Bringing guns to church

The way pastor Jonathan Wilkins sees it, members of his Baptist
church in Thoma­ston, Georgia, should have the right to carry guns into
worship services to protect the congregation. Wilkins's Baptist
Tabernacle and a Georgia gun-rights association are challenging a new
state law that prohibits weapons in houses of worship. A lower court
ruled against them in January; the case is headed for appeal.

"What
we're fighting for is not that just any old body can carry guns in
church," Wilkins said. "We would be responsible. We would want people
who are trained, and so forth, to carry, people that we designate for
protective purposes."

Recently, state legislatures in Georgia,
Michigan and Louisiana have been caught in the debate over gun rights
and gun control as they consider allowing weapons in houses of worship.
Though
gun-rights proponents think they have both the First and Second
Amendments on their side, they also cite the rights of religious
organizations as property owners. Opponents, meanwhile, worry that
having weapons in worship is a step on a slippery slope to permitting
them everywhere.