WATCH ABOVE: A Grand Junction, Colorado business owner says he’s making a statement on gun rights that’s being seen across the world. Travis Khachatoorian reports.
TORONTO – A billiards store in Colorado is coming under fire for selling printed shirts featuring a “realistic” gun and a warning that you could get shot if police overreact.
Paul Liebe, owner of Nitelife Billiards in Grand Junction, is using the shirts to make a statement about gun rights and the second amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
“It’s our support for the second amendment, free speech and they’re just a great conversation starter,” shirt designer Sean Strand told KREX.
The shirts are quite simple in nature – a printed graphic of a gun sitting in a sling is draped over the left side and shoulder of the wearer.
But it’s the warning that comes with the packaging that raises eyebrows.
“At a short distance, the gun looks real,” a disclaimer reads on Nitelife’s website. “Law enforcement officers may over-react to your shirt.
“Do not reach towards the holster and gun! Your action could get you injured or even killed!”
The shirts come at a time in the United States where tensions still simmer over officer-involved violence. Front and centre is last year’s shooting of unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
But despite that, support of the “open carry” shirts is far reaching. So far, Nitelife has sold over 1000 shirts across North America and around the globe.
“I can’t think of a state… that we haven’t shipped to,” added Liebe.
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