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The Church has updated its guidelines to help members and leaders alike remain safe while on Church property. “Changing conditions around the world” are the impetus of this update, according to a letter sent to Church leaders from the Church’s Presiding Bishopric.
“These guidelines are meant to help educate leaders and members on how to increase safety at Church buildings and activities,” says the letter signed by Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé and his counselors, Bishop Dean M. Davies and Bishop W. Christopher Waddell. “We invite leaders to discuss them in ward and stake councils and to use them to teach members, as needed, to address local concerns. Leaders should apply these guidelines appropriately and be aware of local laws.”
The guidelines direct Latter-day Saints to rely on local law enforcement in emergencies and suggest several practices members can implement to increase safety. These include being aware of one’s surroundings, staying calm, extending friendship and respect to every visitor, not being alone in a Church building and following the promptings of the Holy Ghost for guidance and safety. The guidelines also help leaders respond better in moments when a worship service is being disrupted by an individual or group.
The guidelines conclude with counsel on how to respond to an active shooter or other active assailant. These instructions are taught by law enforcement and security industry experts as the most appropriate response to such a situation. Leaders and members are instructed to run, hide or fight, depending on the circumstance:
Run. Flee immediately if a safe path is available. Move quickly to the safest exit and away from the building to a safe location. Exit quietly, without drawing the assailant’s attention. Adults are to ensure that all children are supervised and accounted for. Do not return to the building or to an office or classroom for personal items. Do not carry anything that could be mistaken for a weapon by responding law enforcement.
Hide. If you are unable to escape safely, hide out of sight of the assailant’s view. If possible, close, lock and barricade the doors to the classroom, office or other room where you are hiding. Turn out the lights, silence mobile phones, and keep low to the floor and away from windows. If there is an exchange of gunfire between law enforcement and the assailant, everyone in the building is to stay in their barricaded rooms until instructed otherwise by law enforcement.
Fight. As a last resort, if there is no time to run or hide, fight back against the assailant. Use anything available as a weapon, and fight to stop the assailant. If others are present, organize to defend yourselves.
See the updated guidelines documents for more detail:
United States and Canada: Security Guidelines for Church Meetings and Events
International Areas: Security Guidelines for Church Meetings and Events
Matt ThorleyOctober 13, 2019
I strongly concur with Neal Christensen. After the “run” and “hide” options are exhausted, what are we supposed to “fight” against the active shooter with? Our hands? Concealed carriers are not the problem, they are the solution. Making the church a gun free zone only makes it more of a target, not safer.
Andrew StoutOctober 13, 2019
Sadly, this is why schools with young children have been targeted. They are gun-free zones with a large quantity of ready-made victims unable to easily or properly defend themselves. Gunmen are typically cowards who want minimal resistance when satiating their mental health crises. They only want to attack unarmed and defenseless people, hoping for maximum damage before the police finally arrive and lay siege to the facility *outside*, while the victims and the shooter(s) remains inside. I look forward to living in a world without Telestial beings determined to harm and kill others, but that isn't the case at this point. It is certainly a conundrum.