To the Editor:

Long experience in helping Jewish institutions protect themselves give us insight into why arming congregants is a bad idea.

Such plans raise questions that are extremely difficult to answer:

When should deadly force be used?

Who will make the decision?

What if someone makes the wrong decision?

How will the police distinguish "good" from "bad" upon their arrival?

What kind of training and ongoing practice will the congregants require?

Other concerns include both the legal liability for an institution, and the problem of getting insurance for an institution, if its security plan includes congregants using firearms.

Finally, many institutions balk at the idea of worshippers having guns inside their sacred spaces.

The Anti-Defamation League is in the business of helping religious institutions maintain the complex balance between being open and welcoming and being secure.

Arming congregants or clergy is not a serious answer to this extremely serious part of religious life in America.