"There's a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out." -Lou Reed

Monday, July 14, 2008

Semi-Automatic Fellowship


A friend sent me a link to this story today, and honestly, I had to read it a few times, and then watch the accompanying video to make sure I wasn't looking at an article from The Onion. But, sadly, no--the truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
Now, I know in some parts of the country, and in fact in some parts of my own home state, target shooting and whatnot are fine, respectable, hobbies and pasttimes. But does one need a SEMI-AUTOMATIC ASSAULT weapon for such an activity? And is this really the best thing for a church to be promoting to their youth? Uh, no and no.
To be fair, I checked into the model of rifle they were marketing on the church's website (pictured above), and within the listings of its capabilities, it says it has "captured the affection of sport shooters". However, it was developed for military use. This is not a gun I would want in any teenager's hand that I know of, sports shooter or not.
Some days, you just have to wonder. Click here to go to the original article, and to check out the video of the news report.


Church Cancels Teen Gun Giveaway


OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma church canceled a controversial gun giveaway for teenagers at a weekend youth conference.
Windsor Hills Baptist had planned to give away a semiautomatic assault rifle until one of the event's organizers was unable to attend.
The church’s youth pastor, Bob Ross, said it’s a way of trying to encourage young people to attend the event. The church expected hundreds of teenagers from as far away as Canada.
“We have 21 hours of preaching and teaching throughout the week,” Ross said.
A video on the church Web site shows the shooting competition from last year’s conference. A gun giveaway was part of the event last year. This year, organizers included it in their marketing.
“I don’t want people thinking ‘My goodness, we’re putting a weapon in the hand of somebody that doesn’t respect it who are then going to go out and kill,'” said Ross. “That’s not at all what we’re trying to do.”
Ross said the conference isn’t all about guns, but rather about teens finding faith.
“You make a lot of new friends down here,” said Vikki Goncharenko, who attended the conference. “You get to meet new people. There's a bunch of things that are going on. It's just, you have a wonderful time.”
Friday evening, Ross said the gun giveaway had been canceled. Pastor emeritus Jim Vineyard, who ran the event, injured his foot and wouldn’t be able to attend. The gun giveaway was also removed from the church Web site.
Ross said the church would give the gun away next year instead. He said the church spent $800 buying the gun for the promotion.


Copyright 2008 by koco.com.

2 comments:

Cassandra July 14, 2008 at 6:14 PM  

Well-- if they did it for the PR stink, they are certainly getting what they wanred!

Cheri Pryor August 9, 2008 at 7:30 PM  

Ummm...thanks for stewing an argument between my husband and I. For the record, I'm on YOUR side of this. Just wrong.

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