'Pro-gun pastor' defends requirement for unloaded firearms

July 1, 1:34 PMGun Rights ExaminerDavid Codrea

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(AP Photo/Ed Reinke, Pool)

I typically don't do two posts in one day, but wanted to share a development with regular readers. CNN's John Roberts quoted a Gun Rights Examiner column in his "American Morning" interview with Pastor Kenneth Pagano:

You’re kind of getting it from all sides. You have the critics, again, who say “Would Jesus have carried a weapon,” but you’ve got critics among gun advocates who say the fact that you stipulated that people had to bring their weapons into church unloaded and the only loaded weapon belonged to a police officer kind of rankles them. David Codrea, who is a gun rights advocate, wrote in Examiner.com “The idea that police are the only ones who can be entrusted with loaded firearms should be offensive to everyone who believes in the right of the people to keep and bear arms.” Everybody’s kind of ganging up on you from the right and left.

Pastor Pagano's response?

[T]he reason for open carry was mainly insurance reasons...

If he'd left it at that, I wouldn't have a beef (with him), although I find it curious he has a policy that anticipated his event with such a level of specificity.

But then he went on to say:

Not everyone who owns a firearm is necessarily always responsible or safe with them. I didn’t know everybody who came to the celebration. There were people who were carrying loaded firearms who were not law enforcement. There were people who were legally carrying concealed weapons that were hot and ready to go. We don’t have a problem with that. Just because a person owns a firearm, doesn’t means they’re safe and responsible anymore than a person who owns a vehicle means they’re a safe and responsible driver.

He doesn't seem to realize he's confirming my original criticism, and indeed, the whole point behind maintaining the "Only Ones" files.

Pastor, just because a person is employed by the government and has a badge "doesn't mean they're safe and responsible" either.