States at the center of debate on guns in churches

A little more than a month after the Jan. 8 shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that left 6 people dead, gun control has again become a hot-button issue — although not in a form many might have expected.

According to Bloomberg, following the shooting, one-day sales of handguns in Arizona jumped 60 percent to 263 on Jan. 10 compared with 164 on that same Monday in 2009. States like Ohio, California, Illinois and New York also had large jumps in sales, and nationwide sales increased about 5 percent.

The rise in sales is a common result from such an event, CNBC reports. Another common reaction is for legislators and activists to push for tighter gun control and more regulations. According to OpenSecrets.org, the Arizona shooting was no exception.

However, efforts to revive the discussion of boosting gun control laws have largely fallen flat. President Barack Obama didnt mention gun control in his State of the Union address — a move that The Christian Science Monitor called a key omission. Although The New York Times quoted administration officials as saying the president would address gun control soon, little on the issue has been heard since.

While gun control efforts are not attracting a lot of attention nationwide, guns and churches are.

The Huffington Post reports that Rev. Jonathan Wilkins and a Georgia gun-rights association are part of the fight to overturn a state law prohibiting weapons in churches. WorldNetDaily reports that a number of other pastors are also banding together to push legislation on Georgias Capitol Hill.

What were fighting for is not that just any old body can carry guns in church, Wilkins is quoted as saying in USA Today. We would be responsible. We would want people who are trained, and so forth, to carry, people that we designate for protective purposes."

In Michigan, legislation is being debated that would repeal part of the states concealed-carry law. According to MLive.com, the section that would be repealed currently prohibits permit holders from carrying firearms into schools, churches, day care centers and college dorms.

In 2010, La. Governor Bobby Jindal signed a bill that would allow people to carry concealed handguns to church, with the permission of the individual houses of worship. The Huffington Post reports that legislation regarding guns and churches has failed in Kansas, Mississippi, Arkansas and Ohio.