I’m a little puzzled by some of the legislation coming out of this session of the Mississippi Senate and House.

A couple of measures have gotten lots of negative national media play, not something Mississippi needs, and I’m wondering if either was actually necessary.

For instance, one of those measures involves churches and their right to protect their members during services. That legislation seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to incidents of violence in churches elsewhere. It’s not something widespread here by any means. But mostly it seems to have stirred up a can of worms without any merit. Churches can and do protect their members right now. They simply do so by following the state’s existing laws regulating weapons.

The legislation passed by the Mississippi House and Senate, while interpreted differently depending upon to whom you talk, seems to allow church members to bypass Mississippi’s concealed carry regulations when taking a gun into a church service.

I’m not sure about you, but that’s scary to me. The legislation has drawn much criticism near and far. Those from afar say the Mississippi legislature has given churches here the right to form militias.

Those near say churches already have the ability to protect their congregations just like the members of the King Solomon Baptist Church do right now in Vicksburg. That church’s pastor said it has a security team made up of church members. The difference is, members of that team are trained and follow all of the state’s current laws governing weapons.

Why was this new provision necessary? Other than to cater to reactionary constituents, it doesn’t seem as if it was. It’s just something else to be used to bloody and bruise our state.

The next measure that has left many, including myself, shaking my head is House Bill 1523, known as the Religious Liberty Protection Act, which has passed the state Senate and House and is awaiting Gov. Phil Bryant’s signature. And Bryant, a fan of such legislation in the past, will undoubtedly sign it after due dramatic pause.

I’m wondering, just how big a problem is this? I submit it isn’t. I don’t think bunches of Mississippians have been punished by the government for refusing to issue a marriage license to a gay couple.

I talked with Vicksburg’s three representatives about this bill on Friday in order to share their thoughts and how they voted with our readers.

Sen. Briggs Hopson, a Republican, seemed to truly struggle with his decision and, in the end, supported the bill because he thinks a person’s religious freedom is paramount.

It was a clear-cut issue for state Rep. Alex Monsour, also a Republican, who said in essence people who have religious convictions shouldn’t be forced to act against those, and shouldn’t face financial destruction when upholding those beliefs.

He said many who have done so, like the baker who refused to make a cake for a gay couple, shouldn’t face financial ruin because of that.

The problem is, this bill does nothing to protect that person from financial ruin. In that infamous case, it was no action of the government that caused the business to fail. The baker wasn’t forced to bake the cake. It was the reaction of people that financially destroyed that baker’s business. This Mississippi bill doesn’t protect anyone against that.

Monsour and Hopson said those who see the bill as condoning discrimination are misconstruing it. However, state Rep. Oscar Denton, a Democrat, doesn’t agree. He thinks it’s a license to discriminate, and voted against it.

My problem is, we don’t know what it is and won’t know until the myriad of lawsuits are settled. And those lawsuits are sure to come quickly.

We’ve taken up valuable debate time in the state Senate and the House over these and similar measures, when real Mississippi problems — like education funding and how we’re going to pay for infrastructure improvements — should be the focus.

It’s another one of those times I’m thankful for Alabama, and am hoping former Alabama first lady Dianne Bentley will release some more of her recordings of her ex-husband the governor and his mistress to divert attention someplace other than Mississippi.

We really need to work on our aim, because we surely are good at shooting ourselves in the foot.

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Jan Griffey is editor of The Vicksburg Post. You may reach her at jan.griffey@vicksburgpost.com. Readers are invited to submit their opinions for publication.