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Home • Essence Now

Churches And Guns: Should Congregations Carry Weapons To Avoid Mass Shootings?

By Christina Coleman · Updated December 6, 2020

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.