Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, And So Is His AK-47
Do you ever get your Christmas cards back from the printers and as you’re filling them out think to yourself, “This picture of the kids on Santa’s lap would look so much better with a gun in it.” Well then, have I got just the thing for you. Sandy Springs Gun Club and Range, located just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, offered photos with Santa and guns this weekend as part of a food drive event. You may have missed this year’s chance to feel the cold steel of a gun barrel and the soft velvet of a Santa suit at the same time, but you’ve got a full year to plan your travel and coordinated camo covered outfits for the kids.
According to nydailynews.com, visitors to the event had their choice of firearms to choose from when posing with Santa, including a AK-47, AR-15 or FN-SCAR-17, all of which were unloaded, inspected and deactivated for safety. Participants were not allowed to use their own gun in a photo and only those over 18 were allowed to hold a gun on Santa’s lap. Is it just me, or does the image of a grown-ass adult on Santa’s lap with a firearm come across as vaguely threatening? Santa had better get them what they want this year, naughty list be damned.
Parents whose Christmas newsletter would not be complete without a picture of their kids with a gun did not have their holiday hopes dashed. Although minors were not allowed to handle the firearms, they could sit on Santa’s lap while the big jolly man held the gun. Sorry not sorry, but if my parents had put me on Santa’s lap as a six-year-old and Santa asked me if I had been good that year while waving an assault rifle in my face, I would have been traumatized for life and Santa would have a dry cleaning bill for my parents.
I will give credit where it is due, Sandy Springs Gun Club took many precautions to make sure this event was as safe as possible. I applaud their decision not to let minors handle the firearms and to have the firearms be unloaded. They let the public know ahead of time what the policies were and it worked as the event was a success. Not only was no one hurt, but they collected food for local charity, and I can’t knock that. No one held a gun to anyone’s head to make them pose with a heat-packing Santa, and the pictures were taken and distributed free of charge, which is more than I can say for the highway robbery that takes place at the North Pole in my local mall.
I’m glad the event went well, but in the hilarious words of Crushable.com editor Jenni Maier, “I have hobbies, but you don’t see me bringing them everywhere with me. I don’t pose with my Netflix subscription.” I couldn’t agree with her more. I just don’t understand why gun enthusiasts feel the need to interject their weapons into things that have nothing whatsoever to do with hunting, target practice or other places you would reasonably expect to see a firearm.
(feature image: Shutterstock.com)
