By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — A Senate committee on Wednesday rejected a bill that would allow concealed handguns in church.
On a voice vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee failed to endorse House Bill 1237, which would remove churches and other places of worship from a list of places where persons with a concealed-carry permit are barred from carrying a concealed handgun. Bars are the only other place on the list.
The sponsor, Rep. Beverly Pyle, R-Cedarville, said she planned to re-work the bill and possibly bring it back to the committee.
The measure previously passed the House.
The Senate committee vote followed more than an hour of testimony in which opponents argued guns did not belong in church and supporters countered that congregations should have the right to choose whether to allow firearms in their midst.
“We believe the measure in question is contrary to the meaning of sanctuary,” said Debbie Freeman, pastor of Westover Hills Presbyterian Church in Little Rock. “This will fundamentally change the definition of sanctuary from safety, peace and openness to fear … and suspicion.”
Freeman said the Presbytery of Arkansas met last weekend and voted unanimously to oppose the bill.
A supporter, Pastor Nathan Petty of Beech Grove Baptist Church in Fordyce, said each individual church should have the right to decide the issue.
“This denies every church the right to make a free choice,” he said.
The Bible advocates the right to protect oneself from violence, Petty said, adding, “It is not the role of the state to preserve the sanctity of the church.”
Sen. Jerry Taylor, D-Pine Bluff, noted shootings and other violent crimes have occurred in churches nationwide.
“A church congregation is pretty much helpless if someone wants to do something like this,” he said.
Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, said the bill was unnecessary.
“I don’t know of any church where the carrying of guns is a sacred belief,” she said.
Also speaking against the bill was Sen. Hank Wilkins, D-Pine Bluff, a church pastor for more than 32 years.
“I would have a great deal of concern, fear and trembling, not so much for my safety but for the safety and the message that we send to our congregants to even encourage or allow the carrying of firearms in a sacred place of worship,” Wilkins said.
