Washington –- Sen. Chris Murphy has asked a California company to stop making a new shooting target, in the shape of a zombie gun control advocate.
The target, with a price tag of $89.95, is sold as “a real scumbag with no appreciation for the U.S. Constitution or respect for an individual’s freedom” who was bitten by a zombie because he was unarmed.
The target, produced by Zombie Industries in Poway, Calif., expels red liquid to imitate blood when shot.
Murphy says the target is marketed as a way to simulate shooting one of the people who came to Washington to advocate for gun violence prevention legislation.
“This representation is incredibly offensive to both the victims of gun violence and to the dedicated people who advocate for gun violence prevention, many of whom have lost loved ones to guns or are survivors themselves,” Murphy wrote in his letter. “To trivialize these experiences and attempt to portray such knowledgeable, passionate people as villains is a shameless and despicable ploy to make a few bucks.”
Zombie Industries president Roger Davis rejected Murphy’s call to stop marketing the gun control advocate zombie. He said Murphy is “milking the media” with his letter.
“There’s a lot of things a congressman could get involved with …instead of bothering a small company in California,” Davis said.
His company is no stranger to questions of taste and propriety related to public officialdom, however. It provoked controversy before for manufacturing a green alien that resembled President Obama.