54% of Protestant Churches in the US Rely on Armed Church Members for Protection
Fifty-seven percent of Protestant churches have a plan for an active shooter attack, and 95% of them have armed church members (54% of all protestant churches). Lifeway Research surveyed 1,000 Protestant churches. There were 77,860 Protestant churches in the U.S. in 2010. Assuming that there are the same number of Protestant churches now, that implies that 42,044 churches have armed parisioners. With tens of thousands of churches with armed parisioners, do we ever hear about problems with so many people carrying? No.
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In terms of security specifics, pastors are most likely to say their congregation has an intentional plan for an active shooter situation (57%). Additionally, most (54%) also say armed church members are part of the measures they have in place.
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Around a quarter (26%) use radio communication among security personnel, while 1 in 5 say they have a no firearms policy in the building where they meet (21%) or armed private security personnel on site (20%). Fewer have uniformed police officers on church grounds (5%) or metal detectors at entrances to screen for weapons (1%).
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“Most churches are small, so security plans often don’t need to be elaborate or expensive,” said McConnell. . . .
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