Gun Store Billboard Featuring Santa Packing AR-15 Draws Criticism

RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) - A controversial billboard in Sacramento County has parents taking a second look. It's an ad for Rancho Cordova gun shop Ammo Depot featuring a beloved childhood character.

"Is that supposed to be like a Christmas gift idea?" said Teav Demareic, a mother of two. "It's kind of unsettling!"

If you head East on Highway 50, it may catch your eye, too. The Black Friday advertisement features an AR-15 rifle in the arms of Santa Claus.

"Well, it's not too good for the kids," said Jim Lennon.

"Probably shouldn't associate that, a happy thing, with a gun," said Ky Price.

But Ammo Depot owner Brandon Lungren said many people have stopped by the store to say the like the ad and it's all in holiday fun.

"The firearm's not evil and neither is Santa Claus," he said. "When my kids see a firearm or an AR-15, they see something that we do very, very often as a family."

He told CBS13 that the holidays are one of the best times of the year for gun sales.

"This will be our biggest Black Friday sale ever, that we've ever had in the history of our company and I have a feeling it'll be the same in the industry," Lungren said.

In 2015, the FBI processed a record 185,345 firearm background checks on Black Friday, breaking the record for their highest number ever conducted in one day.

According to Sacramento City College Psychology Professor Mark Dennis, the image on the billboard may be a problem for a child who sees Saint Nick as a hero.

"It's probably going to generate a lot of a whole lot of interest, in some kids, in guns because they see this very high status figure," he said.

His advice for parents is to have an open conversation with the kids.

"I think it's also an excellent opportunity for families to kind of talk about their own values as it relates to guns and gun ownership and gun sales and gun use and all of those types of things," Dennis said.

Lungren believes it's a discussion he thinks more families should have and he's happy to have it with anyone who stops by the store.