Wisconsin Bishops Ask Parishioners To Leave Guns At Home

WASHINGTON -- As Wisconsin's concealed carry law goes into effect, the state's Catholic bishops are urging parishioners to keep their weapons out of church.

"The Catholic Church has a long tradition of sanctuary, allowing people feeling violence to take refuge in church buildings as a place of safety and protection. For the most part, this practice has worked well because most people respect the sacred, peaceful nature of such holy places," Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki said in a Monday statement, which was also signed by bishops from Madison, Superior, Green Bay and La Crosse.

"Whatever an individual parish decides to do regarding its policy on concealed weapons," the statement continued, "we ask that all people seriously consider not carrying weapons into church buildings as a sign of reverence for these sacred spaces."

This is not the first time that the state's Catholic bishops have spoken out against the concealed carry law. In May, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference released a statement urging legislators to not pass the bill.

According to a spokesperson from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, no parishioners have contacted the bishops about this week's statement.

On Tuesday, Wisconsin became the 49th state to allow its residents to carry concealed weapons. Previously the state had an open carry policy, which required owners to wear their gun in plain sight.

Under the new law, which was signed by Governor Scott Walker in July, the gun does not have to be visible so long as the owner is properly permitted. Any qualified gun owner can apply for the permit, and the state must process the application within 45 days.

By 3:45 p.m. yesterday, the state's Department of Justice had issued over 120 licenses to qualified applicants. The DOJ also reported that its website received almost 10 times its usual traffic within 12 hours of the law going into effect.

Ultimately, it's up to the individual parishes to decide whether or not to allow guns on church premises. While some states, like Georgia, have laws that prohibit guns in places of worship, there's no such provision in the Wisconsin statute.

The bishops' statement has earned praise from pro-gun control groups, who have lobbied against the proliferation of concealed carry laws in recent years.

"Our faith institutions are places of worship and peace where people attend to seek solace, hope, and spiritual renewal. Loaded and hidden guns are violent instruments and they don't belong in these sacred spaces, where families gather and worship," said James Winkler, chair of Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence, a national religious coalition affiliated with the Brady Center.

The National Rifle Association, which supported the concealed carry legislation, did not return a request for comment.

Comments

[madhtr]

03:10 PM on 11/11/2011

To 'Bunnieman' ...

Bishops have every right to ask the congregation to leave thier guns at home. Anti-gunners have every right to join Cowslip's Warren and hope to God that some other rabbit will be next in the snare.. They do not, however, have the right to force the rest of us to hide behind the 'safety in numbers' of thier fellow citizens like cowards.

[bunnieman]

07:24 PM on 11/11/2011

Are you suggesting that those who carry guns are brave, and that those who don't carry are cowards? Many would assert the just the opposite.

[madhtr]

10:34 AM on 11/12/2011

No. I am suggesting that those who choose to spend thier lives using the sheer numbers of thier fellow citizens, and odds, as shields to hide behind, while trusting to the Gods that thiers will not be the next neck to be caught up in the snare (while pretending the threat of the snare does not exist at all) are cowards.

I take it you did not read 'Watership Down'?

[Conlaw Bloganon]

06:06 PM on 11/09/2011

Time to embrace some FACTS. Gun control is an EPIC failure. But more guns = more crime, right? WRONG. Since 1991, Americans have bought 90 MILLION more guns, and violent crime and murder are down 43% and 51% over the same period, while crime rates in the UK have remained basically level, or even increased in the decades since they implemented their more draconian gun control measures. Today, the UK has roughly 4x as much violent crime as the US, and is the most violent industrialized nation. Even the CDC concedes that gun control has no favorable effect on public safety.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5214a2.htm

[bunnieman]

01:20 PM on 11/10/2011

The spam-man! Spam-a-rino! Makin' copies!

[madhtr]

03:02 PM on 11/11/2011

Have you posted an actual 'retort' on this entire page?

[william ashbless]

10:02 AM on 11/08/2011

How 'bout the evil ACLU that will not rest until ammendments 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 are incorporated into every aspect of American Society?
The ability to defend yourself is a Civil RIght. How is it okay to tell me that my civil rights are not important when I enter the front door of my house of worship?
Denying me my civil rights makes you no better than southern racists who thought it was just fine that a hated/feared minority could be denied their freedoms by opressive legislation.

[bunnieman]

05:05 PM on 11/08/2011

Sure thing, pal. Answer me this, though. When drawing such parallels, is it not difficult to keep a straight face?

[crescentvalley]

09:19 PM on 11/07/2011

The NRA is its own religion; their own leadership admits it. Why on earth is the NRA trying to dictate to religious faiths?

[bunnieman]

09:32 PM on 11/07/2011

The gun lobby, of which the NRA is a star performer, will not rest until fear and guns are incorporated into each and every aspect of American society.

[David Carson]

10:04 PM on 11/07/2011

I will consider helping to restrain the NRA when you and your fellow CDAs decide to be reasonable

[Rooster Coburn]

01:39 AM on 11/08/2011

"Nobody would fear the gun if not for the bullet." Quotation found somewhere in cyberspace.

[william ashbless]

06:53 PM on 11/07/2011

40 permits in a population that large might be representative of the carry rate in that part of Colorado anyway. I'd be willing to bet that any large event will have that many legally carried guns involved. Yet, they never seem to jump out of the owner's holster and start spewing bullets intended to slay the innocent.

Would you feel more comfortable if the Congregation hired off duty cops or a private security detail to provide safety? Or would you rather just pretend that violent, deranged people don't like to strike in large crowds of people.

[ArmStopper]

10:50 AM on 11/07/2011

I read on the internet that we can end gun violence with a few simple steps.

[bunnieman]

11:01 AM on 11/07/2011

Evidently, though, there is little we can do to discourage gun lovers from posting under multiple user names.

[Jacob Black]

11:10 AM on 11/07/2011

You're not big on irony, are you?

[Glass Houses]

12:30 PM on 11/07/2011

Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

[Rooster Coburn]

12:18 PM on 11/07/2011

1st step is to demonize an inanimate object in the eyes of the public. 2nd step is to demonize those Americans who own and use that object. 3rd step is to create a false illusion that large numbers of Americans favor placing increased legal restrictions on those inanimate objects and their owners/users. 4th step is to pass laws giving government a monopoly on the ownership and use of those objects.

[bunnieman]

12:25 PM on 11/07/2011

Very good, "Rooster". You'll need to ring your bell, though, if you hope to be rewarded with a cracker.

[william ashbless]

10:36 AM on 11/07/2011

My brother in law lives in Colorado Springs and belongs to a congregation of several thousand people. He and some forty members all have carry permits and they have a rotating security detail of no less than six armed parrishoners on duty during sunday services. They train for 'active shooter' situations and everybody in town knows that is the LAST place you want to go and pull a gun.
By telling the law abiding that they cannot protect themselves(because the church doesn't trust you)tells you how much the Wisconsin church 'cares' about their congregation.

[bunnieman]

11:17 AM on 11/07/2011

Infrequent though they might be, church shootings are typically enacted by enraged Fundamentalist Christians upon adherents to that faith. Do you have an opinion as to why there is an apparent connection between "guns and God" in the practice of Fundamentalist Christianity, particularly as it is practiced at "mega-churches" such as the one attended by your brother-in-law?

[WOODSTOCKER60]

05:04 PM on 11/06/2011

“Investigat­ors recovered a .380-calib­er semi-autom­atic handgun believed to have been used in the attack. Police say Selleneit is not allowed to own a firearm due to a 1990 conviction for forcible sexual abuse of a child.

The suspect has been charged with attempted homicide and possession of a firearm by a restricted person and he is being held without bail, Child told The Huffington Post.

...ENUFF SAID.........

[OdinsEye]

08:58 PM on 11/06/2011

Which has what exactly to do with the article?

[WOODSTOCKER60]

07:14 AM on 11/07/2011

A Utah man shot and severely wounded a neighbor who he believed had been "telepathically threatening" him and his wife, according to police.

Michael Selleneit, 53, is accused of opening fire on Tony Pierce at around 4:55 p.m. on Oct. 30 in their Centerville trailer park, hitting the 41-year-old victim in the back and the leg.

"It was totally unprovoked. The victim was working in his yard with his back to the shooter," Lt. Paul Child, of the Centerville Police Department, told Fox 13. "There was no argument or anything that precipitated this particular event."

Pierce underwent emergency surgery resulting in the removal of his spleen, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

"The victim's condition has been upgraded to stable this morning," Child told The Huffington Post.

For his part, Selleneit reportedly claims he fired on his neighbor in self-defense.

The suspect insisted to investigators that Pierce had been "telepathically threatening" himself and his wife, and claimed his neighbor "had telepathically raped his wife on many occasions," police told The Tribune.

[OdinsEye]

07:40 PM on 11/05/2011

While I support the ability of the church to make its own rules for its own property, I think a lot of people here do not understand that churches do a heck of a lot more than just hold Sunday services and conduct weddings and funerals. Many have classrooms and conduct various types of adult and youth education services, both religious oriented such as catechisms and non-religious such as English classes. Many also have reception halls and meeting areas which can be rented or used by outside groups or people. So, as another poster pointed out, the person wanting to carry concealed may be a female who teaches English to immigrants late on Wednesday night and has to lock up by herself around midnight, but would not necessarily want to carry at Sunday morning services.

[bunnieman]

08:44 PM on 11/05/2011

Why limit gun carry in churches to females who are being stalked by violent ex-boyfriends who stay til midnight Wednesdays teaching English to immigrants? Why not extend that privilege to quadriplegic cancer patients who use church facilities to teach flower-arranging to orphans, or to war veterans who, when not rescuing puppies from freeway traffic, use Church kitchen facilities to cook meals for recently foreclosed-upon crossing guards?

[OdinsEye]

09:56 PM on 11/05/2011

Because the example I gave is far more realistic. I have seen churches, especially Catholic churches, which host English classes at night.

[OdinsEye]

06:48 PM on 11/05/2011

Completely within the rights of the church to prohibit concealed carry on its property. All they need to do is post signs on their property. That is the way it is in the states which allow concealed carry in churches -- the church has the ability to post the property and prohibit the carry of firearms.

[TheRightIsAnythingBut]

01:26 PM on 11/05/2011

Every time I think the world can't get any weirder, I see something like this. Why in the world, besides the the pathetically childish "Because I can and you can't stop me!", do you need to bring a gun into church? Because it goes with your "God, guts, and guns" bumpersticker?

I have guns and I got to meeting but I can honestly say I've never felt so threatened on Sunday that I needed to "carry heat."

[Rooster Coburn]

03:41 PM on 11/05/2011

Why? Maybe someone lives in a bad neighborhood and walks to church. Maybe they are going to Luby's Cafeteria for lunch with their family afterwards. Maybe they lack your ability to see into the future and know at all times whether they will need a gun or not. Maybe they fasten the seat belt in their personal vehicle, strap the little ones into their car seats and lock all their doors and windows at night.

[bunnieman]

08:55 PM on 11/05/2011

I cannot imagine the appetite that a family who has attended a Church service in Wisconsin might work up on their subsequent trip to Luby's Cafeteria for lunch.

[OdinsEye]

06:52 PM on 11/05/2011

1) There have been attacks in churches.
2) People may want to carry while in transit to and from the churchm and may not have a secure place to store their firearm upon arriving at the church and would therefore keep it on their person.

[TheRightIsAnythingBut]

09:07 AM on 11/07/2011

In stark contrast to the cleverness of your handle, your answers are ludicrous.
1. I'm not aware of any venue in any place in society where there have not been attacks with guns - although this may only seem to support your position.
2. Where in the world are you going after church that you need to carry a gun?

[ItMustSook]

12:21 PM on 11/05/2011

You want to ban guns but you’re met with opposition at every turn. Since you have no popular, monetary, or political way to make this happen, you feel completely helpless to change any of this.

Now you’ve spent the entire day bickering with “some guy” on the internet but you are not even one step closer to your goal.

That must suck.

[bunnieman]

12:40 PM on 11/05/2011

"The entire day"? It's only 9:30 AM where I live. You're not the same guy (who goes by a different username, interestingly enough) who told me to "Have a wonderful day" at 11:30 the other night, are you, by any chance?

[ItMustSook]

01:50 PM on 11/05/2011

That’s an “OK” example I guess and I thank you for that but, and no offense here, I’ve seen better. Many people in that position lash out with some snark, ad hominem’s, or even veiled threats to show us what it’s like to face such an impossible task. After that they even sometimes accuse me of stalking them or needing some sort of metal health service. Can you believe it? Just curious but, what made you think that I was talking to you anyway?

[ItMustSook]

05:28 PM on 11/05/2011

I simple "yes" will do. Thanks.

[Totto]

11:47 AM on 11/05/2011

As the top one percent have gotten progressiv­ely richer through lobbying for more and more for themselves­, sold off our manufactur­ing capability to the highest foreign bidders, and turned what was the greatest financial power in the world into a bickering, frightened mass of the increasing­ly impoverish­ed, those responsibl­e have turned us against each other. Of course, the greedy want to turn this country into an armed camp and "decrease the surplus population­", and many have fallen for the tactic. They care no more about us than they care about the squirrel their chauffered Bentley just ran over. We are the proletaria­t and we are expendable­. How about training our sights on them instead of each other? Since their armed might is inherently much greater than ours, we must find a way to nonviolent­ly turn their greed and callousnes­s back upon themselves­.

[legaleagle 45]

12:38 PM on 11/05/2011

Interesting conspiracy theory. Usually the conspiracy theory is exactly to the opposite. That the rich and powerful wish to insure that the proletaria­­t are incapable of any resistance and thus seek to deprive the proletaria­­t of the means to resist their evil plans through gun control initiatives.

A means of reducing the surplus population? I assume you are also of the opinion that these evil conspirators are behind the pro choice movement as well as the gun rights movement?

Well, you should be pleased that their evil plan is not working. Even with the expansion of gun rights and a bad economy, the 2010 homicide rate fell to 4.8 per 100,000. Such low rates in the USA have not been seen since the early 60's and late 50's.

[bunnieman]

01:12 PM on 11/05/2011

May I refer you to the writings of Jeff Cooper, former spokesperson for the gun rights movement and esteemed member of the NRA's Board of Directors, referred to by gun rights activists as "The Guru"? He has asserted that it would be to our society's benefit to keep America's inner-city populations well-supplied with arms and ammunition, in the interest of encouraging their self-extermination. Do you, as a gun rights activist, for whom Cooper was a "Guru", disagree with that assertion?

[schotts]

04:55 PM on 11/05/2011

Your position is interesting at best, but quite wrong. Your buddy George Soros is part of that 1% and hates guns.

Your implying, if I read your rant correctly, that the 1% are heavily armed and trying to turn the Country into an armed camp. Did you realize that there already are an estimated 80 million gun owners in this Country? Rich, poor, middle class, democrats, republicans, white, black, hispanic, male, female, etc.

Ironic that you feel gun owners are paranoid and now I read from you how can we fight back against the armed right who are out to "decrease the surplus population".

[WOODSTOCKER60]

08:04 AM on 11/05/2011

The percentage of American adults who identify themselves as Christians dropped from 86% in 1990 to 77% in 2001. This is an unprecedented drop of almost 1 percentage point per year.
The percentage of American adults who identify themselves as Protestants dropped below 50% about the year 2005.
Confidence in religious institutions has hit an all-time low.
There appears to be a major increase in interest in spirituality among North Americans. However, this has not translated into greater church involvement.
Mainline denominations have been losing membership for decades in the U.S.; conservative denominations have been growing.
..CHRIST WOULD BE ROLLING OVER IN HIS GRAVE AFTER READING THIS BUNCH OF PARANOID,HATEFUL GUN-TOTTING POSTERS!

[schotts]

10:25 AM on 11/05/2011

Which paranoid, hateful gun totting posters are you talking about?

[bunnieman]

10:48 AM on 11/05/2011

The ones who can't even attend Church without carrying a gun, and who accuse those who ask them not to carry a gun while in attendance of usurping their freedom and recommend to anyone who feels that their freedom is being usurped to renounce their Catholicism and undertake the practice of a religion that better conforms to their need to carry guns, silly.

[WOODSTOCKER60]

07:09 AM on 11/06/2011

............GO LOOK IN THE MIRROR..........

[Rooster Coburn]

03:30 PM on 11/05/2011

No, He wouldn't be "rolling over in his grave" because He is not there. Three days is not eternity.

[WOODSTOCKER60]

07:10 AM on 11/06/2011

WORD IS HE WAS AT A GUN SALE IN ARIZONA.......HE WANTS TO ARM HIS TEACHERS WITH GUNS.IN CASE THEY TRY AND "OVERTHROW" HIS TEACHINGS WITH NON-VIOLENCE!

[Rooster Coburn]

07:04 PM on 11/04/2011

Archbishop Listecki, meet St. Gabriel Possenti, known colloquially as the "Gun Saint". http://gunsaint.com/

[bunnieman]

08:49 PM on 11/04/2011

By "colloquially", do you mean "by those obsessed with guns to the point that they have, sacreligeously, most would assert, contrived a "patron saint" through whom they hope to lend an air of legitimacy to their decidedly, and disturbingly secular obsession"?

[Rooster Coburn]

09:11 PM on 11/04/2011

Of far greater concern than the opposition of some church officials to carrying on the property which they administer, which is their right, of course, is their church's opposition to passage of the concealed carry law in the first place, as is referenced in the above article.

[WOODSTOCKER60]

07:28 AM on 11/06/2011

IS THERE A "PATRON SAINT OF SHOTGUNS..GRANADE LAUNCHERS..MORTARS..AND ASSAULT RIFLES TOO?".....