Guns for Jesus, Good Grief
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.
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Something is definitely wrong in this country. I have a better idea than spending 21 hours preaching and handing out an assault rifle. How about taking the kids to George Washington Hospital on a Friday night in the summertime to show them the dangers of guns in the hands of children.
Horrible, no doubt.
Posted by: Matt Brodhead | July 12, 2008 at 09:26 PM
The Supreme court has it covered!
Posted by: Maddy | July 13, 2008 at 01:48 AM
"Pastor emeritus Jim Vineyard, who ran the event, injured his foot and wouldn't be able to attend."
uhm, anyone else suppose he accidentally shot himself?
Posted by: suzanne | July 13, 2008 at 09:03 AM
Yeah Suzanne,
That would make sense to me. He's playing with fire. Metaphorically speaking he has done that either way.
Posted by: Ed | July 13, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Matthew 10:34
Luke 22:35-37
Never mind David and the Amalekites or Gideon amongst the Midianites
I have never fired a gun in my life but I am mean with a bow and arrow.
Posted by: laurentius-rex | July 13, 2008 at 06:58 PM
There's some bad reporting, there, methinks.
1. The thing can't possibly be an assault rifle, not for $800 or so. No real ones have been allowed to be registered by us peons since 1986, and any transferable ones older than that generally go for several thousands of dollars, maybe ten thousand or more.
2. Only those 18 years or older can own a firearm of any kind, anyway, since 1968.
All that said, you should see the pic of the cute pink AR-15 Michael Z. Williamson built for his daughter Morrigan, back when shen was nine, or so. It's lawfully his, but she gets to shoot it. I'll try to remember to find and send you a link.
Posted by: Justthisguy | July 13, 2008 at 09:29 PM
Guess you haven't read Ted Nugent's classic (he says, tongue-in-cheek) "God, Guns, and Rock & Roll"?
Posted by: Brett | July 13, 2008 at 11:29 PM
This reminds me of an awesome song by Kid Beyond called 'I Shall Be Free'
Posted by: Zachary Lassiter | July 15, 2008 at 02:26 AM
Oh, on reading further about this, it seems that this church has had a shooting match every year for some time, with the first prize being a nice rifle.
Never forget, the Mainstream Media are inalterably opposed to private citizens having access to the ordinary infantry weapons which are part of our birthright as citizens of a free republic.
Posted by: Justthisguy | July 17, 2008 at 10:47 PM
Oh, on reading further about this, it seems that this church has had a shooting match every year for some time, with the first prize being a nice rifle.
Never forget, the Mainstream Media are inalterably opposed to private citizens having access to the ordinary infantry weapons which are part of our birthright as citizens of a free republic.
Posted by: Justthisguy | July 17, 2008 at 10:47 PM
So,
Part of the missionary work of the church is to shoot guns and have competitions? I'm opposed to gun ownership, I might be for something like a single round rifle that has to be manually loaded but people don't need guns. If all the guns disappeared tomorrow, our nation would be a better place to live, a safer place to live. Don't use phrases like "natural born right" sounds like a snippet off of right wing radio.
Mainstream Media sounds like something bad. What's the alternative, right wing racist media?
Posted by: CS | July 18, 2008 at 06:36 AM
Ah, "natural born right" is a snippet from the likes of Locke, and Jefferson, and Madison, and Washington.
If all guns disappeared, we would all be at the mercy of those who are bigger, stronger, younger and meaner than we are.
Sir, I don't think you've thought through exactly what it means to be a citizen of a republic.
Posted by: Justthisguy | July 20, 2008 at 01:54 PM
The alternative to Mainstream Media is blogs, like yours and those of other people.
Real citizen journalism, that is.
Posted by: Justthisguy | July 20, 2008 at 02:02 PM
Yes, it is our birthright as citizens of a free republic. Every citizen has the right to protect himself. I can't imagine how angry I'd be if I could not protect my family because some other people think the police can be trusted for that job!
Posted by: Quinn | August 14, 2008 at 07:46 PM
Quinn,
It must be terrible to live your life in fear. Of course you have more chance of being hit by lightening or winning the lottery than being a gunshot victim.
Posted by: CS | August 14, 2008 at 07:52 PM