A church in Pennsylvania is inviting couples to bring their unloaded AR-15s or similar semiautomatic rifles to an upcoming ceremony so they can be blessed.
According to The Scranton Times-Tribune, Sanctuary Church in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania will hold the event on Feb. 28. It also will put on a dinner this Saturday to promote gun rights.
"All of the weapons in the ceremony will be checked to make sure they are unloaded, with a zip tie so that no bullets can be inserted," Sanctuary Church president Richard A. Panzer told the Times-Tribune.
"We are inviting local and state police to be on the premises, so that everything goes safely."
The Rev. Hyung Jin Moon is the leader of Sanctuary Church. His late father Sun Myung Moon started the Unification Church in 1954 in South Korea. Both churches are socially conservative and support the Second Amendment.
Sanctuary Church wrote on its website that if people are not able to buy a semiautomatic rifle for the blessing event, "couples are invited to purchase a $700 gift certificate from a gun store, as evidence of their intent to purchase a 'rod of iron' in the future."
The gun control debate has taken over the headlines after last Wednesday's high school massacre in Parkland, Florida, which left 14 children and three adults dead. A 19-year-old was charged with their murders.
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