Senate Democrats Propose Bill That Would Criminalize Armed Church Security

Protestia ^ | February 17, 2024 | Paul Brown

[Morgana]

A recent Lifeway survey of Protestant pastors shows that armed congregants protect more than 50% of protestant churches. While these security arrangements vary in their level of sophistication on a church-by-church basis, nearly the same number of pastors who report the use of armed congregants report that there is an intentional plan in place to prepare for threats posed by an active shooter. Though various state and local laws currently regulate and limit the use of concealed carry weapons by church security teams in various locale, a proposed federal law would criminalize the preparations made by many armed church security teams across the United States.

Sponsored in the U.S. Senate by Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) and cosponsored by Senator Laphonza Butler (D-CA), the Preventing Private Military Activity Act of 2024 widely defines a paramilitary group as any group of 3 or more persons who function under a command structure as a “security services unit.”

If passed, the bill would make it illegal to “publicly patrol, drill, or engage in techniques capable of causing bodily injury or death.” Power to enforce this law would be derived from the interstate commerce clause of the constitution, as the proposed bill would be applicable whenever a church security team utilizes either weapons or ammunition that have “traveled in interstate or foreign commerce,” a clause that applies to nearly every weapon and round of ammunition in circulation. Additionally, even the act of training to engage in an activity that could cause bodily injury or death, such as an active shooter drill, would be considered a violation of federal law under the proposal.

Penalties for violating the training prohibitions of the Preventing Private Military Activity Act of 2024 would range from 1-year probation to 2 years in prison plus applicable fines and civil forfeiture of any property, “personal or real,” involved in or “intended to be used” in a manner that violates the law. Presumably, civil forfeiture would include the loss of any firearm reserved for use by a security team member, but broader interpretations of the law could include the forfeiture of real estate associated with the violation.

Additionally, if an active shooting situation took place, and the shooter was killed or injured by the church security team, the proposed law would make members of the security team subject to criminal penalties that range from 5 years to life in prison. The act would also give a surviving shooter or his surviving family the right to bring a federal civil lawsuit against members of the church security team if he is injured or killed.

The Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act of 2024 has also been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by eleven democratic house members. Notable amongst the bills’ house sponsors is representative Henry “Hank” Johnson, a representative with cognitive function comparable to that of President Biden, who once expressed concern that the island of Guam could become so overpopulated that it would “tip over and capsize.”

While the checks and balances of the legislative system will hopefully keep this bill from becoming the law of the land, it is truly frightening to see so many legislators who would turn brave church security team members into criminals, in what would be a severe miscarriage of justice.

[Bob434]

And, as a well, authorities had the power to arrest hunter for co mitting a felony, yet they chose not to- dropped the charges instead. I guess their “power of enforcement” only applies to conservative arrests znd convictions.