This tactic misses the whole point of Jesus' message, but I suppose it allows some kind of target to be hit, even if it's a shooting target.
Via Courier-Journal.com:
Chuck McAlister, a former Outdoor Channel hunting show host who is in charge of the effort, told The Courier-Journal that 1,678 men have already made “professions of faith” at “Second Amendment Celebrations,” where they showed up hoping to get guns as door prizes in the last year.
On Thursday, Lone Oak Baptist Church in Paducah was planning to giveaway another 25 handguns and shotguns. And organizers expected as many as 1,000 people to attend.
“The day of hanging a banner in front of your church and saying you’re having a revival and expecting the community to show up is over,” McAlister explained to the paper. “You have to know the hook that will attract people, and hunting is huge in Kentucky… So we get in there and burp and scratch and talk about the right to bear arms and that stuff.”
The Courier-Journal points to an Internet video of McAlister speaking to Silverdale Baptist Church’s men’s wildlife supper last year in Tennessee last year. The 30 minute talk focuses on hunting and opposition to gun control, but makes little mention of Jesus or religion.
It's hard for me to imagine how the message of Jesus gets wrapped in a Second Amendment call to faith, but somehow this guy has managed to market the concept.
To me, it smells more like militia-building wrapped in the gauze of religion. Raw Story:
McAlister, however, defended the tactic, saying that giving away guns is different than giving away cash.
“You have to know the hook that attracts individuals,” he pointed out. “The number of unchurched that will show up at an event will be in direct proportion to the number of guns you give away. And I can almost tell you the number of men that will show up based on the make and model of the gun.”
Well, that makes it just fine, then. I'm still looking for that part in the Bible where Jesus said "Go forth, and make gun owners of all nations."
