Meet Former Navy Turn Pastor Who Teaches Members How To Shoot

According to Correia, if the President Obama attempted to take away his firearms by removing the Second Amendment, 'that would cease to be a legitimate government'

John Correia is a senior pastor at the West Greenway Bible Church in Glendale Arizona and also a fully qualified National Rifle Association firearms instructor. 

 

The father-of-four normally has a bible in one hand and an AR-15 assault rifle in the other while spreading the word of the lord. 

 

Correia lives with his wife Laura, 38, and his four children Phoenix, 17, James, 15, Sarah, 12 and eight-year-old Abby in Phoenix, Arizona.  

• Former US Navy officer John Correia now preaches at the West Greenway Bible Church in Glendale, Arizona
• As a fully qualified firearms instructor with the National Rifle Association, Correia preaches that Jesus loves guns 
• The married father-of-four owns more than 20 firearms and brings his family out hunting on a regular basis
• His eight-year-old daughter Abby received a pink .22 caliber Crickett rifle for her birthday as she 'loves shooting' 
• Correia does not believe that guns are a problem in America, he claims the only issue is bad people with firearms 

John, left, alongside wife, Laura, Sarah 12, eight-year-old Abby and James 15, are all fans of their various firearms, apart from eldest daughter Phoenix, not pictured

 

Of the four children, eldest daughter Phoenix has no interest in firearms. But her younger brother James is an NRA apprentice instructor. He owns his own Browning BLR hunting rifles, a Remington 870 20 gauge shogun, several .22LR rifles and a Kahr CW9 pistol. 

Sarah, 12, is the proud owner of a shotgun, while 8-year-old Abby received a pink Crickett .22 single shot rifle for her birthday. 

 

Correia, who is a former US Navy officer has his own personal arsenal consisting of more than 20 weapons. The evangelical Christian owns three break-action shotguns, a Glock 19 handgun as well as an AR-15 rifle. 

 

The AR-15 rifle is the 'civilian' version of the M16 assault rifle used during the Vietnam war. The AR-15, however, does not have a fully-automatic fire setting, despite this, it was able to kill effectively in the Sandy Hook and Colorado theatre massacres.

 

Correia said: 'A guided tour of the different firearms that I own, that would take a while.

'A running joke is if you know how many firearms you own, you probably don't own enough.'

despite the Bible's 'turn the other cheek' message, the 38-year-old pastor says scripture clearly justifies the use of lethal force.

 

John said: 'What fuels my passion for guns and self defense? First and foremost my Christian faith.

'I wish everyone got along, I wish that everybody was nice, but they're not. And until we get into that perfect world where Jesus comes again, we need to be able to protect ourselves and in Luke 22:36 I believe Jesus said "let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one".

 

'People ask me all the time, well what about peace on Earth and goodwill to all men? Absolutely true, I believe very strongly in what Paul says in chapter 12, verse 18 - he says if possible as far as it depends on you be at peace with all people, and I'm a peace lover, I'm friendly if you meet me.

 

'But you know what? There are some people who won't be at peace with you.'

 

And while the former Naval officer's message may be controversial, his views go down well with his congregation.

 

But as his wife Laura acknowledges, his love of guns has not been to the taste of all his fellow worshippers.

 

The trainee midwife said: 'If they are against guns, very against guns, they're probably not going to stay at our church for a long time. I will just honestly tell you that.

 

'And there have been some people that have left because they don't like his stance on guns, they don't like it being brought up in church, they don't like the fact that he'd go out to shoot with fellow members of the church.'

 

Daily Mail