Should guns be allowed in church? | News

Lakeland, Florida - In light of the double shooting on Sunday at a church in Lakeland we want to know what you think about people carrying concealed weapons in your place of worship.

Leave a comment at the bottom of the page.

The Executive Pastor of Highland Park Church of the Nazarene at 4777 Lakeland Highlands Road in Lakeland says, "Who would ever think that you would have to have security in a church?"

Pastor Dave Ramsey says it's something they came to terms with years ago even before two pastors were shot on Sunday at Greater Faith Christian Center Church near the altar as they kneeled to pray. 

Click here for a previous story.

At Highland Park Church off-duty Lakeland police officers keep the peace but there's another layer of protection you can't see even from the security cameras installed throughout the building.

There are others trained on standby with concealed weapons who are dressed in their Sunday best.

For security reasons Ramsey won't say how many and where they're stationed during the service. He says, "I would say today that there are people today that would be surprised to learn the level of security that might be in a church that they are unaware of."

Ramsey points to a shooting at a Colorado Springs church in 2007 as a turning point for his church. Investigators there say a man with ties to the church armed with an assault rifle, two pistols, and more than one thousand rounds of ammunition shot and killed four people as church was letting out.

A female church security guard with law enforcement experience fired her weapon to stop him. She was part of a 12 person team that provided security at the church. Back then on any given Sunday about half of those guards were armed.

Mike Thakur is a security consultant with Guidry Group which is an international consulting firm that specializes in keeping people safe.

Thakur also has ministry experience and is branching out to offer specialized services to churches. Click here to learn more. He happened to be in Orlando for a security convention when he saw reports about the Lakeland church shooting on the news.

He says not just anyone should carry a concealed weapon in church.  "Adrenaline is going. An off duty officer that's used to it is one thing but those are the situations where a stray bullet could cause more harm so what we try and do is we focus on preventative."

On Monday Thakur drove to the Lakeland church where the violence erupted. He says from a faith standpoint he wanted to help church members who suffered through a traumatic experience and help them come up with a security plan for the future.

The church was closed though and isn't expected to open until Wednesday. Counselors were scheduled to be there.