Yes, A Gun is a Blessing, Explains a Kansas Pastor

River Church had fewer than 100 members when it gave away the first gun in June, but the Facebook post garnered almost 2,500 comments and close to 2,000 shares.

The idea came from the church’s young pastor, Christopher Zehner.

“I was thinking about Father’s Day because we’ve got a lot of men in the church, they like to shoot guns,” Zehner told me when I sat with him in his church’s auditorium. “I thought, ‘Let’s give away a gun to the church and let some of the men get involved, and let’s make it a big, fun event.’”

But I had the same question as many Facebook commenters — how is a gun a blessing?

“A gun is a blessing because here in America, we have what’s called the Second Amendment, and we’re free Americans,” Zehner told me. “We have the right to bear arms.” …

Zehner didn’t read all the comments, but he got the gist.

“A gun in itself is not bad,” said Zehner, who is a gun owner. “It’s the person behind the gun that has a bad heart is what’s bad. I wanted people to know that there’s still a young generation like myself that still stands for what this country was founded on.” …

“I know some people would maybe question, ‘Is a gun a blessing?’” Zehner said. “But in the context of protecting your family, standing up for the Second Amendment right, I believe it’d be a great blessing.

“If that was protecting somebody’s wife from dying, or a daughter from dying, it would be horrible to see someone’s life lost,” he continued when I asked him if one of these four firearms ended up taking a life. “But to see a family protected, that’s the American way.” 

— Taylor Hemness in Lenexa Church ‘Blesses’ Congregation Members With Firearms