Church advertises AR-15 gun giveaway at Sunday service that bans ‘ANTIFA-like’ apparel, baggy pants

Video shows couple drawing guns at protesters heading to St. Louis mayor’s home

A social media video showed the armed couple standing outside their home Sunday evening, shouting at protesters, while people in the march urged the crowd to ignore them.(Credit: Daniel Shular via Storyful)

TROY, N.Y. - A church in Troy, New York is facing criticism for holding a raffle giveaway offering church-goers the chance to win an AR-15 assault rifle.

On the church’s website, a flyer is visible, which displays rules for the raffle requiring participants to register their information, including their name, age and address for a chance to win the gun.

“Does the Bible defend my right to keep and bear arms?” reads the church’s website, “Qualified attendee will receive a NY legally modified AR-15.”

The flyer also notes that Black Lives Matter or “ANTIFA-like” apparel is not permitted in the church, and denotes, “Anyone wearing their jeans, pants, etc., below their waistline will not be permitted in the building or the service,” as well as several other stipulations.

Local protester Steven Negron told WRGB, “It’s extreme poor taste, the time that they decided to raffle off a rifle when we have all of the shootings going on in all of our communities.”

“An AR-15 is completely unnecessary in this community. Even as a hunting rifle I mean that’s not really the type of rifle used to hunt," Negron said.

News of the raffle surfaced on social media when people began posting pictures of flyers that were distributed throughout the city.

The church also posted several videos on Twitter which showed a group of protesters standing outside the facility demonstrating against the raffle.

“We will never back down from wickedness in Troy, NY!” the church tweeted.

Grace Baptist Church has previously raffled off AR-15 rifles in 2017 and 2014, according to WRGB.