Florida Used Truck Dealer Offers AK-47's As Incentive To Angry, Violent Buyers

Nov. 15, 2010

A used truck dealership in central Florida is offering an AK-47 assault rifle as an incentive to buy trucks through the end of November.

A Veterans Day promotion at a truck dealership in Florida has become a hot topic around the country. Nation Trucks in Sanford, Florida is enjoying a huge boost in truck sales over the last several days as customers are being lured by the give-away of an AK-47 assault rifle with every qualifying purchase made at the dealership. Customers are given a voucher for the assault weapon, which is valid at a local gun shop. The voucher is also good for other guns and accessories and the purchase of the AK-47 is not required. Customers must pass all mandatory background checks in order to obtain the weapon in accordance with the deal. Convicted felons are eligible to participate in this one time offer.

The promotion has proved so popular that the pastor of a Baptist church in a nearby community has announced plans to offer deadly weapons to all congregants who maintain a perfect attendance record for Sunday services between now and the end of December. "It's a perfect marriage between killing and saving souls," according to the Reverend Jasper Tournikut, who has held similar promotions in the past, once offering blood-stained khaki pants to any congregant giving their hearts to Jesus.

The dealership posted photos on the internet to provide an idea of how well the sale was working out for some people, others not so much. "You can't make everyone happy; some people just have to die," according to a recorded message played to anyone calling the dealership. The owner of the dealership, who asked to remain synonomous, commented: "You hear people all the time saying guns and alcohol don't mix. Well hell, any fool knows that. You ever try to put an AK-47 in a glass full of whiskey,"

People have strong views on these issues and the Florida governor expressed concern that the dealership could be igniting a second civil war. Advertising the give-away of an AK-47 assault rifle may be a great way to draw attention to your establishment, no matter what kind of business you're running. The attention is business but may result in more violent deaths and gang-related shoot outs, according to a spokesman for the Governor who was out shooting skeet at the time. As the sales manager at Nations Truck accurately points out, the majority of his customers are gun owners, so he's marketing his promotion very effectively. Some of our customers are natural born killers.

Guns are legal. Trucks are legal. Alcohol is legal. It only stands to reason that combining the three into a one-stop point-of-purchase for those who love guns, trucks and booze, which is a fairly significant portion of the population, is just good business. The same people who drink a lot of alcohol also drive big trucks and like big guns.

Many people are offended by the mere existence and legality of weapons such as AK-47s. Giving them away as part of a sales promotion seems ridiculous and dangerous, given the destructive power of the weapons. But this is the United States and so long as it does not cause an absolute decline in the population and a shortage of young men and women to fight our wars there doesn't seem like there is much to be alarmed about.

An uninvited and unauthorized spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association said she never met a bad gun, only bad gun owners. "Don't ban guns; ban people," is the advice she offered to anyone who would listen. She was arrested for public intoxication and charged with illegal possession of a loaded hand gun police found in her purse. When contacted for comment, an official with the NRA advised local authorities to "throw her under the bus."

Takayama Hirohito, a Canadian journalist, contributed to this story from Botswana.