheard my pastor telling someone he was going to take the missionaries to the range the next day. I pulled him aside & offered to let him use all of my stuff. One of the missionaries heard that, then he & I started talking about what we both carry. Before you know it it was like a gun convention up in there. Turns out there are so many of our members who have their permits & carry all the time, some I would never have thought would ever do so. If anybody tries anything in our church during a service, boy are they in a huge shock.
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I’ve tried to make this suggestion to my church libnut pastor is not listening. I use to work security in gang territory guess it will be up to me hope I never have to. My church is z religious sanctuary to me. This is where I might feel remorse but I would have to remember I would be defending the congregation.
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Glad you, at least, are prepared. Hopefully you are not the only one in your church who is responsible about providing protection.
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Our church doesn’t have a plan or security outside of cameras and a police officer in the lobby. However the men’s bible study I’m involved in, most of us conceal carry. We’ve even converted some heathens to the gospel of Smith & Wesson and William B. Ruger. We’ve discussed security and carrying at church, and though we don’t have a set plan, we all do our best with situational awareness when we’re at church. Although having a sold plan would be best, it’s still in the works.
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LOL! Thanks for the laugh, @Travis3!
Here’s a guide we have about protecting the house of worship that your group may find useful: https://assets.cdn.usconcealedcarry.com/pdf/guides/USCCA_ProtectingHousesOfWorship.pdf
Also, @Sheepdog556 shared this video from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman that is slightly terrifying, but makes you think about the soft targets in the US. Schools are one of them. It’s a very long video (3.5 hours) and I’m only part way through it. But it’s definitely making me think.
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We give thanks to the Lord for the .45 acp, and the prophet John Moses Browning for the 1911 pistol in which it won 2 world wars. Praise God, and pass the ammo. 
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And all GOD’s people said “Amen”!
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I was attending a church the pastor did not care about security. I knew if something happened, alone I could do little in a large church. My focus became more and more on getting my wife and I out of the building if something happened. I ended up changing churches.
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Many churches do not realize that a lot of CCWs jumping up to stop a shooter will have a greater chance
that the wrong people will get shot than and organized team that train together and our on the same page.
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When I joined the church I currently attend, I had the chance to talk to the pastor after the first service. I mentioned that my schedule was very weird due to working in social media (at that time I was the only Social Care Advisor at the USCCA). He asked who I worked for and I braced myself as I said USCCA and explained what we do.
He put his hand on his 5 o’clock and said I was more than welcome at any service time I could attend. He also pointed out a few people from their security team to me in case I wanted to become a member of that team. It was an awesome feeling to know that I wasn’t the only one and that we were welcomed at that church!
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We live in a very tame and peaceful community by most measures. It is in a very remote area though, so far from help when seconds count. The reality of the times we live in leaves us 1 deranged person or disgruntled boy friend from tragedy in our Church. Doing nothing would be negligent.
We’ve formed a safety committee, with one of their tasks to set up an active shooter defense strategy.
As I write this 1 of our first actions is to put crash bars on all doors so we can lock the facility down after service begins. The idea is we would get some notice if an intruder would have to break his way in.
Though our Pastor is largely supportive of defensive measures, he is not comfortable with the idea of locking people out. We compromise by leaving a safety team member tending the door till 10-15 minutes after service begins.
We have 4 people known to carry, 1 a retired sheriff, one active duty police, 1 a USCCA certified instructor and 1 former military. We are arranging Church specific defense training for all.
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