Project 21 Co-Chairman Council Nedd II, also an Anglican bishop and Pennsylvania state constable, is reconsidering his personal decision not to carry his gun during Sunday services.

As a constable, Council has provided protection to other religious institutions.  He never felt the need to be armed in his own sacred space until the attack on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas last week.  A combination of that, growing intolerance toward the practice of faith in general and personal threats toward him as a law enforcement officer is leadig him to change his mind about packing in the pulpit.

Council discusses his reasoning in a new commentary from Project 21 that was just published by The Daily Caller. In “An Anglican Bishop Explains Why He May Soon Be Packing Heat at His Pennsylvania Pulpit,” he writes:

I’ve always seen the job of a bishop as that of an overseer.  That’s why a bishop carries an ornate staff called a crozier.  Like a shepherd, it’s a bishop’s duty to collect the flock and guide it clear of the wolves…

Maybe the crozier is no longer enough…

While liberal politicians and activists immediately took to social media to call for more restrictions on guns, it’s obvious that they fail to understand how a gun can also serve as a tool of salvation.

A pistol in the pulpit may sound extreme, but — when people of faith increasingly appear to be targets of armed evil — a good shepherd must do what he must do to protect the flock from the wolves. From the perspective of a bishop and a cop, people must be protected.  This includes in sacred spaces.

Click here to read the entire commentary at The Daily Caller.

Click here to see the press release about Council’s commentary that led to these interviews in the Wall Street Journal and Orange County Register.