If you thought things couldn’t get any weirder in 2020, imagine Santa Claus projecting anti-gun politics onto a child. It seems unbelievable, right? Astonishingly, this is no work of fiction.
At a mall in Norridge, Ill., a four-year-old boy was asked by Santa what he wanted for Christmas. Like many kids, he asked for a Nerf gun, but Santa’s response was not what he expected.
“Nope, no guns,” said the mall Santa before the boy’s mom clarified his wish by saying, “a Nerf gun.” Santa then doubled down on this and said, “nope, not even a Nerf gun. Nope. If your dad wants to get it for you, that’s fine, but I can’t bring it to you.”
The Santa then began to list alternative toys, but the boy, distraught, was brought to tears. In fact, the boy’s mother had to set down her younger child to give him comfort, all because this mall Santa decided he was going to pontificate his anti-gun beliefs to a four year old.
“My poor baby. This was the first year Michael was excited to go see Santa. It was supposed to be magical, but instead I had to watch my sweet little boy fight back tears because Santa told him No because of his own personal beliefs,” wrote the boy’s mother on Facebook.
Thankfully, the boy’s story had a happy ending, as the company employing the mall Santa sent the “real” Santa to the boy’s home, who presented him with the Nerf gun that he asked for. Hasbro, which owns the Nerf brand, also mailed some to him upon hearing of the incident.
The boy later called the mall Santa Claus a “bad Santa.”
This anti-gun hysteria—over Nerf guns of all things—is not an isolated incident. Earlier this year, a 12-year-old boy in Colorado Springs, Colo., was suspended from his school for having one—in his own home!
As absurd as it may seem, this cultural crusade against your Second Amendment rights has somehow spilled into everyday life. Whether it’s a Santa at the mall, a boy in his own home during a virtual class, or any assortment of other instances, the level of absurdity continues to rise.
Yet, there is optimism to be had about gun ownership in 2020 as well. This year has already seen an absolutely astonishing number of background checks conducted for the sales of firearms, smashing all previous records by no small margin. It is encouraging to see so many Americans exercising their rights at rates previously unfathomable.
Let’s hope more Americans recognize and respect the right to keep and bear arms instead of pushing their anti-freedom beliefs onto anyone else in their vicinity, even kids, no matter how young they may be.
