I am very interested in this topic. I have been CC in church for years. Our previous pastor gave written permission to anyone that asked. But he only stated that he acknowledged our legal right to carry with a CPL and permission.
I am trying to figure out how critical the wording of this permission might be.
First off our church is under new leadership, the new pastor is fine with the idea of CC, but wants to be involved very little in the approval process. In addition to this we are trying to be proactive (or reactive to the times) and are creating a security and emergency response team. This will be an appointed, i.e. non-elected, group that will handle both planning for emergencies/disasters as well as responding to security concerns.
The idea now is that this group will be responsible for approving individuals for CC and possibly telling people with CPLs that they are not allowed to carry.
-First off, legally, is the pastor's "blessing" on whatever decision this 'board' makes sufficient as permission from the presiding official?
- Second, if this board makes additional requirements to CC in our church, beyond just a CPL, whether that be showing sufficient ability or additional training or what not. Would this be treated as the Church essentially licensing those individuals and putting their stamp of approval on any actions taken by those individuals? Could then the Church be liable if any incident happens within the Church?? Does permission matter or not, could the church be liable in an active shooting situation regardless? I have not been able to find a lot of information pertaining to this in the legal records and court cases. And I am not sure that we should be restricting the people that carry. I would be much more comfortable with a blanket approval similar to that of our previous pastors. I think it would be smart to have the security and response team in addition to this but not instead of. Some people state the fact that just about anyone can get a CPL now a days and they don't want half blind Mrs. Betty poppin shots off if something were to happen.
Sorry about the long post but there is a lot to cover on this topic and I would appreciate some input. And don't worry I am also taking the legal advice route, but it's not very clean cut either way.
-M W
I am trying to figure out how critical the wording of this permission might be.
First off our church is under new leadership, the new pastor is fine with the idea of CC, but wants to be involved very little in the approval process. In addition to this we are trying to be proactive (or reactive to the times) and are creating a security and emergency response team. This will be an appointed, i.e. non-elected, group that will handle both planning for emergencies/disasters as well as responding to security concerns.
The idea now is that this group will be responsible for approving individuals for CC and possibly telling people with CPLs that they are not allowed to carry.
-First off, legally, is the pastor's "blessing" on whatever decision this 'board' makes sufficient as permission from the presiding official?
- Second, if this board makes additional requirements to CC in our church, beyond just a CPL, whether that be showing sufficient ability or additional training or what not. Would this be treated as the Church essentially licensing those individuals and putting their stamp of approval on any actions taken by those individuals? Could then the Church be liable if any incident happens within the Church?? Does permission matter or not, could the church be liable in an active shooting situation regardless? I have not been able to find a lot of information pertaining to this in the legal records and court cases. And I am not sure that we should be restricting the people that carry. I would be much more comfortable with a blanket approval similar to that of our previous pastors. I think it would be smart to have the security and response team in addition to this but not instead of. Some people state the fact that just about anyone can get a CPL now a days and they don't want half blind Mrs. Betty poppin shots off if something were to happen.
Sorry about the long post but there is a lot to cover on this topic and I would appreciate some input. And don't worry I am also taking the legal advice route, but it's not very clean cut either way.
-M W
