Last month, Governor Bobby Jindal signed House Bill 1272 into law, which gives houses of worship in Louisiana the authority to allow concealed handgun carry in their congregations. Catholics are out of luck, though: The Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops nipped that one in the bud.
“We don’t think it is appropriate to have guns in churches,” said Danny Loar, executive director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops. . . .
Loar said that, shortly after Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the bill on July 6, he sent an e-mail to Catholic bishops, who had discussed the issue earlier this year when they reviewed legislation.
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“The bishops decided that, if the bill became law, the bishops would let their pastors know that this would not be permissible in Catholic churches,” Loar said.
The bishops didn’t actively campaign against the law, though clearly they weren’t keen on the idea. Frankly, it strikes me as a little odd, too: I’m all for the Second Amendment, but it never occurred to me to think my rights were being violated because I couldn’t pack heat on Sundays — or that I might be safer if my fellow pew mates were.
What do other people think of this guns-in-church thing?