I was sickened and saddened to see that the Discovery Channel chose today, the day we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, to premiere its new series Future Weapons. Discovery’s web site promoted tonight’s episode by urging viewers to “discover weapons that will always find their target, including the AS50 semi-automatic sniper rifle.”

King’s dream lives on with his followers, but it died for him April 4, 1968, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on Mulberry St. in Memphis, Tennessee. King was killed because he advocated non-violence, peace and racial harmony. The irony of this act has been lost.

For those fascinated by weaponry, here is what is believed to be the .30-06 (pronounced “thirty-ought-six”) rifle that killed King.

In the U.S. alone, according to one estimate, a child under the age of 19 is killed every three hours by a firearm. The dreams of nearly 2000 children are snuffed out here every year. That’s very disturbing. I assume that this also bothers the executive management of the Discovery Channel, the producers of Future Weapons, the program’s sponsors, and its viewers. If not, that’s even more disturbing.