People magazine reports that Pastor Les Snodgrass of The Door Christian Fellowship in Melbourne, Florida “promises to always carry a gun in church” after a harrowing robbery attempt in the middle of a service.
The article quotes Pastor Snodgrass:
“We will be armed for our future services,” he says. “I want people in church, pastors, to realize you’ve got to be ready to protect your flock, your family. It’s just the world we live in today.”
We obviously don’t have any problem with that. We think the world is much safer when good people are armed…and TRAINED.
It’s important to understand that simply carrying a gun does NOT make you safer.
It might make you FEEL safer when you are in fact LESS safe.
Because when you aren’t trained in the proper handling and use of a loaded firearm, you might actually pose a threat to yourself and the very people you hope to protect.
The firearm doesn’t care if you have good intentions.
If you inadvertently pull the trigger while holstering your weapon (it happens all the time) it will still discharge a round. Maybe into your your foot.
Or if you aren’t properly trained in drawing your firearm, you might actually muzzle your off hand and discharge around before you have good sight picture and alignment.
And if you aren’t accurate with your aim or aware of what lies beyond your target, you might accidentally shoot an innocent bystander.
We LOVE that Pastor Snodgrass feels compelled to protect his flock and family. We hope every pastor in the country feels the same way.
We simply respectfully exhort all firearms owners everywhere, including Pastor Snodgrass and others like him, to be sure to include a commitment to TRAINING in addition to the commitment to carrying.
Trained firearms owners are safer firearms owners.