By BI: FLORIDA Gun Manufacturer Spike’s Tactical AR-15 ‘Crusader’ is billed as the rifle ‘Muslims Won’t Touch.’ Terror-linked Muslim rights group calls it a “shameful marketing ploy designed to promote hatred against Muslims.”
Patch A new AR-15 assault rifle model made in Apopka is being billed as one that would “never be used by Muslim terrorists.” The Spike’s Tactical Crusader is a standard AR-15 by design, but this particular model has undergone a few cosmetic modifications to make it reportedly offensive to those of the Muslim faith.
The Bible verse, Psalm 144:1 has been laser etched into the rifle. It says, “Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.”
The AR-15 also includes a few other tweaks, including a laser-etched shield and cross. The safety selector features the words “Peace,” for the safe setting, “War” for the semi-automatic mode, and “God wills it.” The reverse site of the safety selector bears the Latin translations of those words and phrases.
Shooting standard .223 or 5.56 ammunition, the rifle may be modified further with the change of a barrel. The new design retails for $1,395, but comes with a lifetime warranty.
The Crusader’s manufacturer, Spike’s Tactical, was launched on Sept. 10, 2001, by Mike and Angela Register. The company is family owned and employs more than 40 people, according to a press release on the Crusader’s launch.
“Right now and as it has been for quite some time, one of the biggest threats in the world is and remains Islamic terrorism,” said Ben “Mookie” Thomas, spokesman for Spike’s Tactical, who is a former Navy Seal and former Blackwater security contractor. “We wanted to make sure we built a weapon that would never be able to be used by Muslim terrorists to kill innocent people or advance their radical agenda.”
Thomas told Patch the reasons behind the new model are two-fold. Spike’s Tactical wants to prompt an open discussion about the threat Muslim extremists pose to the world. Secondly, the gun manufacturer wanted to create a model that would be unlikely to end up in the hands of Muslim terrorists.
The idea for the Crusader model was born, Thomas said, as he was driving into work one morning listing to NPR on the radio, hearing about “ISIS and the inhumanity of their behavior.”
As a former military man and security contractor in the Middle East, Thomas said he understands well that many of the weapons used by terrorists are made in the United States and paid for by others.
The hope is the new model will get people talking openly about the Islamic threat, Thomas said, rather than labeling any discussion “offensive and off the books.” “There’s a holocaust happening over there and America is at Starbucks,” he said.
To find out more about Spike’s Tactical, visit the manufacturer’s website.
https://youtu.be/F7ClPux69Q8