Guns are illegal at church, right?

What a sad, sad story:

A woman fatally shot by her husband after authorities said he killed four of her relatives at a church service had gotten a temporary restraining order against him last year.

The shooting spree at The Ministry of Jesus Christ church began around 10 a.m. as the service was nearing its end, police said. Church members wept as they watched investigators examine evidence and search for clues.

Police said the victims were Erica Bell's grandparents, Leonard Howard, 78, and Gloria Howard, 72; her great aunt, Deloris McGrew, 68, and a cousin Darlene Mills, 47.

Always remember that laws are only obeyed by law-abiding citizens (hence the phrase "law-abiding"); they're broken by criminals. Nevertheless, I'm sure in the coming days we'll hear something to the effect of "we need more gun laws to prevent this from ever happening again."

Let's get real for a second. The law was already in place, and it didn't seem to bother this guy one bit. I'm pretty sure there's a law about flying fully loaded passenger planes in to buildings, too. Criminals don't care what the law says (although in this case, I would make the argument that he cared greatly what the law said. If he knew anything about it, he knew nobody would be armed there.).

That said, if the law were reversed and church carry were allowed:

1. Most people would never know when someone was packing. Sure, there's an occasional idiot that wants to show off, but he won't have a license for long keeping that up. I can conceal a full-sized large frame semi-auto wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Do you think you would see anything with me wearing a coat and tie? And what you don't see, you don't worry about.
2. Do you think we'd have any more church shootings? Wouldn't criminals think twice about approaching someplace where someone could be armed? And if the criminal does enter and start shooting at you, at least you have an honest chance at defending yourself.