President Obama once infamously told donors that there were many critics of his who "cling to guns or religion." So it's not surprising that the Daily Beast today derided Mississippi conservatives who think that individual churches should be empowered by state law to allow worshipers to carry concealed weapons on their premises if they so wish.
Here's how M.L. Nestel opened his March 21 story, "Packing Heat While Praying in the South" (emphases mine)
God’s houses in Mississippi are under siege.
At least that’s the bill of goods some state lawmakers are selling with the Church Protection Act—a preemptive Dirty Harry-meets-Samson line in the sand granting worshippers a chance to pack heat while channeling the Holy Ghost.
"Channeling the Holy Ghost"? Whether intentionally blasphemous or driven by sheer ignorance, such flippant language about the Third Person of the Trinity is par for the course from the liberal media, but serves no purpose in actually informing and convincing Nestel's audience about the alleged folly of the Church Protection Act.
At no point did Nestel link readers to the full text of the proposed law in question, which, as passed by the state House of Representatives does NOT permit every person attending a house of worship to carry concealed but rather a select security team as picked by the governing body of the house of worship which meets certain criteria as set down in the law. Churches are perfectly free to elect to NOT allow armed security volunteers:
SECTION 2. (1) The governing body of any church or place of worship may establish a security program by which designated members are authorized to carry firearms for the protection of the congregation of such church or place of worship, including resisting any unlawful attempt to kill a member(s) or attendee(s) of such church or place of worship, or to commit any felony upon any such member or attendee in the church or place of worship or in the immediate premises thereof
[...]
Such program shall at a minimum: (i) require each participant of the program to have a firearms permit issued under Section 45-9-101; and (ii) require each participant to complete an instructional course in the safe handling and use of firearms as described in Section 97-37-7; provided, however, that such program may also include one or more persons with law enforcement or military background who, may assist the church or place of worship in training of the members of the program;
