Former pastor Chuck Baldwin says assault rifle ownership is a biblical requirement

Radio host and former pastor Chuck Baldwin has claimed that owning an assault rifle is required in the Bible and a Christian who does not have an AR-15 is going against his faith.

Baldwin was the guest of a podcast that activist Sheila Zilinsky hosted over the weekend. He cited a passage in 1 Timothy 5:8 that spoke of providing for family to refer to gun ownership. The former pastor believes that this duty extended to providing protection.

"You must have the means of self-defense," he said in the podcast. "And in our society today, that means a firearm in the similitude of an AR-15," he further stated. "Without that, you are not in a position, you are not even able to protect not just your family and your house, but your neighbors, your community around you; that we, as a community of people — that's the militia — are given the God-given responsibility to protect our communities. That is a biblical requirement."

The liberal site Patheos, however, called out Baldwin's statement as delusional. The publication also pointed out that several religious rights activists like Baldwin believe in the same principle that not owning an assault rifle equated to blasphemy.

Do religious rights activist confuse the Second Amendment or the right to bear arms as a commandment from God?

In 2012, David Barton, a conservative, also defended that the Second Amendment as a "biblical right of self-defense." Though the Bible doesn't specifically address today's issues on gun control, the Founding Fathers wanted to emphasize that Americans could defend themselves against illegal threats, including those that come from the government.