Michigan weapons company Trijicon takes flak for rifle scopes with Bible verse

nydailynews ^ | January 19th 2010, | Stephanie Gaskell

[JoeProBono]

A Michigan weapons company is under fire for branding thousands of rifle scopes used by U.S. soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan with passages from the Bible.

U.S. military rules prohibit any service member from proselytizing while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, which are primarily Muslim nations.

Trijicon, a sighting manufacturer based in Wixom, Mich., has several multimillion-dollar contracts with the Pentagon to make sights.

Along with the sight's stock number, there are coded Bible passages from the New Testament engraved on the sights. One reads JN8:12, an apparent reference to John 8:12, which says, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Trijicon did not return calls for comment yesterday but confirmed the engravings to ABCNews.com. And the company's mission statement is steeped in religion, saying it strives to follow morals "based on Biblical standards."

Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said the sights endanger troops. "This plays right into the hands of maniacs who say, 'Look, it's a jihad,'" he said, adding that he's received several complaints from soldiers and Marines.

U.S. military officials told ABCNews.com they were "unaware" of the biblical markings.

[wardaddy]

Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said the sights endanger troops

isn't that wonderful...it's not perfectly ok to be bigoted towards Christianity after being bigoted against yourself for eras.

the Weinstein-named list of my cultural foes is growing...lol..and both end in the letter "Y"...Mikey meet Harvey

Shame of Israel for calling a missle "Gabriel" God forbid or weapons called Pegasus or Thunderbolt...more religious inference.... drunk with his own prejudice this nutbag...they should ignore him

[rcrngroup]

Yes, I realize that we are not issuing these to Iraqi or Afghans, just our soldiers. I should have made that more clear in my note. The aggravating thing, is that some schmuck like Mike Weinstein is trumpeting this loud & clear, thereby assuring America-haters (at home & abroad) one more reason to bash Anerica and target American soldiers or personnel.

[ATLDiver]

I understand and I agree with you but in all honesty at somepoint this Political Correct crap has got to stop if this Republic is to survive.

Besides, if push came to shove Trjicon would gladly remove the markings on new production to keep the contract.

[I can has Low Taxes?]

“Yes, I realize that we are not issuing these to Iraqi or Afghans, just our soldiers.”

You would be incorrect, sir:

http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/ht_scopes_slide6_ssh.jpg
(note Iraqi uniform and flag)

Is it “practically speaking” a big deal? No.

However, propaganda-wise it’s something the enemy can easily spin up as more evidence that this is a religious crusade and not a defensive war against terrorism.

So in essence Trijicon is parading their piety around to impress gun-buying Christians, at the cost of giving our enemy propaganda ammo to use against us. There is no reason whatsoever that Trijicon should put religious references on a gov’t contract product, much less one used in a war where religious issues are a major factor.

[no-s]

the "Rule 308" emoticon:

(+)

FOTFL. that's a great one. It needs to be in the standard. Oh god, I can't stop laughing.

[I Buried My Guns]

"...Using this in Muslim lands gives the taliban “proof” to the argument we are crusaders waging war on Allah...

Dude, really now. We should not waste a single calorie justifying our behavior to 7th-century heathen animals. They do not react to reason like a western person does. The coddling of these assclowns is one of the reasons we have not won a decisive victory yet.

Your example of the Enfield's pig/cow greased rounds is a good example how their worldview has not evolved one iota in the 154 years since that event occured.

[I Buried My Guns]

"...Trijicon is parading their piety around to impress gun-buying Christians..."

Except that to "parade" you must advertise and make widely known. They did not do that. Apparently they have been putting references on their sights for years and years with no advertisement of this fact. This argument is a fail.

"...There is no reason whatsoever that Trijicon should put religious references on a gov’t contract product...

Again, fail. This product is off the shelf, not made exclusively for the military. If anything, you should aim your muslim-appeasement and Christian-hatred towards the procurement officer who did not pick up on this (tiny and insignifigant) attribute.

[I can has Low Taxes?]

“Dude, really now. We should not waste a single calorie justifying our behavior to 7th-century heathen animals. They do not react to reason like a western person does. The coddling of these assclowns is one of the reasons we have not won a decisive victory yet.”

Brilliant strategy, no wonder the Afghan War is about to exceed Vietnam in length. And also no surprise that people from countries nowhere near Iraq and Afghanistan (Nigeria, Yemen, Indonesia) are piling onto the “America is out to get Muslims” bandwagon.

It’s people like you, who cleave to the “yep, this sure is a Holy War!” mentality, who are giving aid and comfort to the enemy by giving them the ammo to spin up uneducated peasants and idle rich kids to go out and kill your fellow Americans.

[philetus]

[I Buried My Guns]

"...It’s people like you, who cleave to the “yep, this sure is a Holy War!” mentality,..."

Actually, I possess more of a "Let's nuke them from orbit" kind of mentality.

As for your rantings about a "holy war": if this was indeed a holy war we would have won it in about 35 minutes. Your allusion to a holy war illustrates a simplistic view that a lot of athiests and liberals have: that this conflict revolves around Christianity fighting against islam.

A more accurate angle is this: A diverse, fully developed, mostly peace-loving culture is at war with 7th-century band of violent, heathen, desert-dwelling nomads who only bow to the most ruthless among them, and who celebrate xenophobia, misogyny, and child-rape.

Your other comments are simply not worth rebutting as they lack substance.

[I can has Low Taxes?]

“Except that to “parade” you must advertise and make widely known. They did not do that. Apparently they have been putting references on their sights for years and years with no advertisement of this fact. This argument is a fail.”

This has been well-known in shooting circles for some time, as Google searches will show you, as a “hey, didja know that???” amongst gunowners. It’s certainly within Trijicon’s rights to do so on a private-purchase item, and if it helps their sales by giving folks a warm fuzzy, more power to ‘em.

“Again, fail. This product is off the shelf, not made exclusively for the military. If anything, you should aim your muslim-appeasement and Christian-hatred towards the procurement officer who did not pick up on this (tiny and insignifigant) attribute.”

The US gov’t isn’t just waltzing into Joe’s House o’ Guns and picking these off the shelf (barring a few individuals making private purchases, or testing units). They signed a contract with Trijicon saying “give us X many sights of ABC specifications.” Trijicon then marked off a certain number of sights to be directed towards that contract, and they continued their practice of marking them with religious references throughout years of that contract.

“Muslim-appeasement”? So “not doing unnecessary and unprofessional things to tick folks off” is “appeasement”?

“Christian-hatred”? That’s a pretty uncalled-for low blow. I don’t care if Trijicon is Christian, Jewish, or Wicca, it’s inappropriate to put religious markings on items supplying a government contract.

[John Leland 1789]

“U.S. military rules prohibit any service member from proselytizing while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, which are primarily Muslim nations. “

---

To have such a rule is a gigantic error, because trying to change their outside without changing the inside will only guarantee that they remain our enemies.

When the US military is gone, all will revert back to the same regressive, anti-American, dangerous, hateful kind of society that will always be a threat to anything non-Muslim.

[I Buried My Guns]

"...“Christian-hatred”? That’s a pretty uncalled-for low blow...."

You are correct. I retract that statement. It was not accurate and not approriate to the argument. If I can condemn you of anything, it would be "too nice regarding the muslim threat".

[I can has Low Taxes?]

"You are correct. I retract that statement. It was not accurate and not approriate to the argument. If I can condemn you of anything, it would be "too nice regarding the muslim threat". "

Cool, glad we can at least meet in the middle, though we disagree on the best strategy to deal with the issue.



"To have such a rule is a gigantic error, because trying to change their outside without changing the inside will only guarantee that they remain our enemies.

When the US military is gone, all will revert back to the same regressive, anti-American, dangerous, hateful kind of society that will always be a threat to anything non-Muslim."

... I'm near speechless. Look how much trouble we're having right now in pursuing relatively limited regional objectives in Iraq, and a "punitive mission spilled over into nation-building" in Afghanistan. And you think this would get easier if we publicly said "yep, we're out to convert all you heathens"?

I wouldn't blame them for attacking us at that point, if our national policy was to convert other countries at bayonet-point. Not to mention how blatantly, blatantly unconstitutional it would be to have US troops proselytizing abroad.

Are you actually a Constitution-loving American, or are you one of those religious fascists who only plays the game to buy some breathing space for your particular sect, and won't rest until the whole country perfectly follows the rules set forth by the your particular denomination?

If the latter, you're no better than the people we're fighting against who want to bring the world under Sharia. You just think it's better because you're _convinced_ that you're right the same way the Taliban is convinced that _they're_ right, and willing to consign the world to endless war over it.

[gaijin]

It wasn’t some idiot muzzie who kicked up this fuss, it was MICHAEL WEINSTEIN, from the very dishonestly named, “Military Religious Freedom Foundation”. http://wwww.mrff.org

Many parts of his dihonest page feature aged Constitution scrolls, or make you half imagine that Ben Franklin will stroll out with buckle shoes, powdered wig, and half-moon glasses, but I asssssuuuure you he is all about stamping on the bibles of US military people:

He was a USAF J.A.G. puke who worked —of all people— for Ronald Reagan, then made some bucks in the private sector suing folks for Ross Perot. Then he retired at from 2006 and has for the past 4 years been waging Secular Jihad against men who treacherously fight muslim folks who throw acid on girls and say Jews are monkeys (don’t ask me).

Sounds crazy huh? He’s overweight, ugly, angry, and other bad stuff —things you can see from the news broadcast clips he has at his website:

http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/weinstein2.html

Yes, while we are out trying to head off Armageddon or widespread terror, this guy choses to focus on stuff that’s written on rifles —amazing, isn’t it?

I do not understand what drives this incredibly deluded, zeppelin-like REMF’ing insect.

[LadyPilgrim]

Every time I see this posted I want to shout HALLELUJAH!!!!!
We ought to put verses on everything we issue to our military!

Battle Hymn of the Republic.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFh0oy6vIt4&feature=fvw