Packing Heat In The Pulpit

Another unusual law from my home sweet Oklahoma:

The state house is considering a bill to allow pastors in their churches to protect themselves like citizens do in their homes, vehicles and businesses.

A state house committee approved the legislation Tuesday that would make it legal to use deadly defensive force if there’s a fear of imminent death or bodily harm.

The representative who wrote the bill sited several cases of violence inside Oklahoma Churches in the last decade.

The bill now goes to the house floor for a vote.

via OK House Considers Bill Allowing Pastors To Use Guns In Church – NewsOn6.com – Tulsa, OK – News, Weather, Video and Sports – KOTV.com |.

So does that mean that pastors aren’t currently allowed to use firearms from the pulpit? Or is this one of Oklahoma’s “making a statement” laws? (Update: Apparently the latter.)

Back in the Middle Ages, the clergy were forbidden to shed blood, so they would not use swords or lances. So instead some of them, including the Popes leading their armies, would use maces to bash their enemy’s heads in.

Military chaplains, I believe, do not carry weapons.

What do you think of the prospect of pistol-packing pastors? A little too law-oriented? A temptation to deal with annoying parishioners in a non-pastoral way? Prudential protection?

HT: Ned