Baptist Youth Gun Giveaway Sadly Cancelled.

[stephendare]

http://wonkette.com/401108/no-gun-giveaway-for-churchgoing-youngsters-this-year

One sad Oklahoma church won’t be giving away a very special semiautomatic assault rifle to one lucky boy or girl who loves the Lord.

The Windsor Hills Baptist Church is holding a youth conference next week, which will feature “21 hours of preaching and teaching.”

A shootin’ contest was also on the docket until the gentleman running the sacred event had to stay home because of “bone spurs on his foot” or somesuch (that is what they say in the church video, here) so now the winner won’t get an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle, and Jesus weeps

http://www.koco.com/news/16860079/detail.html

[NotNow]

In many rural areas, turkey shoots and "shooting contests" are quite common.  They are a holdover from when these areas were frontiers of the US.  My grandmother remembered indian raids when she was a kid!  I owned a rifle before I started school.  I carried a rifle in the gunrack of my truck all through high school, as did most everyone else.  (It was used against predators and pests.)  It is just a different culture Stephen.  I'm still shocked at how scared of guns some people are.  Folks just have different starting points sometimes.

[vicupstate]

Indian raids ?

You must be a grandfather yourself for that to be true.


No one should fear hunters having their guns, and everyone, including hunters, should fear anyone having an uzi. 

As with most issues, the extremist define the terms of the debate, which is a shame.       

[adamh0903]

I agree NotNow, I have had guns all my life. In turn, have been taught how to handle guns all my life and now sale guns but it might be a little over the top to give them away at a youth event...Not sure that would even be legal in this state.


By the way, you better get your AR-15's before January, they will probably be banned again.

[RiversideGator]

I have 3 firearms.  And they have never jumped up and shot anyone.  I enjoy hunting also but also I maintain them for self-defense and to exercise my Constitutional rights.

[NotNow]

Raids by indians and mexican bandits continued in SW Texas into the twentieth century.  The stories that my grandmother told dated from the 1890's, when she was a child.  I was adopted into the family and my folks were quite older than norm.

I didn't want to turn this into a second amendment debate, but the second has nothing to do with hunting.  My point is that the culture of that area is different from what many here are used to.  Since we are trying to be so sensitive to other cultures, lets try to be at least as accomodating to what many Americans define as theirs.  Thanks.

[avonjax]

Okay did no one notice that it was a church group giving away this gun.....
That's the appalling part to me.....
I'm not a big fan of guns, but I do believe it's your right to own them.....
But churches should not promote giving a gun away as a prize
And if you believe it's okay then why don't you take your gun to church....

[adamh0903]

I would not feel comfortable giving away a gun at a YOUTH event. I do know churches that have given away guns for mens retreats and outings, I don't have a problem at all with that.

Stephen, not all handguns are bad, with the proper training. A handgun kept my wife and my father in law from being robbed in a hotel parking lot one night.

[mkr32208]

Well I'm a gun owner and user.  However I don't know about a church giving them away!  

To me the fact that you believe in an invisible man in the sky who does magic indicates that your already a bit too mentally unstable to own guns!

[Driven1]

Stephen, not all handguns are bad, with the proper training. A handgun kept my wife and my father in law from being robbed in a hotel parking lot one night.

that is amazing.  thanks for sharing the story adam.  

[Driven1]

To me

key words.

[mkr32208]

No I didn't freak out... 


I'm too busy reloading!

[Steve]

Gentlemen - I've removed some of the posts.  If anyone has an issue with my edits, please PM me.

Let's cut the garbage out.

[RiversideGator]

I think Avon lives in Avondale.

I think its kind of appalling that churches would be giving away a semi automatic rifle to anyone.

But this is the world we live in.

I do think that an event like this plays into the perception that the american fundamentalist community has morphed into something with very little resemblance to the philosophy of the Prince of Peace.

1) I read the actual story (not the wonkette take on it) and they did not mentioned the type of semi-automatic rifle.
2) Even if it was semi-auto, this just means it fires each time you pull the trigger not that it is a machine gun.  Many legal pistols and shotguns are made this way.  It is common to use such shotguns in bird hunts, for example.
3) There is no Biblical problem with owning or giving away firearms provided that the intended use is legitimate.  Hunting would clearly be appropriate in a Christian context.

BTW, notnow, real fan of the second amendment here.  Would much prefer people to posess rifles for self defense and hunting than uzi's or handguns though, as the former is clearly for use by a well provisioned citizenry.

An uzi is a fully automatic smaller weapon.  This is not what was described here.  Also, the 2d Amendment does not state that we can only have rifles for hunting.  It clearly is meant to protect the citizens against both personal harm and government tyranny.

Avon, I certainly hope that we don't lose you as a poster.

Avon should stay, I agree.   

[Driven1]

i am a gun owner.  and yes, i sometimes take my gun to church.  not INTO the church mind you, but it will be in the car.  it would be wonderful if thugs took Sundays off, but they do not.