Gun parts business halts sale of yellow stars reading ‘Gun Owner’
Published January 25, 2018
(JTA) — A gun parts business in a suburb of St. Louis said it will no longer sell a yellow patch in the shape of a Jewish star that reads “Gun Owner.”
The star-shaped patches are patterned after the yellow stars Jews were required to wear under Nazi rule, which were emblazoned with the word Jude, or Jew.
The stars were sold online by Tactical Shit, a business specializing in gun parts and gear in St. Peters, Missouri.
The stars originally were created by Indiana patch seller Violent Little Machine Shop. They were popular during the Obama administration, the River Front Times reported.
“We do not invoke this historical symbol lightly. The similarities of the current attitude of the legislative environment and the systematic persecution that this star represents are uncanny. There’s no difference,” read a description of the star on the business’ website.
Business owner TJ Kirgin told the Riverfront Times he decided to stop selling the stars because they are no longer relevant under a Republican president and Congress. He noted that there also were “religious implications.”
“We have removed the patch from our site and our store and are sending our inventory back to Violent Little Machine Shop,” Kirgin wrote in an email to the news site. “We will not make a habit out of removing products simply because they offend someone, however we are making an exception in this situation due to the religious implications and because the patch is in fact no longer relevant under the Trump Administration.”