Let's try this again. (I had this long post written a couple of days ago and I sent it only to have my connection choose just that moment to freeze. Next thing I know, I have a 404 screen and I can't back up to retrieve my work. Let us say that I was displeased.)

It did work out for the best though, because Miss Jeanne Assam's name is now known. Miss Assam was one of the "volunteer security guards" <wink wink, nudge nudge> at the church in Colorado Springs when the murderous criminal with a semi-automatic Kalashnikov-style rifle and a shotgun arrived and began shooting as he walked toward the church building. While I will never post a criminal mass-murderer's name on this blog, I'll happily praise Miss Assam's actions, which she credits to God, or those of any other law-abiding citizen who, by use of arms, effectively stops an attack and saves lives in the process.

While Colorado's statutes don't forbid carry of a firearm into a church, they do if it is a "seminary", among other  places, and while the first shooting in Arvada was at a "Missionary Training Center", I don't know if that would qualify. Similarly, I read that the church in Colorado Springs had in it a smaller "Missionary Training Center" (office, perhaps? I forget) and if the first qualified, the second would have also. Be that as it may, even if neither would qualify under state law as a place where one cannot legally carry a gun, the fact is that most people choose not to do so, to the point that the question is often heard when the point is brought up, "Why would you carry a gun to church?" The events in Colorado Springs are a stark answer.

What I don't understand is why the first report was that it was a parishoner (which is true), and almost immediately, the media picked up "security guard" (without uniform or pay), then "former police officer" (though she will not discuss at this writing any details of that service), and finally, they say that the murderer died not from her actions but by his own cowardice, when he turned his shotgun on himself. They make it sound as if he would have done this at this point anyway, when he arrived with more than 1000 rounds of ammo for the Kalashnikov and more than 100 shells for his shotgun, and an attitude of hatred toward Christians.

Can no one in the mass-media realize that Miss Assam is a private citizen, a heroine, and that she alone saved many of her friends and (church) family? Note that I don't disparage the actions of the other "members of the volunteer security force" (read: armed parishoners); it's just that they weren't the ones who took this slimeball out.

To borrow a quote from Mrs. Kathy Jackson's website, http://www.corneredcat.com (read it, she's GOOD!)

Sooner or later, every person new to concealed carry asks this question, sheepishly, of other people they know who carry. "Would you carry a gun to _______?" they ask. The blank can be filled by any number of things.
Would you carry a gun when you go camping? Would you carry to your mom's house? to work? to church? to the movies? to your kids' Little League games?

The question, earnest as it is, always bemuses me somewhat. You see, I don't usually carry a gun to anywhere in particular, but I do go places and do things. And I simply carry, wherever I might be.

What I'm getting at is that years ago I made a decision that my default setting would be to carry my gun wherever I went and whatever I was doing.  As a result, if I'm ever not carrying, it is because I made a deliberate decision not to do so right then, based upon some specific reason not to do so. So I don't have to look for reasons why I might want a gun wherever I'm going. I'm taking my gun with me unless I have a good reason not to.

In every situation where I haven't carried in the past couple of years, it's been either specifically illegal, or literally impossible to conceal. Others might have different standards for a good reason not to carry, but that's where my line is.

When I carry, it is never because I think whatever I'm doing is particularly dangerous. If I think something is particularly dangerous, I either don't do it at all, or I find a way to do it more safely -- such as going wherever it is during the day instead of at night, or traveling with a friend instead of alone.

...

People whose default setting is to leave the gun at home often believe that someone who would carry to ________ (fill in your own blank) must be paranoid. After all, there's no specific danger at ________. So why would anyone carry there?

The only answer I have for that is to ask another question: is there a good reason not to carry there?
(http://corneredcat.com/Social/carryto.aspx)

Maybe more places will begin to recognize that armed, law-abiding citizens save lives when those tools are needed, and will begin changing laws to allow for them to be present more often. After all, it's for the children!