In July previous US President Donald Trump was almost assassinated by a 20-year-old man wielding an AR-15-style rifle. That close call didn’t stop Rod of Iron Ministries from hosting a special Trump-branded AR-15 raffle at its fifth annual “Freedom Festival” this weekend.
Billed as “America’s Largest Open Carry Rally,” the festival draws attendees to celebrate the Second Amendment and includes former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, radio host Sebastian Gorka, former U.S. Rep. Alan West, and former Trump Hear from headliners including: ICE Director Tom Homan and Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec. Anyone who registers early for a free ticket will be entered into a drawing to win a Trump gun.
The Rod of Iron Ministry was founded by Seong Jin “Sean” Moon as an armed breakaway from the Unification Church founded by his father, Sun Myung Moon. The sermons and social media videos of Pastor Sean Moon, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, advocate a particular end-times theology that predicts the future overthrow of the U.S. government. He believes the AR-15 is God’s instrument of divine justice, the “rod of iron” mentioned in Revelation 2:27.
Moon often wears a crown adorned with bullets, carries gold-plated assault weapons, wears a helmet with a creepy skull mask, and rides a Harley. (It seems Moon also has musical aspirations. He raps under the name King Bullethead and is scheduled to appear at the Freedom Festival this weekend.)
Moon’s brother Justin founded Kahr Firearms Group in 1995 with a $5 million loan from his father. As states began to relax gun laws, they began manufacturing primarily small arms to tap into the growing U.S.-made concealed weapons market. law. It has since expanded and Kahr is now a sponsor of “Freedom Fest” held at the TommyGun warehouse in Greeley, Pennsylvania.
The two Moons are the Trump brothers, Eric and Don Jr. Established important MAGA relationships, including Kahr Firearms. Kahr Firearms currently offers a variety of Trump-themed weapons, and the company’s products are frequently promoted in Don Jr.’s weapons-themed outdoor magazines. field ethos. Eric Trump spoke when the gun company opened a TommyGun warehouse in 2016.
Considering Sean Moon’s obsession with the downfall of the current US government, it’s no surprise that he joined the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. He was at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, and although he did not enter, he got close enough to be hit by tear gas.
Pastor Cheolbong did not seem particularly concerned with the impression or suggestion that his ministry was heretical. President Moon: “We are accustomed to such persecution.” rolling stone‘s Tim Dickinson noted in 2022 that followers of his father’s church are colloquially known as “Moonies.”
Under Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church was known for practicing mass weddings for its believers. (In 1982, one couple joined 2,075 couples at Madison Square Garden.) In 2018, the Rod of Iron hosted a mass wedding and vow renewal ceremony in which couples carried (unloaded) assault weapons similar to those used days earlier. So we updated this tradition. He opened fire to massacre dozens of school staff and high school students in Parkland, Florida.
This year is not the first time the Freedom Festival has given out Trump guns. But given Iron Rod’s respect for Trump, I wondered if Freedom Festival organizers would have thought twice about raffling off the former president’s would-be assassin’s preferred weapon. “That will not affect my decision to do this at all. I don’t think we’ll ever see the connection,” Tim Elder, the church’s director of global missions, told me. “It’s not AR’s fault. He was the one who pulled the trigger. It’s his fault. We will not blame AR for that incident.”
But if the AR-15 is an instrument of God’s justice, what does it mean if it is used to attempt to assassinate Trump? “We see the hand of God is upon this man.” The Elder said simply.
The festivities begin Friday with an appearance by Flynn and a screening of his new film of the same name.
