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Praise the Lord and pass the ammo

U.S. Army and allies disturbed by Biblical citations on gunsights

The inscriptions on products from defense contractor Trijicon of Wixom, Mich., came to light this week in the U.S. where Army officials said Tuesday they would investigate whether the gunsights—used by troops in Afghanistan and Iraq—violate U.S. procurement laws. Australia said Thursday its military used the sights and was now assessing what to do, while New Zealand declared its intention to remove them. Trijicon said it has had such inscriptions on its products for three decades and has never received complaints before. The inscriptions, which don’t include actual text from the Bible, refer numerically to passages. The Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight rifle sights used by New Zealand troops, which allow them to pinpoint targets day or night, carried references to verses that appear in raised lettering at the end of the sight stock number. Markings included “JN8:12,” a reference to John 8:12: “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life,'” according to the King James version of the Bible. The Trijicon Reflex sight is stamped with 2COR4:6, a reference to part of the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” the King James version reads. A New Zealand army officer said his country has about 260 of the company’s gun sights, which were first bought in 2004, and will continue to use them once the inscriptions are removed because they are the best of their kind.

San Francisco Examiner

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