Church gun law triggers confusion

Some Utah religious leaders say they won't obey. A local gun-rights advocate says they don't have to. And the state senator who sponsored the new law requiring churches to notify the state on their gun policies says he doesn't care one way or another.

How confusing is that?

The controversy surrounding what churches do or don't have to do to keep guns out of their houses of worship has raised more questions than answers about what the convoluted statute actually says. It might take the Utah Attorney General's Office or even the courts to spell it out.

Religious leaders crying foul over the law simply misunderstand it, said Charles Hardy, policy adviser for Gun Owners of Utah (GOUtah).

"The churches are getting upset over a requirement that does not exist," he said. "This is an emotional issue to start with, and when you add inaccuracies to it, you get people ranting and raving for no reason."

More than two dozen leaders from various denominations said in a statement Sunday that guns have no place in holy spaces and churches don't need the state's permission to make such a statement or hold such a position.

They vowed to not "register" their houses of worship as places where guns are not allowed. But neither will they allow guns to be brought into their buildings.

Hardy, whose GOUtah was among several gun-rights groups and local churches consulted on the legislation earlier this year, takes issue with the word "register," calling it pejorative. Besides, he said, the law does not call for registration.

Both Hardy and Sen. Mike Waddoups, R—Taylorsville, who authored the legislation, read the revised statute this way:

• Churches may ban guns through personal communication to an individual or posting a sign where people entering the building are likely to see it. Should the church use either of those means, there is no need to notify the state. (That part of the law is not new and did not change.)

• Churches may also ban guns by making an announcement over the pulpit or by publishing the policy in a newsletter, bulletin or newspaper of general circulation. Under any of those options, the church must send a letter to the state Bureau of Criminal Identification. The BCI then lists the church on its Web site.

A violation of the law is an infraction, which is akin to a traffic ticket.