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Church cancels teen gun giveaway

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An Oklahoma church canceled a controversial gun giveaway for teenagers at a weekend youth conference. Windsor Hills Baptist had planned to give away a semiautomatic assault rifle until one of the event's organizers was unable to attend. The church’s youth pastor, Bob Ross, said it’s a way of trying to encourage young people to attend the event. The church expected hundreds of teenagers from as far away as Canada.

“We have 21 hours of preaching and teaching throughout the week,” Ross said.

A video on the church Web site shows the shooting competition from last year’s conference. A gun giveaway was part of the event last year. This year, organizers included it in their marketing.

“I don’t want people thinking ‘My goodness, we’re putting a weapon in the hand of somebody that doesn’t respect it who are then going to go out and kill,'” said Ross. “That’s not at all what we’re trying to do.”

Ross said the conference isn’t all about guns, but rather about teens finding faith.

“You make a lot of new friends down here,” said Vikki Goncharenko, who attended the conference. “You get to meet new people. There's a bunch of things that are going on. It's just, you have a wonderful time.”

Friday evening, Ross said the gun giveaway had been canceled. Pastor emeritus Jim Vineyard, who ran the event, injured his foot and wouldn’t be able to attend. The gun giveaway was also removed from the church Web site.

Ross said the church would give the gun away next year instead. He said the church spent $800 buying the guns for the promotion.
goldenways

84 responses // Church cancels teen gun giveaway

  • What? Oh my word... Could have been a mission give-away, or a computer... are you kidding me!
    jjmaster
  • OMG?? THIS IS JUST RIDICILOUS SOONER OR LATER CHURCHES ARE GONNA BECOME LIKE BUSINESSES WITH A STARBUCKS OR PROBALLY MCDONALDS IN THE CHURCH

    CHURCHES ARE SUPPOSED TO PROMOTE PEACE AND LOVE YOU DONT ACCOMPLISH THIS WITH GUN GIVE AWAYAS
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    CroatianPimp
  • You guys are idiots being from Texas you grow up with guns. This is probably a small town where they ride horses and 4-wheelers and shoot shit. In highschool there was nothing better than to go out on some 4 wheelers get out there and shoot some shit.

    Guns dont kill people idiots kill people. I love my guns, and a local bank just had an add that you recieved a free shotgun for openeing a check account with a 500 dollar deposit. I would totally have signed up if i didnt like my chase accounts so much.
    clayjj05
    3 responses to this
  • what's the difference obama gives his inner city voters beer and coke in exchange for votes.


    Very true clay,

    but you forgot about there is only 1 stoplight in this town

    Unfortunatly I had to sell my 4-wheeler last year, but my girls will know the excitment of racking back and remington pump.

    God bless my remingtons
    God bless big oil
    mrburns
  • It's a different culture; guns are standard and are already in every home in much of the South. This is an example of the local church trying to meet youth where they are and connect with them.
    Stevox
  • Come for the guns, stay for the sermon.
    piratazephyri
  • I live in the south but what side of the nut tree are you folks picking from. You want to say all Muslims are fundementalist and terrorist. Then turn around and explicity condone a church that supplies youth with weapons. What kind of thought process do you subsribe to?
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    bluestranger
  • This sounds like a cult. Plus, there's no gun in Jesus.
    tomofnorthcal
  • Praise Jesus! Glory Be!

    Ok...now where's my assault rifle?
    mako2424
  • “We have 21 hours of preaching and teaching throughout the week,” Ross said.

    HAHAHHA....wait...wait...I can't breathe....hahahahaha..ohh GOD forbid brains be within the church.

    Oh wait...maybe He did.
    J_Jammer
  • strangely, this doesn't seem so far fetched...
    JDM
    • JDM
    • 1 month ago
  • Here we go again with bluestranger more liberal talking points about how people from the south ALL assosiate muslims with terror.

    Thought process? Liberalism is mental disorder which does not allow the exchange of ideas, but sticks to a bullit point like philosophy. These kids are from a small town, so what they shoot stuff. It's fun get over it. Kids in L.A. have guns too, but most of them are killing each other. you may be from the south, but you sound like some idiot from code Pink in San Fran.



    I dont want to be a stero-type, but in the words of Lynyrd Skynyrd blue stranger " a southern man dont need you around anyhow"
    clayjj05
  • AR-15s suck. Get an AK or build an electrically-fired gun instead.
    Dmitri_Molotov
  • Guns don't kill people,... people kill people.
    Well, so does greed, prejudice, stupidity, oh yeah, AND GUNS! It's sad when people defend guns, who should have them or why they're the best thing in the world. All it takes is a mental disorder and/or a bad day to turn that self-defense gunner into a murderer!

    Guns are made for a reason,... to kill! Killing is bad! Ergo, GUNS ARE BAD! Who's with me?
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    PajamaDan
    4 responses to this
  • Hell yeah clay

    same thing for neil young too


    God bless america
    god bless american hardware
    mrburns
    2 responses to this
  • I have already gone over that PajamaDan. Liberalism is a mental disorder. Like you said "All it takes is a mental disorder"

    Problem solved dont give liberals guns
    clayjj05
  • watch this comment being used here and here
    "We're trying to target the youth.", says one church member.
    This whole weapon deal gives new meaning to "target".
    This is beats Speed Metal Christian Music for weirdness.
    huntre
  • The same idiots that believe a supernatural being that lives in the sky somewhere, cares what you do with your genitals and needs your money also lack the self confidence and security to be a productive part of society without a firearm to protect them from the big bad minority types. They need to lock their fool selves in their bunkers and wait quietly for the second coming of their god.
    eldamon
  • I'm a liberal, and I love guns. Defend California from fascism, get a gun (or several) and know how, when, and why to use it. One of the first things a government gone awry does is take away the guns. Bushco didn't have to do that, anti-gun advocates (like our upcoming president Obama) already took care of that in some areas that could have been trouble (no automatic weapons in California). Even if you outlaw guns, people who want them will always have ways to get them. The war on guns is very similar to the war on drugs in this respect.
    Dmitri_Molotov
  • Who the hell thinks its a good idea to give a teen a semi automatic ASSAULT RIFLE....give them a hunting shot gun, give them a hunting rifle....THAT is acceptable to the southern culture but an ASSAULT RIFLE????? Someone up there said guns don't kill people idiots kill people... unfortunately most teens tend to be idiots.
    SilenceNoMore
    4 responses to this
  • This gun and violence culture is insane, it caters to and generates psychopaths. America has the highest crime rate and death by guns rate in the industrialized world. Trying to entice youth to come to church by offering semi-automatic assault rifles is not only immoral and insane, it is trying to attract them to church for all the wrong reasons. The kind of Christianity this represents is a totally perverted form of Christianity.
    Vierotchka
  • These Baptists are a funny type of Christian, aren't they?
    No Catholic Church would ever stoop this low.
    What in the world is wrong with these folks?
    PatrickEdwardMurray
    2 responses to this
  • But then again, this is part of the culture of some not all, southerners ( I lived for 9 years in the south )

    Brings to mind that old phrase "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition"

    Jesus did say to St. Peter that "Those who live by the sword die by the sword"

    Today, the gun is the sword of 2,000 years ago.
    I very much doubt if a lot of these folks think about it.
    PatrickEdwardMurray
  • HOW DOES GUNS = SPREADING OF FAITH?!?!?!?! XDD
    anglcazn
  • The point is when you mix religion and weapons it seems that you're trying to kick off another crusade. clayj05 if you ever have a point,please be very carefull and try not fall and hurt yourself on it. So far all i've seen from you is the same old worn out neo-con dogma.
    bluestranger
  • REligion and guns have nothing to do with each other. These people grow up in a society where guns are a way of life. Not to kill people, but to shoot animals and targets. If you are really from the south like you claim than you would understand that going out with your home boys and firing off a couple of shells into some of the beer bottles you just drank is different than starting another crusade.
    clayjj05
    1 response to this
  • How dare a green beret host a gun safety and marksmanship competition for teenagers! What’s the world coming to when ex-military personnel are allowed back into our society? We need a law passed that restricts a veteran from joining a church because everyone knows religion and guns equal terrorism!
    Ricky84
  • Somali and Afghan societies are also societies where guns are a way of life, and they differ little from Southern society. Same fundamentalism, same culture of violence, same psychopathy.
    Vierotchka
    11 responses to this
  • Praise the lord and pass the ammunition!
    Razgriz2234
  • I don't see guns being outlawed anytime soon. Especially since the DC gun restrictions were repealed.
    I'd prefer it if they were illegal. It is in the constitution though.

    It's funny, I don't think the gun issue is really about guns, I think it's about changing the constitution. The justices who refuse to tamper with the constitution do so not because of their stance on guns, but because no one wants to set a precedent for erasing a whole amendment. Which amendment would be next? The constitution would no longer be safe.

    The laws are ridiculous though. Here in California, I can own a shotgun, but it's illegal to own a ninja star.
    wtf.
    flyingkick
  • According to the advertisment, not only is there an AR-15, but volleyball *and* red HOT preaching...

    ...Christan or not, who wouldn't want to shoot at volleyballs with an AR-15 while listening to some red HOT preaching?
    Narcoleptic_Insomnia
  • What!? Why give away a gun!?

    Interesting that religion plus guns if you're a Muslim equals terrorism, but religion plus guns if you're a white American equals a snazzy way of appealing to teenagers...
    LindseyIndigo
    1 response to this
  • watch this comment being used here, here, here, here, here and here
    First of all I want to say that I am not against guns! But I do think that it is a sad day when a church in Oklahoma has to advertise to give away a semiautomatic assault rife just to get people through the front door. It sounds (to me) like all those "good ole boys" are just a little more interested in firepower than they are in going to church.
    Brockie
  • it would be agood time for another christian crusade, although the libs wouldnt give us as much tolerance as they do the radical muslims
    jeromecon
  • If this is what the church needs to do to persuade young people to attend then just give up already!
    rwylie
  • "it’s a way of trying to encourage young people to attend the event"

    I couldn't help but laugh out loud at this one. He sees nothing wrong with bribing kids with guns in order to get them to attend a church event. The irony is killing me.
    SpookyFish
  • The church was only marketing to their audience. If it takes those kind of gimmicks to get people in church then I foresee the downfall of organized religion in my lifetime.
    j_wreck
  • Pray to the almighty bullet.
    Bigdog_mike