An Oceanside-based gun parts store Ares Armor has incited nationwide controversy over an AR-15 item dubbed “The Obama’s Blaster” – controversy the store’s owner welcomes. NBC 7’s Vanessa Herrera spoke to him on Sept. 19, 2014.
An Oceanside-based gun parts store has incited nationwide controversy over an item dubbed “The Obama’s Blaster” – controversy the store’s owner welcomes.
Ares Armor owner Dimitrios Karras told NBC 7 he has received a slew of death threats after naming a $550 AR-15 gun barrel “The Obama’s Blaster” as a joke.
"I mean, we had one guy who literally said he wished he had a rocket launcher to shoot rockets at us because we named a product after the president,” said Karras. “He's so anti-gun that he's become pro-rocket.”
In a YouTube video and description dripping with sarcasm, Ares Armor thanks President “Barrack” Obama for being “the distinguished firearms industry spokesman and salesman of all time.”
The video’s description compares the president to Marvin the Martian from the cartoon Looney Tunes, whose goal is to destroy Earth to get a better view of Venus. It says the United States is blocking Obama’s social and political views of our “pesky Constitution.”
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Although the post includes a disclaimer saying it’s a parody for the purpose of symbolic speech, many people aren’t laughing.
“So you're making not so subtle hints at killing the President. Congrats! You're right up there with ISIS, you unpatriotic pieces of s***,” one viewer commented.
Karras defended the name, explaining the apostrophe means it’s not a threat.
"It is 'The Obama's Blaster.' It's a singular possessive, which means it's a blaster that would be used by Obama,” he said.
The former Marine said he knew the name would make people talk, but he was surprised with the amount of pushback it has caused. Across the country, The Washington Times recently caught wind of the controversy and called Karras.
He told NBC 7 the store is considering an entire presidential line so our current commander-in-chief isn’t the only one singled out. Karras threw out names like “Bush’s Revenge” or “Slick Willy” for follow-up parts.
In San Diego, opinions are split on the gun barrel.
"I feel like that crosses a line on a whole bunch of different levels,” said Neal Carlson, who works for a marketing firm. “I'm not really too into politics that much but to have a barrel attachment for an AR-15 named after our president is very intense. I don't think that that's at all OK.”
But others see it as a nod to Obama’s position as the leader of our military.
“He gave the order to take out Osama Bin Laden. I mean, he's just showing him some honor. What's wrong with that?" said Job Seth Davidson, a former Marine.
Clearly Ares Armor customers don’t object. “The Obama’s Blaster” is completely sold out.
