After years of frustration trying to get kids to be nice throughout the year, this year Santa is upping the penalty for being naughty. Instead of a lump of coal in their stocking, naughty children could be getting a load of lead. At least that is the message some kids in Chico may be getting as they drive by this billboard with their parents on the way to sit on Santa's lap at the mall.
This ominous image shows a menacing looking Santa in dark glasses holding an assault rifle at the ready instead of the usual sack of toys for kids who've been nice.
What the hell was somebody thinking?
. . . ’tis the season, so we thought it would be a good idea,” Steve Dyke, coowner [sic] of Down Range Indoor Training Center in Chico, told KOVR-TV. “We’re right next to the freeway, so we have to do something to catch people’s eye,” he added. http://www.theblaze.com/...
Not everyone thinks it is such a good idea.
A mother told the station she’s concerned about how she’d explain the billboard to her child.
“I just don’t think I would like my son to see Santa holding a gun and having to explain to him that’s usually not what’s Santa’s holding…it’s presents,” Brenna Main noted.
Steve Dyke explained that he figured people would find the image humorous. He was also quick to reassure concerned parents that the billboard promoted gun safety, as Santa was wearing protective eye wear, his finger was off the trigger and the gun was pointed in a safe direction. Good to know. He did not say how many rounds were in the clip.
I grew up in Chico, a combination agricultural and college town in the Sacramento Valley, nestled against the Sierra Nevada foothills on CA Hwy 99, and I am sure many locals are just fine with the advertisement.
Customer Bob Marshall, thought it was great because of First Amendment and Second Amendment rights. “I believe in it fully,” he told KOVR. So not only does the billboard promote public safety, but it also is about defending the constitution.
How can anyone argue with that?
Well apparently there are a few anti-constitutional left wing whackos remaining in town.
After-school teacher Sara Welday, however, said this Santa looked “evil” and the billboard is “scary.”
“As a teacher, I would not want my students to see that,” she added to KOVR. “I don’t think you need to put out that as Santa has a gun.”
But for the store owner it just comes down to how you look at things. “Some people get toys and stuff like that for Christmas,” he told KOVR. “[W]hen I was growing up, I got guns from Santa Claus.”
So there you have it folks. As you tuck your young ones into bed this Christmas Eve use this as a "teachable" moment. Remind them that as long as they are on Santa's nice list, they have nothing to worry about. And just in case Santa were to be attacked by some "urban" thugs on the naughty list, he will be ready to defend himself, his elves and reindeer, and most importantly their toy guns.
11:16 AM PT: My 20 year old daughter, who just read this diary, reminded me that not everyone gets my sarcastic sense of humor, and that some people might think I am in favor of the message the billboard conveys. Just to be clear, I think the advertisement is offensive, stupid and scary and my tone is meant to be snarky.