Surely you don't need to carry a gun in a CHURCH!

In another chapter of the continuing story of deranged gunmen attacking unarmed innocents in 'Gun-Free Zones' ... particularly in Churches ... a long gunman brought a 12-gauge shotgun into a Unitarian church in Tennessee, where two-dozen children were performing in a local-theater version of the musical "Annie".

The gunman, 58-year old Jim D. Adkisson of Knox County, apparently fired 3 shots from his shotgun, hitting "six or seven" people ( or as many as 9 people), two of which died from their wounds.

According to the MSNBC article:

The man slain was identified as Greg McKendry, 60, a longtime church member and usher. Church member Barbara Kemper told The Associated Press that McKendry "stood in the front of the gunman and took the blast to protect the rest of us."

(An omnibus of articles about this attack may be found the UK website Newstin. )

Early reports are always suspect, but there is no doubt that Greg McKendry will be heralded as the man who literally "took a bullet" for his friends and fellow congregation members in what has been describe as "a normal Sunday service".

The shooter, Adkisson, was "taken down" by members of the congregation (reported by the local WBIR webpage to include congregant Professor John Bohstedt. (See photo at right.)

This was a terrible thing, which might have resulted in an even more extensive loss of life it not for the heroic actions of Greg McKendry and congregants such as Professor Bohstedt.

McKendry, of course, gave his life.

The King James version of the bible says, in James 15: 13:
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Greg McKendry certainly will remain an iconic representation of that sentiment. The congregants who pulled Adkisson to the ground are similarly blessed in their determination to lay down their lives for their friends, except that circumstances did not require the sacrifice which they offered.

Question #1: If Greg McKendry, described by his friends as "a refrigerator with a head", had in his possession any weapon more lethal than a thick body and an uncommon courage, would he have been required to lay down his life to protect his friends?

Question #2: Civil law may have prevented church members from carrying a weapon into a church. The cultural approbation against carrying a weapon into a church certainly insured that peaceful, non-aggressive church members were unarmed. What civil laws and cultural approbations disapprobations prevented Jim Adkisson from bringing his guitar-case disguised 12-gauge shotgun into a church with the sole purpose of slaughtering as many innocents as he could?

[previous posts on "Gun Free Zones"]