“We lost two great men today, but it could have been a lot worse,” the church’s Senior Minister Britt Farmer claimed on Sunday. “I’m thankful our government has allowed us the opportunity to protect ourselves.”

“The citizens who were inside that church undoubtedly saved 242 other parishioners, and that might get swept aside,” Texas DPS Director Jeoff Williams said. “It was miraculous. The true heroes in all this are the people who were sitting in those pews today and responded, the immediate responders … it was truly heroic.”

Note: The second video puts up some options in the top left hand corner that block seeing one of the parishioners who shot the murderer.

This attacker definitely picked the wrong church to attack. The yellow arrows are pointing to what some have identified as guns that parishioners were carrying.

Three people, including the murderer, were shot in attack just before 10 a.m. at the West Freeway Church of Christ at 1900 south Las Vegas Trail in White Settlement, which is near Fort Worth. The Shooter died at the scene after being shot by two of the parishioners. Here are a couple of quotes from the top video.

Jeoff Williams, the regional head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said:

We have a couple of heroic parishioners who stopped short of anything you could even imagine and saved countless lives.

The Tarrant county sheriff at press conference noted:

“Today evil walked boldly among us, let me remind you, good people raised up and stopped it before it got worse.”



A list that we have compiled of similar cases is available here.

A little history on Texas’ changing laws on allowing gun in churches. The 2019 law went into effect in September.

A separate 2017 Texas law allows churches to have armed volunteer security. This church shooting near Fort Worth comes less than four months after a law went into effect that allows people to carry a weapon in established places of worship. Under the 2019 law, licensed gun holders can carry in places of worship unless their religious leaders specifically prohibit the weapons.



An explanation for the reason for the 2019 law is available here.

“The existing statute is confusing and clunky when it comes to clearly stating the rights of licensed Texans to carry on the premises of a church. This bill provides clarity of the Legislature’s intent to treat churches in the same manner as other privately owned establishments in Texas. Senate Bill 535 does not restrict the rights of churches to post 30.06 or 30.07 signs or prohibit weapons on their premises if they choose, which has been established law for most privately owned property in Texas. In addition, Senate Bill 535 reduces penalties for licensed citizens who unknowingly carry in prohibited areas, aligning these penalties with other sections of state law. It also increases the penalty for armed individuals who are told to leave certain premises where weapons are prohibited and fail to depart.”

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Concealed Handguns Stopped Mass Public Shooting, Defensive Gun Use

By johnrlott

