A Florida Republican wants to make it easier for armed volunteers to provide security for churches and other houses of worship.
A bill, titled “Security Services at Places of Worship,” has been sponsored by Senator Don Gaetz and aims to waive some of the licensing and training requirements for individuals who want to volunteer to protect religious facilities.
Gaetz said that pastors in his district have asked for the measure, adding that smaller congregations typically don’t have the money to afford private security, FOX 13 reported.
Anyone hoping to volunteer will have to obtain a concealed carry permit, pass a level 2 background check, and secure approval from their local sheriff’s office before formally acting in a security capacity.
The bill specified that those acting as security via this method cannot be paid for their work, but it allows them to receive a “reasonable” reimbursement for their training costs.
Gaetz said he was sorry he even had to file the bill, and hopes that no one who begins working security under his bill will ever have to make use of their training.
“I hope my bill is never necessary and I’m really sorry that we had to file it, but the fact is that congregations need to have some way to provide area security for themselves if they can’t afford to buy or arrange for an armed security patrol,” he told FOX 13.
Under the current Florida concealed carry law, licensed gun owners with concealed carry permits can already have their guns on them inside houses of worship, unless expressly prohibited from doing so by that religious institution.
The bill is being introduced in the wake of several high-profile, deadly attacks on houses of worship over the month.
On Thursday, Jihad al-Shamie, 35, rammed his car into a synagogue in Manchester, Englan,d and proceeded to stab worshippers at the site before police shot and killed him.
Last weekend, Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, rammed his truck into a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints facility in Grand Blanc, Michigan, and began shooting at congregants inside before burning the building down. He killed four people and injured eight others.
According to a state police officer investigating the shooting, several bomb threats were called in to local churches after Sanford was killed.
In late August, Robin Westman, 23, fired a rifle into Annunciation Catholic Church in south Minneapolis, killing two children, a 10-year-old and an 8-year-old, and injuring 17 other people, including 14 children and three adults. The children and adults were praying at the time of the shooting. Westman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
It does not appear as though any of the shooters share similarities or likely motives— al-Shamie was a Syrian-born British citizen whose terrorist attack on Yom Kippur is likely tied to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Sanford was a MAGA conservative who hated members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints due to a failed relationship. Westman was reportedly a trans individual who wrote hundreds of pages of diary entries suggesting they were racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, and fascinated with mass shooters.
Gaetz said he and his colleagues in the Florida House will be introducing a companion bill in the coming days.
