By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Five dead in Grand Blanc, Mich. on Sept. 28. Three dead in Minneapolis, Minn. on Aug. 27. Three dead in Lexington, Ky. on July 13. Those are the most notable shooting attacks on churches in the United States in 2025, all within the last three months. Soft targets like churches and schools have become a favorite target of mass shooters in the country. Law enforcement is often limited to a reactive role in the shootings, but Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir also wants to be proactive.
"If any minister, any priest, any clergy in Barton County wants to send two or three guys to my concealed-carry school - we're going to have another one in March - I will put them in at no charge," Bellendir said. "If they want to attend that school, all I ask is that the pastor of the congregation call me up and say he has two or three guys I want to send to concealed-carry school."
Bellendir said he understands why there might be hesitation in wanting armed parishioners in a place of worship, but also reminds residents that Barton County is a large area to cover in the event of an active-shooter situation.
"We will get there as quickly as we can," he said. "But if you're sitting in a church in Claflin or Ellinwood, where you have one cop in town, your response time might be slow. It's going to take us some time to get there. Sometimes these things are over in a matter of seconds."
In the last two major church shootings in the United States in Michigan and Minnesota, 26 people were injured in addition to the eight people killed.