Guns and Bible verses. It is difficult to think of two things that could go together worse.
Trijicon, a company that makes and sells gun sights, has found a way to combine these two items by inscribing a shorthand code for Bible verses next to rifle sights’ serial numbers. For example, one sight reads, “JN8:12,” a reference to the Book of John, and another one reads, “2COR4:6,” a reference to Second Corinthians.
According to Trijicon’s Web site, “We believe that America is great when its people are good. This goodness has been based on biblical standards throughout our history and we will strive to follow those morals.”
Trijicon has been inscribing Bible references on its rifle sights uneventfully since it was founded in 1981, but last month it was discovered that many of these “Jesus rifles,” as they have been notoriously named, are being used by our military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan and were purchased on your dime.
According to ABC News, Trijicon has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide approximately 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and more contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.
Not only does this seem to be a direct violation of the establishment clause in the First Amendment, but having our soldiers carrying rifles with coded Bible references could lead to many undesirable and grievous consequences.
By arming our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan with rifles coded with Bible verses, we play right into the hands of the people who want to claim that we are launching a “crusade” in our fight against al Qaeda.
“It’s literally pushing fundamentalist Christianity at the point of a gun against the people that we’re fighting. We’re emboldening an enemy,” said Michael Weinstein, a member of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, to ABC News.
With seemingly no benefit at all, it is a disgrace that these “Jesus rifles” were ever purchased or placed in the hands of our military servicemen.
Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing for Trijicon, said to ABC News that there was nothing wrong or illegal with adding the inscriptions and the issue is only being raised by a group that is “not Christian.”
Munson’s rather narrow-minded response shows a complete lack of foresight with respect to the implications that are bound to be drawn when our soldiers are fighting a war with rifles that have Bible verses coded on them.
Despite Trijicon saying they will stop inscribing Bible references on sights to be sold to the U.S. military, our government should immediately sever all ties it has with Trijicon and find a company that will sell us sights without trying to slip in a side dish of religion.
Bible verses and guns need to remain distinctly detached from one another. Rather than trying to chip away at the wall of separation between church and state, I think we should throw on our dirtiest jeans, begin spreading mortar and continue laying bricks.
Reach Austin at acyost@asu.edu
