Gun worshiper wins semiautomatic weapon at church raffle in upstate NY the New York Daily News proclaims. Does “Ron Stafford, 42, an avid hunter and single father of two from Schenectady” worship guns? Of course not. The Daily News’ headline writer was pandering to the paper’s disdain for Americans’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. To be fair, the headline’s certainly in synch with the article’s condescending not-to-say plain-old-nasty tone. Straight out of the chute, the paper’s playing cute . . .
An upstate gun nut went to church Sunday and walked out the winner of a high-powered assault rifle similar to the one used to slaughter 26 innocent people at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: calling lawful gun owners “gun nuts” is the equivalent of calling an African-American a nigger. Or a Jewish-American a kike. It serves no purpose – other than to promote the idea that the person being insulted deserves no consideration whatsoever. It’s hate speech pure and simple. Shame on the News for using the term.
As for linking the firearm that Mr. Stafford won with the gun used by Adam Lanza to murder 26 souls what can I say? That it’s the same firearm that millions of Americans use to hunt, recreate, arm themselves against tyranny and protect innocent life from criminal predation.
Note to the News: click here for an article on five people who used an AR-15 for self-defense. Also, guess what gun cops use during active shooter events? Yeah yeah I know. It’s OK for the cops to use “Adam Lanza’s killing machine” to defend innocent life but not their fellow citizens. Anyway, back to the bile . . .
But Ron Stafford, 42, an avid hunter and single father of two from Schenectady, said he didn’t see what’s wrong about owning a gun or a church giving away an AR-15 rifle.
“I believe it’s the right of the individual, I believe the church and our God-given rights and our rights to follow the Constitution go hand in hand,” said Stafford, who doesn’t even belong to Grace Baptist Church in upstate Lansingburgh, but made the 25-mile trek from his home for the gun drawing.
“I like to shoot,” said the Second Amendment zealot. “I believe that this shows the will of the people and what this country is all about.”
The News harps on the fact that Mr. Stafford is not a member of the church that raffled off the Adam Lanza-style AR-15. This is an issue because writers Caitlin Nolan and Bill Hutchinson want readers to think that Mr. Stafford doesn’t really believe in God. That the “zealot” worships guns. (Hence the headline.)
Yes, well, it’s clear that the scribes are the non-believers; they portray the service as an ordeal to be endured. “Stafford was so determined to win, he sat through the entire three-hour service — a requirement demanded by the church’s pastor, the Rev. John Koletas.” Demanded. Oy.
While the overall message at Sunday’s service was about God and guns, Stafford refused to ponder the question of whether he could imagine Jesus packing heat.
“I can’t answer that question,” said Stafford. “I’m not Jesus. I believe in my personal thoughts and to speak for him wouldn’t be very Christian of me.”
I’ve got no problem with debating Christianity’s teachings regarding armed self-defense, but the snide tone of that passage tells me that the writers have no morals whatsoever. In fact, I reckon these two worship at the temple of infinite cynicism.
[Pastor] Koletas triggered criticism from neighboring pastors that he was sending the wrong message when he announced the gun giveaway earlier this month.
“This is not a protest for anything. … It’s only different because everybody else has turned against God and turned against the Bible that this is such a shock to people that don’t know the Bible,” Koletas said.
In fact, he’s doing it again Monday at 7 p.m.
Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do. As for me, I’m cutting them no slack. I’m with Robert Zimmerman on this one.