Policy

Weapons policy

CCMS-SEC-SOP-001 §4

Weapons policy is a liability, theology, and tactics problem all at once. The governing board owns it. This page is a planning frame, not a permission slip and not a command to carry.

• Local law governs possession, carry, prohibited places, and the use of force. Read it. Know it. This field guide is not legal advice.
• The church does not command any person to carry a firearm. Members who carry do so on their own license, training, and judgment after prayer and consultation with the church governing board.
• Do not ban lawful defensive arms on property the church actually controls without the board having counted the cost. Do not treat everyone who owns a gun as the safety team. Untrained, unvetted, uncoordinated carriers in a sanctuary are a crossfire problem waiting for a prosecutor.
• Set a qualification floor for anyone the church formally recognizes as an armed safety-team member. Marksmanship without decision-making is how churches shoot the wrong person.
• Covert, not theatrical. No brandishing, no showing the hardware, no social-media hero photos. Large earpieces, plate carriers, and hard stares on a Sunday morning advertise a posture the church does not want.
• Long guns: none carried openly on Sunday as a matter of course. A locked long-gun capability, if the board authorizes it, is staged only under written policy.
• Less-lethal: OC/pepper gel (gel over spray indoors) and empty-hand control for those trained. Conducted-energy devices require manufacturer certification.
• A marked unit in the lot and a uniformed officer in the foyer is often the cheapest way to stop being a soft target. That is a board and budget decision.

This field guide does not replace 911, a medical director, or licensed clinical judgment. It does not authorize anyone to practice beyond license and current training.