Church Violence Up, Church Attendence Down

There's no need to throw gasoline on a fire, but the NRA does have a point. If the pastor of that church in Charleston allowed his flock to carry firearms into the church, the massacre might not have occurred or there could have been less loss of life.

An NRA official blames the massacre at a South Carolina church on the slain pastor’s anti-gun position.

Charles Cotton, a board member with the gun advocacy group, posted a comment on a firearms forum that he moderates in which he noted that pastor and state Sen. Clementa Pinckney voted against concealed-carry gun legislation.

“Eight of his church members who might be alive if he had expressly allowed members to carry handguns in church are dead. Innocent people died because of his position on a political issue,” Cotton wrote on texasCHLforum.com.

Pinckney last year voted against permitting the concealed carrying of handguns in eateries that serve alcohol.

That site is here.

I gotta admit, it sounds like the Charleston church was a pretty liberal one. This slaughter wouldn't have happened in my church.

I chair the Safety Committee for our church and we are discussing this issue now. I am helping my pastor get a CCW permit. I carry to every service and prayer meeting; as do others. This is upstate NY, not NYC.

Deadly force incidents that occur in faith-based organizations have increased several hundred fold in the past ten years. Baptist and non-denominational churches are the premises in which over 40% of these incidents occur.

In 2006 there were 10 deadly force incidents which occurred in faith-based organizations: 11 people were killed (including the perpetrator). In 2014 there 176 deadly force incidents in which 74 people died.

That's a 1500% increase in deadly force incidents and a 640% increase in deaths.

Between 1 Jan 1999 and 15 Feb 2015 there were 769 incidents where the cause or "trigger"for the deadly violence was known:
Robbery - 25%, 
Domestic Violence - 17%
Personal Conflict - 12%
Mental Illness - 11%
Gang related - 10%
 
Meanwhile, church attendance is down.

Since the 1970s, the share of those who never attend religious services or attend less than once a year increased by 53 percent, while those who attend several times a year or weekly decreased by 29 and 26 percent, respectively.