Pastor Robbed During Sermon Wants Priests to Have Gun Permits
"If the teachers can have it, we should be able to have it."
Bishop Lamor Miller Whitehead, the flashy pastor who was robbed of $1 million in jewelry during a recent sermon, has called for clergy members to have special permission to carry guns. "The devil didn't want me back in this pulpit," he said this week. "God said, 'You can't take his life. You can touch his material things. But you can't touch his soul.'" He added: "I'm a miracle — I'm not supposed to be here today. Everybody wants to talk about what the tabloids are talking about and forget about the miracle." Read on to learn more about Rolls Royce-driving pastor and why he wants to pass a new gun law.
On Friday, Miller Whitehead—who has served time in state prison for identity theft and grand larceny—advocated for the special dispensation. "They need to pass a law expeditiously that pastors of houses of worship—anyone on the ecclesiastical staff—need to be able to have permits for firearms," he said. "If the teachers can have it, we should be able to have it."
"No matter if we have a record, it should be exempt," he said. "So we should be able to bear arms as the Constitution says."
During the press conference, Miller Whitehead asked President Biden and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to approve his request. "I'm calling on every elected official that has power to protect houses of worship," he said. "We need protection. We need you to sympathize with us. We don't get the luxury of having firearms. All we're asking is help us protect ourselves. Pass a law where we can carry our firearms, because this gun violence has gone to a new level."
Hochul has recently tightened firearms restrictions in New York, in response to recent mass shootings nationwide and an uptick in crime locally.
During a recent press conference, New York City Mayor Eric Adams was asked about Bishop Lamor Miller Whitehead's call for clergy to be armed in New York City. "Do you think it's a good idea that like clergy should get a special dispensation when it comes to gun permits?" a reporter asked.
"No," said Adams.
Lamor Miller Whitehead is the bishop at Leaders of Tomorrow International Churches in Canarsie, Brooklyn. The former candidate for Brooklyn borough president in 2020 has been described as "flashy," driving a Rolls-Royce and wearing conspicuous jewelry. He attracted headlines last week when gunmen robbed him of jewelry value at $1 million during a live-streamed church service.
Whitehead has been accused of stealing $90,000 of life savings from one of his parishioners, and a New Jersey state court levied a $335,000 judgment against him for failing to pay developers of his $1.6 million house. Whitehead also owes more than $260,000 in a 2009 Manhattan Supreme Court judgment over an unpaid personal loan for a home purchase.
Whitehead has ties to Adams and has appeared at several public events with him. "No one in this city should be the victim of armed robbery, let alone our faith leaders and congregants worshiping in a House of God," Adams told the New York Daily News on Monday about Whitehead being robbed during church services. "The NYPD is investigating this crime and will work tirelessly to bring the criminals involved to justice."
