California Company Sells Shooting Targets Depicting AOC, Nancy Pelosi and Greta Thunberg
A shooting targets company is selling products featuring the faces of several prominent politicians, including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump and progressive New York lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Torres Targets, based in Santa Monica, California, and online, has a section on its website called "Politically Incorrect Targets," from which it sells targets of several Democratic politicians that it says are "proudly made and designed in the USA."
The targets, costing $1 for products sized 8.5 x 11 inches and $1.50 for 24 x 36 inches, include one of Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat and part of the progressive "Squad" who describes herself as a democratic socialist.
The product, which shows Ocasio-Cortez dressed in all black with a hammer and sickle on her hat, is captioned: "Fine tune your skills with this alternate reality target of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Communist Revolutionary. Look out capitalists AOC is on the hunt and ready to 'liberate' your property from you."
Torres Targets also sells targets featuring Harris, Biden, Trump, Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg and George Soros, a billionaire and philanthropist who is subject to numerous antisemitic conspiracy theories.
The Soros target is captioned: "Fine tune your skills with this George Soros Prison Escapee Shooting Target. Its a parody shooting target of everyones (sic) favorite gun grabbing billionaire puppet master."
While the description of the Thunberg target reads: "At Torres Targets we waited until Greta Thunberg was 18 to exploit her, unlike her parents celebrities and politicians. Greta Thunberg Shooting Targets are now available in all of their Wealthy Eco-Doomer glory.
"Will unemployed school dropout Greta Thunberg shout at you for driving your car to work? Will Greta Thunberg use her soothing (Bond Villain Soothing) German accent to rile her fellow Wealthy Eco-Doomer masses and revolt against the world at large? Will she give up on all of this once she finds a new hobby in her mid twenties?"
The targets of Biden, Harris, Trump and Pelosi show the politicians as "prison escapees," while the shop also sells similar products depicting "infamous criminals" and "terrorist targets."
The criminals include convicted serial killers Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, while the "terrorist targets" include historical figures like Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden.
The company defends selling the products, writing: "Our Politically Incorrect Shooting Targets combine the First and Second Amendment like no other.
"Take a shot at our paper shooting targets of some of the most infamous gun grabbers and enemies of freedom that people love to hate."
Torres Targets also confronts the legality of the products, writing: "As citizens of the United States of America, our First Amendment Rights allow us to shoot, stab, cigar poke or destroy any picture of any person or political figure, as long as there is no credible threat to their lives."
The First Amendment protects the use of freedom of speech and expression, and in 1969 the Supreme Court ruled that advocacy would only be punished if it "is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."
Torres Targets makes it clear in the description of the products that they are supposed to be depicting an "alternative reality" version of the politicians and not the real people.
The U.S. has a long history of political figures being targeted in effigies and other violent representations. Slate reported that Presidents George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson were all hanged in effigy while they served in the White House.
Florida Gun Supply, located about 75 miles from Tampa, also caused a stir in 2016 when it was reported that the store was selling targets depicting Democratic politicians including former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
The store's owner, Andy Hallinan, told the Tampa Bay Times that the Secret Service visited his store after the targets were reported in the press, but no action appeared to have been taken against it.
Newsweek contacted Torres Targets, Ocasio-Cortez, Pelosi, Omar, Trump, the White House and Twitter for comment.
