Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Jesus Scopes

I had one of those days where nothing much happened. I took my car to the shop because I suspected something was wrong with my engine mounts. Sure enough three were bad and as a result my CV axles had been damaged. Since I was messing around in town I didn't get around to writing my blog all day. I borrowed my mom's car to come home since it's going to take another day to put all those parts on my car. And it's going to cost me $1600. I debated ranting about that on my blog but I don't really care. Driving my mom's car reminds me how much I truly love my Honda Accord wagon. Whatever it takes to keep the Honda in good shape is worth it. Luckily I heard something truly rant-worthy on NPR on the way home.

According to ABC News, the US military is handing out Jesus rifles. Or more specifically, ordinary secular rifles with Jesus scopes. The scopes are made by Trijicon, with almost a billion dollars in government contracts. They are a blatantly Christian company -- says right on their website that they are all about upholding Biblical standards. I thought that was just an expression, "Don't make me get biblical on your ass." But no, Trijicon is actually casting bible verse citations into their product, in the form of a serial number that ends with something like JN8:12, or 2COR4:6. Look up John chapter 8 verse 12 and you find, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." "Me" would be Jesus. And I suppose the light is a helium-neon laser? Or are these optical sites? I suppose the "life" reference is for the person holding the gun, not the one on the bullety end.

I wish I had something more insightful to say about this, but I'm still kind of stuck on my original gut reaction of "Hey Trijicon! FUCK YOU!" I hope my friends Darron the atheist gunsmith and Craig in the army will weigh in on this topic.

I was happy to keep my lack of religion to myself when the religious people were polite about it too, but when they get all up in everybody else's face then I feel an obligation to stand up and be counted on the opposite side. Almost a BILLION dollars going to this company? I mean, I feel bad enough buying a chicken biscuit at Chick-fil-a because they proselytize to their employees, but at least they don't print bible verses on their bags. Just fuck you, Trijicon.

******* Update January 21********

ABC News reports Trijicon promises to remove the bible references from their products and is sending out kits to correct the ones in the field.

3 comments:

  1. As I recall, Trijicon scopes are optical, with an illuminated reticle. The illumination is provided by faith-based technology. No, wait, it might have been tritium gas, energizing phosphors. Either way, spooky, dangerous stuff.

    By the way, helium neon lasers are totally obsolete as weapon sights, despite their superiority for other uses. It's been many years since I've seen a He-Ne weapon sight. They were huge, heavy, and power hungry. A simple diode laser is the universal choice these days, though the guvmint limits us to Class IIIa stuff for consumer use (<=5mw transmitted power). You can buy cheap, high power diode laser weapon sights overseas, but it's difficult to get them through customs:

    http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5027

    I worked at a gun shop/ taxidermy shop for years. The owner was quite adamant about keeping religion off of his shelves. If I spotted anything on a product package that even hinted at religion, that product would no longer be welcome in his store.

    As to the Jesus scopes, I think if I was a soldier, I'd be performing a minor cosmetic alteration to my scope...

    Darron the atheist gunsmith

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just noticed that the "smart" Google ads on this page are now loaded with links to Trijicon scope sellers, "Study Bible Hebrew", gunsmithing tools, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oops, I guess I revealed my physicist roots. I think red laser, I think HeNe. That's the first laser I ever played with and it was from the optics lab. Was not for consumer use at all, plus it had to be plugged in to plenty of juice. Of course laser scopes would be like diode laser pointers. I've never bothered with those because after the real deal they just seem lame.

    And yep, there are those ads! I read an article about internet ad placements and how to avoid having your ads pop up on pages that are actually critical of your product. Apparently it's a problem.

    ReplyDelete