Elementary School Cancels Classes Amid AR-15 Blessing Controversy

A Pennsylvania church's controversial ceremony in which worshippers have their AR-15 rifles blessed en masse has prompted a nearby elementary school to move its Wednesday classes to another location, according to reports.

News of the assault-rifle blessing at Sanctuary Church, also known as Rod of Iron Ministries, was first reported on Feb. 19, by WNEP-16, an ABC affiliate in Scranton, and has drawn national headlines. Five days earlier, a gunman using an AR-15 rifle, shot and killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida.

Rod of Iron Ministries, which had planned to conduct the ceremony before the Florida shooting, has told the expected 600 attendees not to load their weapons. The church and Wallenpaupack South Elementary School are both located on Main Street in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania.

Sanctuary Church and Rod of Iron Ministries are an offshoot of the Unification Church, led by Reverend Sean Moon, the son of media mogul and Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and focuses on the divine nature of firearms.

The school district said the roughly 280 students will be bused to a school about 15 miles away due to the “nature of the event,” but noted that “there is no direct threat to our school or community,” according to the Associated Press.

Rod of Iron Ministries reportedly invited state authorities to help make sure the event goes by without any safety concerns.

The Moon family owns Kahr Arms, a firearms manufacturer that in August 2015 moved from New York state to Pike County, roughly 20 miles from Rod of Iron Ministries and Wallenpaupack South Elementary School.