Also, many towns and cities had specific laws governing weapons:

27 Edward III. A.D. 1353. Letter-Book G. fol. x. (Norman French.)

This proclamation was made on Thursday, the Feast of St. Peter’s Chains [1 August], in the 27th year of the reign of King Edward the Third etc.—

“It is ordered that every hosteler and herbergeour, within the franchise of the City, shall cause his guests to be warned that they must leave their arms and armour in their hostels where they are lodging, in the keeping there of their hosts; and if such hosts do not give such warning, and any one shall be found bearing arms or in armour, for default of such warning, the host of such person shall be punished by imprisonment and other penalty, at the discretion of the Mayor and Aldermen.

“Also,—that no alien shall go in armour, or shall carry sword, knife with point, or other arms, in the City, or in the suburb thereof; on pain of imprisonment, and of losing such arms and armour.”

For the record, pgt seems pretty paranoid even by US standards.

“This 80 lb boulder I carry around everywhere really leads to a great deal of inconvenience and difficulty.”

But when is an attack likely to happen? Not during the service, no, but walking to/from church, or to/from their car, both at church and at home.

Uh, hi.  I live in a city.  Despite the relatively high crime rate in cities, I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve been the least bit worried about being “unprotected” by a gun.  I’ve never seen anyone else in such a situation either.  I think no matter what you have to acknowledge that it’s unlikely to happen pretty much anywhere, and even then in most cases it’s better to just give over your wallet and flee than to try to quick draw your way out of trouble.

If you want to make the gun control issue about threats to life and limb then this is simple: all the evidence points to guns putting their owners in more danger, not less.  “Oh, but I am especially well-trained and competent.”  Yes, and 90% of US drivers are above average.  The statistics say what they say.  Even assuming you are that competent that just means there’s that many more idiots out there dragging your numbers down in which case I’d prefer they didn’t have guns.

they tend to be a crowd that enjoys freedom and personal resposibility and local control more than prior restraint and dictatorial proclamations from afar.

That’s not really the impression I get.  That’s what they say but it’s really not the impression I get.

Who’s pushing for constitutional amendments banning gay marriage?  “Prior restraint and dictatorial proclamations from afar” indeed.

See also: The #nosehillparkgentlemen incident.

Yes, I understand not all Americans are extremist gun nuts. And, yes, not all gun owners are extremist nutcakes. And, yes, not all Canadians are alike, and there are gun nutjobs here. They’re just not as numerous as America’s gun nutjobs.

Guess I’m gonna get flamed again…

Only trolls ever say that.  You can spend the rest of the day in the corner.

Oh, you say this will serve a preventive function, like the death penalty scaring bad guys away from perpetrating murders in the first place?

I feel safer already.

But why shouldn’t you fear your fellow parishioners any less than Random Q. Stranger with the odd bulge ‘neath his trenchcoat?  For a while, Adam Lanza was a student at Sandy Hook.  Harris and Klebold fired upon their own classmates at Columbine.  Ditto with Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech.  Nidal Hasan fired upon his own sworn fellow soldiers at Fort Hood.  They all had different reasons for doing what they did (and at least one of them did it on a military base where the legendary “good guy with a gun” was able to take him down within ten minutes or so, after only 42 people had been shot), but these guys at least took out their rage on the community they knew best.  Just because someone is a card-carrying and church-attending Unitarian Universalist is no guarantee that a Very Bad Day coupled with a gun or two might never lead to disaster.

As for the damage they could do with a car?  Sure, George Weller took out 73 people as he plowed through the Farmer’s Market in his car (ostensibly without even trying), but y’know, at least he had to get a license for that.  My heretofore unstated goal is to make mass murder more (not less) inconvenient.  But if churches find it useful to allow guns within their sanctuary for the protection of the huddled multitudes within, they are certainly invited to be my guest.

Silly Jesus, you don’t bring a sword to a gun fight.