JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — The River of Tri-Cities Church in Johnson City will give away an AR-15 this weekend as part of a raffle.
The church said the AR-15 giveaway is in celebration of Independence Day.
NewsNation affiliate WJHL spoke with Todd Holmes, senior pastor at The River of Tri-Cities Church.
“This is just one of the many giveaways that we do here at our church,” Holmes said. “And I thought it was appropriate, since it’s, about our nation’s independence and part of our Constitution and our Second Amendment rights.”
Holmes said he understands if people affected by gun violence feel that the giveaway is inconsiderate.
“There’s a lot more opportunity to be killed in vehicular violence or crash, I guess I should say, than there would be a gun,” Holmes said. “And people can get upset about something, but in the end it’s really not about a gun, it’s about a person’s heart and because a gun in itself is not evil. It’s as good or as evil as the person that’s using it.”
Holmes said precautions will be taken regarding the giveaway, and whoever wins the raffle must pass a background check before receiving the gun.
“I want people to know that we’re not putting the gun in the hands of suspects, okay,” he said. “But it would just be people who totally pass a background check and who legitimately are allowed to own a firearm.”
Holmes said many people among the church’s congregation are ex-military and law enforcement, including Kai Carter, who feels the raffle is like any other giveaway.
“We’re just very active in the community. Like people focus on the guns and things like that, but nobody focused on last week when we were in the local community and we gave away gift cards and cooked out for the entire community and blessed the entire community.”
Carter is also an associate pastor and dean of the Smoky Mountain Bible College, which is apart of The River of Tri-Cities Church.
“I’m also very sympathetic about anyone who’s lost a loved one in a shooting and things like that,” Carter said. “But again, a gun is just an inanimate object. It does not commit evil or good. It’s the person that’s behind the weapon, that does the evil or the good.”
Carter said people have valid concerns, but they are taking every precaution to have the AR-15 go to a law-abiding citizen.
Both Holmes and Carter are unsure if the raffle will bring others to be a part of the church’s congregation.
“I don’t necessarily think that it will make them become members of a congregation that’s only done through relationship,” Carter said. “You have to build relationships. People need community. And that’s why we do the other things that we do. This is just a small portion of what we do. We go in the community, and we bless communities and we do Bible studies in communities for the reason of fostering relationships, so that people will come to church and when they come here, their lives will change.”
Holmes said they’ve had many giveaways in the past that were not advertised.
“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. 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.”
The River of Tri-Cities Church is at 1005 John Exum Pkwy in Johnson City. The AR-15 raffle is on Sunday, July 7 after their 10 a.m. morning worship service. The winner must be registered before the service and stay until the end.
