http://news.aol.com/story/_a/gunman-kills-three-at-missouri-church/20070812210909990001


They did not have the right to effectively fight back!

From the Missouri Highway Patrol website:

http://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/MSHPWeb/Publications/Brochures/SHP-863.pdf

In accordance with Section 571.107 RSMo., you may not carry a concealed
weapon in the following places:
· any police, sheriff, or Highway Patrol office or station without
consent;
· within 25 feet of polling place on Election Day;
· adult or juvenile jail or institution;
· courthouse or facilities;
· any meeting of a government body (except by a member with a
concealed carry endorsement);
· bar without consent;
· airport;
· where prohibited by federal law;
· schools;
· child care facility (without consent of manager);
· riverboat gambling facility;
· amusement parks;

· any church or place of worship;·

any sports arena or stadium (with seating for more than
5,000);
· hospitals; and,
· private or public property where posted.
Possession of a firearm in a vehicle on the premises of any of the
above-listed locations is not prohibited so long as the firearm is not
removed from the vehicle or brandished while the vehicle is on the
premises.
Carrying a concealed firearm in any location specified above is not a criminal
act. However, you can be denied access to the premises or may be removed from
the premises for doing so. If a peace officer is summoned:
! Upon the first offense, you can be cited and fined up to $100.
! If within six months, a second offense occurs, you can be fined up to
$200, and your concealed firearms endorsement can be suspended
for a period of one year.
! If within one year of the first offense a third citation for a similar
violation is issued, you may be fined up to $500, and your
concealed carry endorsement revoked. If your concealed carry
endorsement is revoked, you are not eligible for the endorsement
for a period of three years.

Yeah. They just don't get the purpose of CCW, or that it works by making the prospective bad guy think he may not be able to control the situation once he starts in.

When I'm in Missouri I carry my gun to church anyway. It's not a crime - nobody at the church knows about it and I don't think they'd object if they did. If they don't like me having a concealed firearm, they can just say so and I'll leave and not come back.

We don't have that law about carrying in church here in Indiana. If we did I'd quietly disobey that particular law - same as I do when in Missouri.

If I'm not welcome as a CCW, then I'm not welcome, period. When they pass the plate, my seat will be empty.

If I'm not welcome as a CCW, then I'm not welcome, period. When they pass the plate, my seat will be empty.

It is not the church that is attempting to deny people. It is the legislators. As long as they never know you're armed, there's no need to even find out how far their welcome extends.

Further, as has been said, it is not a crime to go into one of the "restricted places" unless a separate law makes it so. I do so all the time. The worst that can happen (again, unless there is some separate law that makes it illegal) is that you can be fined IF they ask you to leave and IF you refuse to do so and IF you're still there when the cops show up. If you leave when asked to, nothing bad will happen.

If it is a place that has the "no firearms" signs up, even if the sign is not of sufficiently large dimensions to make it a "restricted place," I don't go in there. Not only because they're saying "We don't serve your kind," but because places with those signs are more likely to be robbed or used as shooting galleries by madmen. So, I neither want to expose myself to more danger when that company's competitors may not have such signs, but also don't appreciate that business exposing people to more danger and do not want to reward them by spending my money there.

I know that this thread is about CCW, but did anyone notice the news media jumping on this story, saying that the man was armed with "two small caliber handguns and a 9mm semiautomatic machine pistol"? I'll have to dig the article back up on MSN.com if anyone wants the quote, but I think that they made up a new category of "weapon"; what the hey is a "9mm semiautomatic machine pistol"?

I'm about 60 miles away from the scene. First reports from our #1 local TV station reported the perp to be carrying " two pistols and a machine gun". :eek:

Me thinks the young lady reporting has never seen a "machine gun".

Certainly this type reporting doesn't help we shooters and gun lovers.

I'll bet that on any given Sunday a number of people going to church will be armed! I would be......if I went to church.

KO has it right. At worst it costs $100 for the right to carry, if someone finds out.

Wasn't the shooting at a meeting held at the church, and not the usual Sunday services?

Churches in Texas can post if they don't want members to carry. Don't know of any that do.

It was a regular Sunday service for the Micronesian immigrants. The Congregational church holds regular services and lets the Micronesian's hold their own services later in the day.

Dave