About 180 people attended a celebration of the constitutional right to bear arms at a Kentucky church Saturday afternoon.

Ken Pagano, pastor of the New Bethel Church in Louisville, addressed the crowd during the 90-minute program, The New York Times reported. Pagano sponsored the "Armed and Faithful" event.

"We want to send a message that there are legal, civil, law-abiding intelligent people who also own guns," he said. "There is nothing to be afraid of from a legal firearms owner."

Sheriff's deputies waited outside the church before the ceremony to make sure all openly carried weapons were unloaded.

Pagano did not display a weapon. Charlie Hinckley, the former preacher at a nearby Assembly of God church, joined Pagano on the platform with a .380 Smith & Wesson clipped to his belt and later said it was the first time he brought his gun into a church.

William Southern, 35, who wore his .357 Magnum, said guns in church were part of the early history of the United States.

"Gun awareness, I hope, but in all reality, probably just a fun day," he responded when asked what the event was about.