Texas church shooting: Local churches paying attention to security

• Texas shooting underscores need for church vigilance
• Local churches have had brushes of their own
• Mississippi law bolsters ability to carry guns in churches

Sunday's shooting at a Texas church underscored the need for security and vigilance even in houses or worship, a task that congregations in the Memphis area and elsewhere across Tennessee and the nation have been taking seriously already. 

A gunman identified by Texas authorities as Devin Kelley, 26, entered the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, a rural area outside San Antonio, during Sunday morning services and opened fire. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at least 26 people, not including the gunman, were killed. Police found Kelley dead in his car following a pursuit.

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Though such actions are impossible to guard against fully, churches and other houses of worship have become more alert to threats and have responded accordingly in the wake of incidents on their own property.

In Tennessee, where the Texas shooting resonated strongly in the wake of the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ shooting in Antioch near Nashville less than two months ago, law enforcement Monday was offering security assessments for churches.

The Wilson County Sheriff's Department said in a statement it would provide a one- to two-hour check, depending on the size of the church. If requested, the check will be followed up with a written assessment of recommendations to help secure the facility and maintain order in an emergency situation.

"In light of the tragedies that have taken place in many churches across the country, we want to take proactive steps to ensure a safe place of worship for every church in Wilson County," Sheriff Robert Bryan said in a written statement Monday.

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Such efforts seem the best hope for countering the long history of violence in the pews. The Center for Homicide Research found 137 shootings in Christian churches between 1980 and 2005. Among those are the June 2015 killings at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina; a 2012 shooting at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee and civil rights-era church violence such as the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.

Even at the national level, the Trump administration is vowing in the wake of the Sunday attack to step up efforts to train churches and other houses of worship on security procedures and active-shooter situations. Sunday's shooting appears to have stemmed from a domestic dispute. 

Jamie Johnson, the director of the Department of Homeland Security's Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships office, told Time.com Sunday that the his team has worked with religious groups to improve security. He added that more action is planned.

At the local level, many churches have already been proactive in bolstering security.

Brown Missionary Baptist Church in Southaven, Miss., a Memphis suburb, has an emergency response team that helps monitor activities at the 10,000-member church, about half of whom regularly attend services.

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The team was instrumental last year in helping local police apprehend a man who church personnel had spotted in the parking lot. His motives were unclear, but firearms and explosives were found in his car. 

Brown Pastor Bartholomew Orr said the church's extensive security team includes members who are armed. Security measures at Brown and all other Mississippi churches got added support from the Church Protection Act signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant last year.

The law allows places of worship to designate members to receive firearms training in order to provide security. Under the law, those individuals who have received training can carry guns in church buildings under legal protection from the state. 

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In addition, the Mississippi law allows people to carry holstered weapons without a permit. A spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association said at the time the law was signed last year that Mississippi was the ninth state to have such a law.

Reports in Texas are that a resident living near the church grabbed a gun of his own and engaged the shooter as he drove away. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the state's concealed carry laws increased the chances that someone would be able to "take out" a gunman.

That statement drew a strong response from those many, including Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis who tweeted:

Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, also commented on social media about Sunday's shootings. Bellevue Baptist is one of the largest churches in the Southern Baptist Convention.

"Please pray for FBC, Sutherland Springs, TX. Someone walked into their worship service today, opened fire & killed many. 'God have mercy,'" Gaines tweeted Sunday.

Bellevue had a scare of its own last year when a security guard there stopped a 31-year-old man as he attempted to enter the Cordova church during Sunday services. He was carrying a .40-caliber Beretta in his pants pocket and .300 Blackout assault rifle in a backpack.

Memphis police said at the time that the man, identified as Marcus Donald, told them he had to be vigilant against threats in society. He was taken into custody as an "emergency commitment" and evaluated. Due to privacy laws, no additional information was released.

John Tucker, pastor of the small Graceview Presbyterian Church in Southaven said after last year's incident at Brown Baptist that churches not already taking security seriously would soon be doing so.

"Not all churches have taken security seriously, which is a big problem," Tucker said. "It's something all churches are going to have to look at, although not every issue will be deadly force. Still, we have people who are upset, and church is the place they go to cure their soul. So we should expect situations to arise."

Holly Meyer of The Tennessean contributed to this story.