Petzal: Praise the Lord (Quietly) and Pass the Ammo

Trijicon Company of Wixom, MI, has been noted for years for its red dot sights, and for its scopes with non-battery-required illuminated reticles. They make terrific sights and are nice people. Because the company was founded by a devout Christian, they have also, for many years, stamped references to New Testament verses on their scope tubes. This, it seems, is in violation of the U.S. Constitution, and is distressing to the American soldiers and Marines who use Trijicons, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, American senior commanders including General David Petraeus, and probably Osama Bin Laden, although he cannot be reached for comment

Under intense pressure from all of the preceding, Trijicon announced on January 21st that it will cease the practice, and will supply 100 kits to the military to remove the politically incorrect references. Well, fine, as a card-carrying American I believe in the separation of church and state, and it’s obvious that the Constitution cannot survive a series of small letters and numbers on 300,000 Trijicon sights.

However, let us not do things by half measures. The U.S. military still stamps your religion on your dogtags, and it must be intolerable to many to be shot by people who are clearly labeled Methodist or Catholic or Jewish. So no more religions on the dogtags. And while we’re at it, no more Christian or Jewish chaplins. And no more crosses at Arlington.

In these politically correct times, making these adjustments is no less than our sacred duty. Ooops, sorry about that “sacred” sneaking in there.