Handguns for Church Security Team Members

By: Steve Moses

I have been teaching church security team member classes for sixteen years, and so far just this year have taught five classes that contained in total approximately 60 students. I have come to the following conclusions:

1. The majority of the team members have never taken a defensive handgun class from a qualified instructor.
2. Many of the students had little to no idea of how to deal with suspicious contacts, and some were unaware that some of their  challenges in addition to engaging an active shooter included  domestic violence and personal conflict.
3. A good percentage of the students had never practiced drawing from concealment.
4. Some of the holsters either did not lend themselves to concealed carry or were dangerous when it came to holstering.
5. Sights on some of the handguns would likely be difficult to see under low light conditions or simply because a team member was older and developing presbyopia.  The mega-church at which I spent eight years on a security team would frequently lower the lights when the minister was on stage or when playing videos.
6. During drills using non-firing handgun replicas some of the students violated safety rule number two (never point the muzzle at anything that you are not willing to kill or destroy) and safety rule number four (be sure of your target and what lies around it). 
7. Handguns fell into one approximately three categories:
   1. Full-size pistols such as the Glock 17, Staccato XC, Walther PDP Standard, Smith and Wesson M&P 2.0, H&K VP9, and comparable sized handguns from other manufacturers. Barrel lengths may range from 4.25 to 5 inches and even longer.
   2. Compact handguns such as the Glock 19, S&W M&P 2.0 Compact, Sig 365 Macro, Glock 48, S&W Shield X, Walther PDP-F, and comparable sized handguns from other manufacturers. Barrel lengths may range from 3.5 to 4 inches.
   3. Micro-compact and sub-compact handguns such as the smaller Sig 365 versions, Glock 43, S&W Shield, and comparable sized handguns from other quality manufacturers. Barrel lengths my range from 3.2 inches to shorter.

This article addresses handgun selection only. My personal preference for use on a church security team are compact handguns that can be shot nearly as well as full-sized pistols but are easier to conceal. There is nothing wrong with full-sized pistols for team members that can properly conceal them. I know men and women that carry and conceal such handguns any time they are armed and do it well. I personally find them difficult to conceal unless I am wearing a sport coat or suit, and I wear a closed short or long-sleeved button- down shirt when in church.  Team members who dress in the same manner but wear sport coats and suits to church should routinely practice drawing their handguns from both closed and open garments. The best (and cheapest) way to do this is to include it in their weekly dry-fire practice at home.

One important feature that  both full-size and compact handguns have in common is that the user can always obtain a full grip with the bottom three fingers from the dominant hand and the bottom four fingers from the support hand. This makes it easier to quickly get a full firing grip with the dominant hand when drawing the handgun from the holster. A poor grip makes accurate shooting difficult and can exacerbate recoil control. While a full grip may be possible with micro-compact and sub-compact handguns  using magazines that feature an extended base plate, a full firing grip cannot be maintained when executing a reload. Executing an emergency reload under high stress is hard enough, but doing it with the little finger extended makes it harder and can result in the team member dropping the handgun. One last thing: short barrels found in some micro-compact and sub-compact handguns so diminish velocity that even modern hollow-point bullets may fail to expand. When this occurs not only is the bullet less effective (unexpanded hollow-point bullets are less likely to quickly cause an attacker to stop due to rapid blood loss) but are more likely to  over-penetrate and injure or even kill a church attendee. On several occasions I have seen some of the best handgun rounds available fail on denim-covered ballistic gel when fired through handguns that had barrels shorter than 3.6 inches.

I encourage church security team members to carry compact or full-sized handguns when they are doing church security.  First-person defense at the  ranges most deadly force encounters take place is one thing, but third-party defense inside crowded structures that may take place at a variety of distances is another. I have voluntarily accepted a position on a church security team where I am accountable for every round that I might fire from my handgun. This means that not only in addition to having legal liability coverage through CCW Safe I am going to carry the most capable handgun I have that shoots well and is easy to  conceal. A competent law enforcement  or licensed private security officer who knows that he or she might have to use their handgun to defend lives of others is not going to use a micro-compact or sub-compact handgun. And neither should we.

This article is written for educational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice, nor does my opinion necessarily reflect that of CCW Safe.

Steve Moses was a team leader/shift lead on a megachurch church security team for eight years.  Steve has been a defensive firearms and tactics instructor for over thirty years and provides customer support and content for the Firearms Trainers Association and content for CCW Safe. Moses is certified as a Tactical Anatomy Shooting with X-Ray Vision Instructor, Rangemaster-certified Master Firearms Instructor and Defensive Shotgun Instructor, and former Texas Department of Public Safety Level Four Personal Protection Officer Instructor. He also holds instructor certifications in Red Dot Pistol Fundamentals, Empty Hand Knife Defense, OC/Less Lethal, Small Impact Weapons, Active Shooter Response, Force-on-Force, and other disciplines. He is a retired Deputy Constable, former member on a multi-precinct Special Response Team, and founder of the Tactical Anatomy Summit. Moses is a  Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Combatives University Brown Belt.