On this week’s episode of ESSENCE Now, we asked our audience if they would feel safer with firearms inside church walls with the purpose of preventing a mass shooting.
The results were surprising. Sixty-seven percent of our viewers agreed that guns needed to be a part of church, while 33 percent believed that churches should be a sanctuary from violence.
But despite the numbers, numerous studies completed in the wake of mass shootings prove that the “good guy with a gun” narrative can be harmful — owning a gun, it turns out, is less likely to protect you or the people around you.
Check out the rest of the discussion above.
Hide Transcript
[BLANK_AUDIO] Now with the tragic murder of 26 people, many of whom were family members at a church in Texas. It has this all mourning and grasping, yet again to a solution to gun violence and mass shootings [MUSIC] Seriously, seriously what do we do? Is the answer better gun control laws, mental health screenings, or even arming more people, particularly those gathered in large numbers in public places like churches? Well the Texas Attorney General thinks so. Ken Paxton recently told FOX News We need in churches at least arming some of the parishioners or the congregation, so that they can respond when something like this happens again. But many on the faith community disagree saying that by using violence to fight violence is not only unchristian, but it will just lead to more people being killed. [MUSIC] Would you be comfortable attending church when the members or staff carry guns. Ye,s even churches need protection. No, churches should be sanctuaries from violence. So a couple people said no, a couple. [UNKNOWN] more guns in the place of worship? Yeah that'll solve the problem, sarcastically. [UNKNOWN] says, this is a sad state of affairs if people have to be packing when they go to church. [MUSIC] But the scales are tipping. So a lot of people said no, we need protection in the church, which I'm surprised by. Is that right? Yes. Wow. 67% said yes churches need protection and 33% said no. I'm with the 33%. You can carry your gun but does it need to be an AR-15? Does it need to be, if you're not serving in war- Why do you need a gun like that. It's not the solution. It's not the solution. [BLANK_AUDIO]
