Fifty-seven percent of Protestant churches have a plan for an active shooter attack, and 95% have armed church members (54% of all protestant churches). That 54% in 2022 is up from 45% in 2019. At the same time, the churches with armed private security fell from 23% to 20%, and those relying on armed police fell from 6% to 5%. While those changes for armed private security and armed police aren’t likely statistically significant, they are consistent with churches moving away from paid/professional security towards relying on parishioners. Lifeway Research surveyed 1,000 Protestant churches.

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