Isn’t the church’s ban, written or not, unconstitutional?
...Isn’t the church’s ban, written or not, unconstitutional?...
No. It’s not part of the local, county, state, or Federal government. 2A only applies to government actors. The church can make their own rules about this.
Unconstitutional? Perhaps, but not because of the Church (a private organization). Any blame would rest on the Texas Legislature, because they passed state laws making such a ban enforceable. From the Diocese of Ft. Worth’s policy:
“Rationale:
In 1996, the Texas Legislature approved the carrying of concealed handguns, but the law prohibited them from being carried on Church and School premises. In 2016, the law was amended to allow the open carry of handguns and the statute left the prohibitions in place. However, for the law to take effect on Diocesan property effective notice must be given.”
That said, a gun ban as such does violate a natural law right to self-defense. As such, I would propose that any parishioner who carries a firearm legally has violated no moral law, because the diocesan policy is unjust... it doesn’t conform to divine law manifested in the natural law. The bishops who have enacted such policies were wrong to do so (Ft. worth is not the only one) and have capitulated to the spirit of the age.
The whole policy (without the changes mentioned in the article) is here: https://fwdioc.org/dioc-weapons-policy.pdf
No. The Constitution places limits on the government, not on private entities.