A Memphis man was taken into custody after he attempted to enter Easter services at a local Baptist church packing a loaded handgun and an assault rifle in a backpack. According to Fox13, Marcus Donald, 31, was stopped by church security as he entered the church grounds where an estimated 4,500 worshipers had gathered for the Easter holiday, reports Fox13. Memphis police spokesperson Karen Rudolph said Donald was carrying a loaded .40-caliber Beretta in his pants pocket and had a .300 Blackout assault rifle in his backpack. Authorities report that Donald stated that “People in society are a threat to him and that he must be vigilant.”…. Tennessee state law only bans guns on church property if that property is being used for a school event, or if the church posts signs at its entrances noting that weapons are banned [Ed. note: Emphasis mine.]
I should begin by commending Memphis police for arresting the gunman and de-escalating a situation most parishioners were never aware was taking place. Guns have no place in a house of worship, especially in the possession of someone who evidently has some serious mental health issues. What potentially could have been a significant tragedy was averted…and for that we should all be grateful.
That said, I find it interesting that the gunman was African-American. That may be apropos of nothing, but it does raise questions about the right to bear arms, which is supposed to apply to all Americans, but practically speaking is really only true for White folks. In most scenarios, a White man openly carrying- mental health issues or not- is merely exercising his 2nd Amendment rights. An African-American man openly carrying is a powder keg looking for a place to explode, and thus must be stopped before he kills innocent civilians.
There was nothing illegal, as least so far as I understand it, about what Marcus Donald was doing. It’s just that he was silly enough to do it while Black. I’m not going to cast aspersions on those involved, if for no other reason than I suspect there’s more to this story. I do find it very interesting that police swarmed to the scene upon a report of an armed Black man on church property…which isn’t against Tennessee law. Would a report of a White man doing the same thing generated a similar response? I don’t know the answer…and that’s what I find alarming.
