NC Senate passes bill to allow concealed guns in churches on school grounds

The state Senate has passed a bill that would let people carry concealed handguns at church and other religious services on school property or when on the property of religious institutions that also operate schools.

People would only be able to carry guns when school and extracurricular activities are not in session, according to the bill.

The current law lets gun owners with conceal-carry permits have handguns while in church and other religious services, except when schools also operate on the property. Religious institutions can bar gun owners from carrying concealed handguns.

But prohibiting guns when school is in session would not necessarily make students safer, the nonprofit North Carolinians Against Gun Violence (NCGV) said in a statement.

While the bill would prohibit guns when students are on campus, NCGV fears the restrictions might be misunderstood and people would bring their guns regardless.

“We oppose S.B. 43. It circumvents state policy outlawing concealed carry of firearms on school grounds and would put school children at more risk of gun violence,” said NCGV executive director Becky Ceartas. “State law applies to both public and private school property and makes no exception for schools owned and operated by places of worship for a simple reason: it endangers school children.”

Allowing guns in these churches poses a risk to children because people might accidentally fire their guns or leave their guns behind on school property, according to NCGV. The organization also feels the bill, if passed into law, would make it easier to reduce gun control measures at schools.

During an outdoor funeral service at a High Point church last year, people in two cars fired shots at the crowd. Some people in the crowd shot back. Several people were injured and an 18-year-old man was fatally shot by a plainclothes Davidson County sheriff’s deputy who was at the service investigating a homicide, CBS17 reported.

NCGV says the High Point incident, as well as documented incidents of guns accidentally being fired in churches, injuring people, show why guns should be banned in churches.

In Texas in 2018, a gun belonging to a permit holder was unintentionally fired into a classroom full of teenagers while in a backpack.

At the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting where the bill was advanced, pastors spoke out in support of the bill. Ron Baity, a pastor at the Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem said church goers should be allowed to carry guns in case there is a shooter on the premises, because law enforcement might take too long to get there, NC Policy Watch reported.

But other religious leaders agree. The N.C. Council of Churches stands with NCGV’s legislative agenda, when it comes to guns in churches and schools.

The bill was approved 31-17 in the Senate and will move on to the House next.

Similar bills have been introduced in the state legislature. In 2017, former Rep. Rena Turner, a Republican from Iredell County, introduced a similar bill because a church in her district wanted a security team to protect the congregation in case of an emergency, The News & Observer reported.

Last year, Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed an almost-identical bill, writing, “This bill allows guns on school property which threatens the safety of students and teachers,’ he said.

The House attempted to override Cooper’s veto last year with a three-fifths majority, but failed 66-48 (72 votes are required to override a veto). All House Republicans voted to override, and all but six House Democrats voted not to.