A St. Peters gun store has stopped selling yellow star patches like the ones Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust. Instead of “Jude,” the patches say “Gun Owner.”
The idea behind the product is the belief that gun owners are persecuted in the United States.
The owner of Tactical Shit, a company that has more than 600,000 followers on Facebook, statedin an email Tuesdaythat the business was sending its inventory back to the Idaho manufacturer, Violent Little Machine Shop. The owner stated that the company did not stop selling the product because people found it offensive.
“We’re not going to get in the habit of removing products just because they have offended someone however we have decided to remove and return this particular product because it is a ridiculous comparison that is no longer relevant under the new presidential administration,” stated owner TJ Kirgin. “We are very pro Isreal (sic) and in no way meant to marginalize such a serious subject by selling this patch.”
The patches sold for $7.99 and became popular while President Barack Obama was in office, Kirgin told the Riverfront Times.
The store sells gun accessories and parts, clothing and swag. The site has a section devoted to offensive patches.
Mark Cantor, a local Jewish attorney, commented on the RFT story that “as a gun owner and advocate, the comparison of gun (owners’) rights suffering to Jewish persecution by Nazi Germany is outrageous.”
The Anti-Defamation League of Missouri, Southern Illinois and Eastern Kansas stated on its Facebook page that, “Any attempt to equate 2nd Amendment rights with the lives of 6 million Jews and 5 million others murdered by the Nazis is both ignorant and obscene.”
Karen Aroesty, ADL regional director, told the Light that she was particularly bothered by the “chain” behind the sale of products in the store.
“To think that the people who thought of the idea to create the patches found makers for the patches and marketing and distribution chains,” Aroesty said. “How many people along the line could have said, ‘Wait this is not a good idea,’ and didn’t.”