TYLER, Texas — For many in East Texas, church is their safe place but recent gun violence across America has congregation members on edge and leaders focusing on security.
Senate Bill 694, authored by East Texas state Sen. Bryan Hughes, is on its way to becoming law after Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed the bill. The new law aims protect church security personnel rights.
On Tuesday, at Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, a meeting was held by the board of the Texas Church Security Coalition. Their purpose was to gather church leaders from across the state to explain what this new legislation means once it goes into effect on Sept. 1.
"We had a lot of team members that were kind of jittery and not sure if they want to be security officers for the church," said Richard Dews, team leader at First Baptist Church. "With this new law that'll come into effect it's putting more of a relaxing atmosphere for us."
SB 694 will soon grant civil immunity to “security personnel” and the religious organizations they serve. David Cerqua, treasurer of the coalition, said it’ll benefit congregations large and small.
"Most of these churches, they don't have the resources to hire police to be there all the time," Cerqua said. "They have to do it themselves, but they need some protection so that they know that if they do take some action, under the guise of the security overall, that they can be protected."
The coalition wants to mitigate any risk of having to remove trespassers or anyone not following their church’s gun rules. Thanks to the new bill, that will no longer be the case.
"It really helps smaller churches that don't have insurance or civil liability insurance coverage," said Mike Collins, president and founder of the coalition. "I think it's a big benefit to smaller churches that can't afford insurance. Their team members are scared to do anything because they may be sued civilly."
"It's been a long time coming," Dews said. "Especially with Uvalde and all these different things that are going on and mass shootings, you got to have people that's going to be able to and willing to step up and protect you."
The coalition said they are thankful for Hughes creating the legislation, and the governor’s support in enacting it into law to protect congregations across Texas.