Church That Worships With AR-15 Is Giving Away Trump Rifle

There have been two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump this election cycle, but that is not stopping the Rod of Iron Ministries from holding a raffle for a Trump-themed AR-15 at its annual Freedom Festival this weekend.
People are encouraged to register early for the Freedom Festival to receive free tickets and the chance to win a “Trump AR-15.”
The festival is put on by the Rod of Iron Ministries, a group headquartered outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania, that allows its congregants to bring their weapons to church. The group offers courses for pistol and rifle marksmanship, home defense shotgun and the “art of the draw.”
Newsweek reached out to a representative of the Freedom Festival for comment.
Sunday services, which the group calls “Sanctuary Church,” focus on scripture while also supporting “the right to bear arms and focuses on where God’s word, politics, morality and culture intersect,” according to the website.
Pastor Sean Moon, founder of the Rod of Iron Ministries, believes the AR-15 is an instrument of God’s justice, the “rod of iron” from Revelation 2:27. Moon is the son of the late global religious leader Sun Myung Moon, founder and leader of the Unification Church.
“The citizens of the Kingdom of God, who will share in Christ’s sovereignty, bear the responsibility to defend their family, neighbors, and nation with their own rod of iron,” Moon wrote in his book, Rod of Iron Kingdom, according to Rolling Stone.
The ministries’ rallies are meant for “Christian patriots.” The website says that they stand for issues of law and order, traditional families, medical freedoms, life and the U.S. Constitution.
“We are Constitutional Christians who are serious about electoral integrity and also believe in Making America Godly Again,” the website says.
Moon’s prayers to his community for “a kingdom of peace police and peace militia where the citizens, through the right given to them by almighty God to keep and bear arms, will be able to protect one another and protect human flourishing,” Business Insider reported in 2018. The ceremony blessed the group’s marriages as well as their weapons.
Moon has given other sermons, like one from 2023, in which he said “all human beings should have the right to self-defense” and that “God sent good men with guns.”
This year’s Rod of Iron Freedom Festival, which starts on Friday, will feature the premier of Retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn’s movie Deliver the Truth. Whatever the Cost. at the Tommy Gun Warehouse Grounds in Greeley, Pennsylvania.
Flynn was the White House national security adviser under Trump for less than a month before he resigned and was charged with lying to the FBI about conservations he had with Russians on Trump’s behalf. He pleaded guilty twice but was eventually pardoned by Trump. Flynn, with Oklahoma entrepreneur Clay Clark, launched the ReAwaken America Tour, a far-right and Christian nationalist movement, and has been a leader in peddling claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
The rest of the Freedom Festival weekend features an art show, a session with Tom Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a talk by the author of STEALTH: Kamala Harris’ Communist Roots, as well as a gun auction with proceeds benefiting the Friends of the NRA.
A shooting range will also be an “ongoing activity” throughout Saturday and Sunday by the Kahr Firearms Group.
Gun control does not rank as a top issue in an election mostly focused on the economy, despite several high-profile instances of gun violence this year that have come amid the presidential contest.
The most shocking was on July 13, when Trump was grazed by a would-be assassin’s bullet at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. An AR-15 was used by Thomas Matthew Crooks to shoot the former president, striking his ear and killing one crowd member.
On September 4, two students and two teachers were fatally shot by a student at Apalachee High School near Winder, Georgia.
Two weeks ago, another would-be assassin hid in the bushes at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, as the former president played. A Secret Service agent noticed the suspect before he was able to take a shot, possibly saving Trump’s life again.
As of March 2023, one in 20 Americans owned an AR-15, which was about 16 million people nationwide, according to research from The Washington Post and Ipsos.
The Pew Research Center’s June election polling showed voters “have starkly different opinions” about gun ownership, with 80 percent of President Joe Biden supporters saying it is important to control gun ownership. As almost identical inversion, 85 percent of Trump supporters had said it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns.
On Wednesday, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online surveys taken on September 26 and between September 29 and 30 found that 51 percent of likely voters believe the country needs stricter gun control laws.
Earlier this week, Trump during a rally in Wisconsin called on gun owners to vote for him, saying that despite his endorsement from the National Rifle Association in May, gun owners don’t “vote much.”
A website lists a weapon, titled “The MAGA Patriot AR 15,” as an “extremely limited, custom-designed, commemorative AR-15 designed to ‘Trump’ every other rifle available.”
The website states that behind the initiative is Caleb Lee, the founder of a shooting training center and “boutique gun manufacturing firm” in Alabama. The first 20 MAGA Patriot guns cost $2,997 each, and, according to the website, they come with six bonus gifts, including 30-round Magpul magazines, a “covert” rifle carrying soft case, a rifle training course at Lee’s firing school and more.