Texas gun store faces backlash over controversial 'back-to-school' firearms sale promotion in wake of mass shootings
KATY, TEXAS: A Texas gun store and shooting range is facing backlash over a controversial "back-to-school" sale sign that offered large discounts on firearms.
The Boyert Shooting Center in Katy promoted a sale on its marquee that read, "Back to school sale August 13 through 18. Up to 50% off firearms," KTRK reported.
A snap of the sign was first captured by local resident Michelle Simons, who said she saw it while she and her husband were driving down Mason Road on Sunday, August 11.
Simons said the sign was very "jarring," especially in light of the current political climate following the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that collectively claimed the lives of 32 people and injured more than 50 others.
"In the current climate and in the current culture where we have school shootings just constantly, mass shootings just constantly, it seems like a real poor choice of words," she said.
Her husband, who is an educator, was of a similar opinion and said he feels as though guns and schools should not be mixed.
He said he feels sorry for his students when the school district makes him teach them about active shooter safety because they shouldn't have to worry about going through that.
Both Simons and her husband said they are wondering if the sign was intentional and purposely designed to incite controversy.
"I hope it was just some kind of glaring oversight," Simons said. "I would rather see any other kind of wording on their board. What does back to school have anything to do with getting guns?"
It would not be a far-fetched thought, especially considering this was the same store that poked fun at Dick's Sporting Goods after the latter took a decision to stop selling assault-style rifles or high-capacity magazines in its stores and mandated that any gun buyer be at least 21 in the aftermath of the mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018.
The Katy store, in response, had posted a sign on its marquee which said, "We're not all Dicks. We still sell ARs."
However, a spokesman for the center insisted that this current sale was not aimed at generating controversy and was the culmination of a summer-long promotion.
"We have friends and family who are teachers and our way of reaching out and saying thank you is by offering a summer-long promotion of discounted training courses, firearms, and accessories," the spokesman told KTRK.
"A lot of Texans are not aware, but it is now legal to conceal carry in some colleges, and for teachers in certain school districts to conceal carry as well. We are wrapping up the program that we have been running since the beginning of June, with a huge sale to benefit everyone."
Indeed, a series of new firearm laws that were passed in the state before the El Paso shootings are set to go into effect next month will further loosen firearm restrictions in the state.
House Bill 1134 will ensure that a school district cannot ban licensed gun owners (including school employees) from storing a gun or ammunition in a locked vehicle on a school parking lot.