海角大神

Alabama church shooting: Are guns in church a good idea?

A woman and her infant in Selma, Ala., are the latest victims of a church shooting that is likely to buoy concerns over church safety and gun control in the wake of the Charleston, S.C., shootings this summer. 

James Minter will appear in court today after opening fire on his girlfriend, their infant son, and their pastor at Oasis Tabernacle Church in East Selma, Ala., Sunday morning.

Mr. Minter was seated between the woman and their one-month-old child near the front of the sanctuary at about 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 20, when he suddenly stood and shot them, and the聽. Oasis鈥� pastor, Earl Carswell, was also shot as he attempted to subdue Minter.

Minter鈥檚 girlfriend, whose name has not been released, has been discharged from the hospital. Their son is expected to be聽.听

Selma police have told that the attack may have been motivated by the couple鈥檚 fight over child visitation rights and other relationship problems.

Minter, who fled on foot after members of the congregation wrestled away his gun, was arrested less than a mile away and charged with three counts of attempted murder. If convicted, he may face ten years to life in prison.

The shooting comes at a time when some Americans are already doubting the safety of their churches, traditionally a place of sanctuary. Congregations were shaken by the racially-motivated massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17, where Dylann Storm Roof fatally shot nine parishioners during a Bible study meeting.

Like Minter, Mr. Roof had calmly entered the church and sat down before suddenly beginning his attack. At a news conference following the attack, , 鈥淧arents are having to explain to their kids how they can go to church and feel safe, and that is not something we ever thought we鈥檇 deal with.鈥澛�

There has been an upsurge in concern about church violence, but advocates differ sharply over whether the answer is more guns, or fewer.

In roughly half of US states, concealed carry is allowed in houses of worship. In response to the Charleston shooting, that keeping churches 鈥済un-free鈥� makes them 鈥渁 major target.鈥� Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee r, telling Fox News that gun control laws would not have been nearly as effective to stop the shooting as 鈥渋f somebody in that prayer meeting had a conceal carry.鈥�

In 2014, Guns & Ammo magazine for gun owners, while the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence , noting that it has one of the nation鈥檚 ten highest rates of gun deaths.听

The Rev. Philip Blackwell of First United Methodist Church in Chicago is one of many clergy to feel that even a preventative eye-for-an-eye approach contradicts 海角大神 teachings, even as the number of churches using armed security guards soars. , Rev. Blackwell pointed to Jesus鈥� nonviolence when Roman guards came to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane as an example. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e walking around carrying a gun and think that it is a tribute to the 海角大神 Gospel, then you鈥檝e been reading the wrong book,鈥� he insists.听

Selma-area District Attorney Michael Jackson may agree.

鈥淲e have too many people running around with guns that don鈥檛 need to be carrying,鈥� . Jackson, who is the first African American recipient of the , in 2013, who helped take control of Minter鈥檚 gun.听

Selma, most well-known for the infamous Bloody Sunday attack on Civil Rights marchers in 1965, continues to suffer economically: , 40 percent of residents live below the poverty line, unemployment is higher than average, and the rate of violent crime is five times the Alabama average.

As reporters flocked to the Oasis Tabernacle Church yesterday, WSFA reporter Hannah Lane of the church sign's less-photographed side: 鈥淐ompassion and Forgiveness.鈥澛�