The River of Tri-Cities Church in Johnson City, Tennessee held its annual Fourth of July raffle over the weekend. One of the big prizes was a brand new AR-15!
"This is just one of the many giveaways that we do here at our church," senior pastor Todd Holmes told WJHL. "And I thought it was appropriate, since it's, about our nation's independence and part of our Constitution and our Second Amendment rights."
According to Holmes, the winner of the raffle must pass a background check to receive their big prize. Notably, this isn't the first AR-15 they've gifted to a member of the flock.
"A few months ago, I gave away one of my own personal weapons, and I was just like, you know what? I'm going to give it away," Holmes said. "And it was an AR-15, I'm going to give away my AR-15. And so I did that and I didn't announce it. We didn't put it on any social media or anything like that.
"Hopefully very soon, we want to be able to give a house away because these are things that people need. And so we just want to be a blessing."
Previously:
• Fireworks wrapper combines gun worship, right-wing Christianity, American flags, and patriotism
• Police called to church where man was waving gun… but it wasn't that
