Church Leaders Guarded, Members Defenseless: What the LDS Memo Reveals

LDS memo reveals how disarming members left churches open to attack — and what pastors must learn.

Since 2019, ordinary members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been disarmed by order of their leadership. The handbook update banned firearms from meetinghouses, with the only exception being for current law enforcement officers. This means that licensed carriers, retired police officers, veterans and trained parishioners are forbidden from protecting their own congregations with a firearm.

At the same time, another church in Michigan recently faced a similar armed assault. The difference was striking. That congregation was not bound by a prohibition from its leaders. Instead, it had organized a safety ministry, trained its people, and allowed qualified members to carry firearms. When an attacker arrived armed with a rifle and a handgun, the church was ready. The deacon intervened, the safety team engaged, and the threat was stopped before it ever reached the sanctuary.

The LDS Church offers no such safeguard. It has no safety ministry at the ward level, leaving congregations with no trained team in place and no armed response available when danger walks through the door.

Adding to the contradiction, LDS leaders at the highest levels travel with armed protective details. They acknowledge the need for their own protection but leave ordinary members exposed and defenseless.

This leaves LDS wards vulnerable. And history has shown that vulnerability is not theoretical. LDS facilities have been attacked repeatedly over the years, making them one of the most targeted religious groups in the United States.

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A Leadership Decision With Consequences

In August 2019, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints formally changed its handbook to prohibit firearms in all meetinghouses and temples. The only exception carved out was for current law enforcement officers. Retired officers, veterans, concealed carry permit holders, and trained members of the congregation were all placed under the same ban.

The official memo reads:

“With the exception of current law enforcement officers, carrying lethal weapons on Church property, concealed or otherwise, is prohibited” (Handbook 1, 8.4.5; Handbook 2, 21.2.4).

Read it for your self by clicking here.

The same document then directs members to rely on the Run, Hide, Fight model for active shooter incidents. Under the “Fight” portion, it instructs:

“Fight. As a last resort, if there is no time to run or hide, fight back against the assailant. Use anything available as a weapon, and fight to stop the assailant. If others are present, organize to defend yourselves.”

Here lies the contradiction. LDS leadership disarmed their people and then told them to “grab a weapon” and fight. But by banning firearms, they removed the most effective means of defense. The advice amounts to using chairs or books against a rifle.

The memo also makes it clear that wards are to rely on local law enforcement for any incident they cannot handle. On paper, this sounds like a plan. In reality, it is a fatal gap. As a 30-year law enforcement officer, I know firsthand that even the fastest response is not instantaneous. Most responses fall between three and five minutes.

At the Michigan LDS church shooting, police reported arriving in just 90 seconds from the first 911 call — one of the fastest response times possible. Yet in that short span, multiple members were killed, and the church was set on fire. Ninety seconds is an eternity when evil is unopposed.

The leadership’s 2019 decision did not just disarm members. It left every LDS meetinghouse a soft target, relying entirely on outside rescue rather than allowing congregations to protect themselves.

Safety Letter Update 2019

219KB ∙ PDF file

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Read the LDS memo for yourself. If this is your plan at your church, change it immediately. It is not a plan, it is hope and hope is not a plan.

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A History of Violence Against LDS Facilities

The 2019 decision might have been easier to defend if LDS facilities had no history of being targeted. But the record shows otherwise. For decades, LDS churches have been attacked with firearms and violence.

• 1999 – Salt Lake City Family History Library
  Sergey Babarin entered the LDS Family History Library with a .22 caliber rifle. He opened fire on staff and patrons, killing two and wounding four more before police shot and killed him (upi.com). The attack was sudden and devastating, and lives were lost before law enforcement could intervene.

• 2010 – Visalia, California
  Bishop Clay Sannar was in his office when a disturbed man entered the meetinghouse and shot him to death (thechurchnews.com). Sannar was targeted specifically because of his role. The killer later died in a confrontation with police, but the bishop was gone.

• 2018 – Fallon, Nevada
  During Sunday sacrament meeting, a gunman opened fire inside the chapel. One congregant was killed and another wounded (kolotv.com). The congregation had no armed presence to intervene.

• 2021 – Vestavia Hills, Alabama
  A 19 year old missionary, Elder Michael Fauber, was shot multiple times while playing basketball in the church gym. He survived, but with serious injuries (abc3340.com). The attack could have easily claimed his life.

• 2025 – Grand Blanc Township, Michigan
  The most recent and deadliest incident came when a gunman attacked the LDS meetinghouse in Grand Blanc. He shot members, set the building on fire, and killed multiple congregants. Police arrived in just ninety seconds, but by then the tragedy had already unfolded (fox13now.com).

These incidents are not isolated. They form a pattern. LDS meetinghouses have been targeted repeatedly, across multiple decades, in different states, and with different motives. The lesson is clear: LDS facilities are not immune to violence. And since 2019, members have been explicitly forbidden to take the one step that could change the outcome, being armed and ready to respond.

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Case Study: Two Michigan Churches, Two Outcomes

Michigan has now seen two church attacks within months of each other, and less than an hour’s drive apart. The contrast between them could not be sharper.

In Grand Blanc Township, an LDS meetinghouse was attacked on September 28, 2025. Congregants were disarmed by church policy. No safety ministry existed at the ward level. When the gunman entered, opened fire, and set the building ablaze, there was no immediate resistance. Multiple members died before police could arrive.

By comparison, in Wayne, Michigan, only about an hour away, an armed man wearing tactical gear arrived at CrossPointe Community Church earlier in the summer. He carried a rifle and a handgun and began his assault in the parking lot. A deacon, Richard Pryor, rammed him with his truck to disrupt the attack. At the same time, the church’s safety team, armed and trained, engaged and fatally stopped the shooter before he could breach the sanctuary. The congregation inside remained unharmed.

Two churches, in the same state and only an hour apart, faced similar threats in the same year. One congregation was ordered to be defenseless by its leadership. The other prepared, trained, and empowered its members. The outcomes speak for themselves.

The Biblical Takeaway: Learning From Our Mistakes

The Bible is not only a record of history but also a guide for living wisely in the present. God repeatedly warns His people not to ignore lessons, not to repeat the same mistakes, and not to be passive when action is required. The recent LDS tragedy is not just a matter of policy failure, it is an example of what happens when leadership closes its eyes to reality. Scripture speaks directly to this issue.

Proverbs 26:11 – “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.”
When leaders continue to disarm their people in the face of repeated attacks, they are walking back into the same mistakes. The Bible calls this folly, and it carries consequences.

Hosea 4:6 – “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
The record of violence against LDS facilities is public knowledge. Yet leadership refuses to acknowledge it or prepare accordingly. Ignoring the lessons of the past leaves the flock vulnerable to destruction.

James 1:22 – “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
It is not enough to preach stewardship and protection of the flock while leaving congregations defenseless. True obedience to God’s Word requires action. Leaders deceive themselves when they acknowledge the danger but refuse to prepare.

Galatians 6:7 – “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
The policy of disarmament has sown weakness. The harvest is tragedy. By contrast, churches that sow preparation and vigilance will reap resilience. The results of these choices are already visible in the contrasting outcomes in Michigan.

A Warning to Churches Without a Safety Ministry

The attack on the LDS meetinghouse in Michigan should not only serve as a lesson for LDS leadership, it should serve as a warning for every church that has not yet built a safety ministry.

If your church gathers each week without a trained team in place, you are living in the same vulnerability that cost lives in Grand Blanc. Relying solely on local police is not a plan. Police will come, but they will always arrive after the first shots have already been fired. In those first moments, your congregation will either be defenseless or protected by a team that has prepared.

The CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne, Michigan, proved that preparation changes everything. Because they had a safety ministry, because they trained, and because they empowered their members, the attack was stopped in the parking lot. The shooter never reached the sanctuary.

Pastors, elders, and church leaders need to take this seriously. The difference between tragedy and preservation often comes down to whether you have men and women in your congregation ready to act. Do not wait until after the fact to learn this lesson.

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What the LDS Church Should Do From Here

The tragedy in Grand Blanc should be a wake-up call for LDS leadership. It is no longer enough to rely on outside help or assume that police will arrive in time. Even the fastest law enforcement response leaves a gap between the first gunshots and the arrival of officers. That gap may be ninety seconds, it may be five minutes, but in either case lives are on the line.

The LDS Church needs to take three critical steps if it is serious about protecting its people:

1. Establish Safety Ministries at the Ward Level
   Each congregation should have a trained and organized team responsible for protecting worshippers. These teams should be carefully selected, trained, and accountable, acting on behalf of the congregation’s safety.

2. Prepare for the Gap Before Police Arrive
   A safety ministry is not a replacement for law enforcement, but it fills the crucial window between the first shots and the arrival of police. That window is where most lives are lost, and it is where trained congregants can make the difference.

3. Rescind the 2019 Firearms Ban
   The 2019 decision to disarm ordinary members has proven to be a deadly mistake. LDS leadership must acknowledge this failure, repeal the prohibition, and allow vetted, trained members to protect their own congregations.

Acknowledging the mistake is not a sign of weakness, it is a step toward wisdom. Scripture calls us to learn from the past, not to repeat it. If LDS leadership continues on its current path, more lives will be lost. If they are willing to correct course, future tragedies can be prevented.