Advocates against gun violence fight NC bill to allow guns in church on school campus
Mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder, Colorado, have led advocates against gun violence in North Carolina to call on lawmakers Thursday to work toward finding solutions to prevent such violence in the state.
And one of their demands is that lawmakers vote against House Bill 134, a bill that would allow people attending religious services on school campuses to carry concealed guns.
The bill has passed the House. A similar bill, Senate Bill 43, has passed the Senate.
“Let’s be clear, the bill’s real aim is guns in schools starting with places of worship with affiliated schools on its premises,” Jessica Burroughs, campaign director of MomsRising NC, said at a news conference.
Burroughs was joined by advocates from North Carolinians Against Gun Violence, the NAACP, Rep. Marcia Morey and several religious leaders.
Vance Haywood, pastor of St John’s Metropolitan Community Church in Raleigh, is one of the religious leaders who said guns do not belong in church.
“Relaxing gun laws makes our sanctuaries more dangerous and it endangers the lives of the people who are here,” Haywood said. “Some would say that relaxing these gun laws makes it more safe, however, in my experience, history has proven that the introduction of guns increase the risk of tragedy.”
Haywood, a former paramedic, asked lawmakers to vote against allowing paramedics to carry guns during tactical calls, a change that is also included in the bill. He said that would take paramedics’ energy away from saving lives and open them up to being targets.
Supporters have said people at religious services need to be able to defend themselves from a shooter. Rep. Keith Kidwell, a Republican from Chocowinity, said both he and his pastors carry guns in church and that “an armed people is a polite people,” the NC Insider previously reported before the bill passed the House earlier this month.
Risk of accidental shooting?
Like Haywood and Burroughs, Eric Solomon, rabbi of Beth Meyer Synagogue, also wants guns banned from religious services in schools.
Solomon referred to an accidental shooting at a Texas synagogue that caused an injury, saying the man who brought the gun to worship accidentally fired it when he stood up to pray. The man may have been trying to do good, but without proper training he did more harm, Solomon said.
“The last thing I need is a congregant who is not trained, who is not prepared in the moment, to go and take their firearm and to shoot it and God forbid hit me or my congregation or my own children,” Solomon said. “The last thing I need to be protected by is regular people who are not able to do so.”
A statement from the Rev. Jennifer Copeland, executive director of the North Carolina of the Council of Churches, was read during the news conference.
Copeland said when someone’s individual rights conflict with community safety, then faith, directed through scripture, dictates that one should lean toward community safety.
Copeland said the council believes that there is a reasonable way to promote gun safety and respect gun rights simultaneously, saying gun owners and gun-violence-prevention advocates tend to share safety goals.
“If gun violence was a viral infection, we would unleash the full force of our medical research capacity to conquer the outbreak,” Copeland’s statement said. “It’s time to unleash the full force of preventive regulations for gun laws.”
Burroughs said her largest concern is that someone would bring a gun to a school campus while they worship and forgetfully leave it behind, allowing a student to find the gun on Monday morning.
“It is ill-conceived, reckless and truly dangerous, and we urge every member of the state House to reject this bill,” Burroughs said. “It’s hard to believe that I would have to say this but I will reiterate what moms know, that this is a terrible idea to allow concealed firearms at any schools at any time.”
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Megaphone or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Advocates against gun violence fight NC bill to allow guns in church on school campus."