Saturday afternoon, President Trump suggested to reporters that houses of worship would do well to be armed:

“This is a case where they had an armed guard inside, they might have been able to stop him immediately. This had been a case where if there were an armed guard inside the temple, they would have been able to stop them. Maybe there would have been nobody killed except for him frankly. So it’s a very, very — very difficult situation. When you look at it, we can look at it two ways. Again, if he had somebody to protect people. Now, isn’t it a shame you even have to speak that way? That we even have to think of that inside a temple or inside of a church? But certainly the results might have been far better. … They had a maniac walk in. They didn’t have any protection. That is just so sad to see. So sad to see. Results could have been much better.”

Trump’s idea isn’t far-out — some churches do indeed have armed security teams. In fact, as indicated by an Instagram post from its pastor last year, Florida’s River at Tampa Bay Church boasts this sign on its front doors:

“WE ARE HEAVILY ARMED — ANY ATTEMPT WILL BE DEALT WITH DEADLY FORCE — YES WE ARE A CHURCH AND WE WILL PROTECT OUR PEOPLE.”

But someone who isn’t a fan of mixing handguns and hallelujahs is Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, who schooled NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday on combining worship and weaponry:

“I don’t think that the answer to this problem is solved by having our synagogues, mosques and churches filled with armed guards or our schools filled with armed guards. I think we’re dealing with an irrational person who acted irrationally. And trying to create laws around that is not the way that we should govern. We should try to stop irrational behavior from happening at the forefront.”

I agree with everything he said about preventing crime and irrational people. But what does that have to do with not being armed?

Notice he said, “We should try…” Right — all you can do is try. And trying sometimes equals failing. In the event of a fail, it’s good to have backup.

Not coincidentally, Democrat Peduto told host Chuck Todd that he’s part of a bipartisan group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns. There’s been no indication that mass murderer (and anti-Trumper — here) Robert Bowers purchased his firearms illegally.

We’re living in a scary time. When the innocent must be safeguarded (here) even at places of worship, we’ve got much bigger problems than the proliferation of guns. I’m not sure what it will take for the Left to face the real threats to our nation (rather than here and here), but in the meantime, protecting oneself, it seems to me, isn’t a bad idea. Personally, the notion of armed churches disturbs me, but not nearly as much as another atrocity like Saturday.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Relevant RedState links in this article: here, here, here, and here.

See 3 more pieces from me: crazy Alex Jones, prehistoric Rosie, and tweeting obstruction.

Find all my RedState work here.

And please follow Alex Parker on Twitter and Facebook.

Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below. For iPhone instructions, see the bottom of this page.

WATCH: Chuck asks Pittsburgh Mayor @billpeduto what he needs from President Trump after the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue. #MTP

Peduto: "I don't think that the answer to this problem is solved by having our synagogues, mosques and churches filled with armed guards." pic.twitter.com/sExD5DVZ7l

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 28, 2018

If you have an iPhone and want to comment, select the box with the upward arrow at the bottom of your screen; swipe left and choose “Request Desktop Site.” You may have to do this several times before the page reloads. Scroll down to the red horizontal bar that says “Show Comments.”