Think About it --Responsibly Armed Defenders in Small Synagogues

Think About It Think About it --Responsibly Armed Defenders in Small Synagogues
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Carl Chinn

Carl Chinn

Oct 5, 2025

Violence at Houses of Worship has been in the NEWS a lot recently. There are many intentional about the protection of their congregations, but others were caught with their guard down.

There is one recent shining example of good news forced from front pages by the consequences of not having intentional and intervention-capable teams.

At the FBSN, we were honored to be asked by our Jewish brothers to assist in the development of a new white paper released on September 9^th. The Secure Community Network is a proactive and forward-thinking security resource group that avoids the pitfalls of labeling every business, political, or theological group that thinks differently than they do as a threat. Because the SCN considers real threats and solutions, and doesn’t view our calling as a business competition, we stand with them and were glad to assist.

The document is “WEAPONS AT WORSHIP” with the subtitle, “Armed Congregants & Considerations for Synagogue Security.” It was refreshing for this old Protestant to see my Jewish brothers and friends put their thoughts into action in this 45-page assertion. Here are some of the statements, along with the page numbers where they can be found in the document.

Page 7: “If a house of worship is going to allow individuals to carry firearms, it must do so through an organized and structured safety or security team.”

Page 7-8: “…we recognize that many congregations — especially smaller or resource-constrained ones — may seek to involve volunteers, including armed ones…”

Page 8: “Individual carry in an unstructured context is not a viable or responsible option.”

Think About it

I commend my Jewish friends and brothers for this much-needed document. I firmly believe that those who study and apply the topics in this document will have safer congregations.

I encourage you to read the document. Above all, welcome your Jewish neighbors into your coalitions and other groups of security operators. There is no greater group to pioneer this topic with (we’re all still pioneering) than the Jewish community in your area. Share openly with them!

You can find the .pdf document here: https://www.securecommunitynetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SCN_WhitePaper_WeaponsAtWorship-090925.pdf

If you are an FBSN member, the document is in our secure forum resource library.

We pray for Jewish protection here and in Israel this week.

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