An Oklahoma gun group is under fire after posting an image to social media featuring a rainbow colored target as part of its Run ’n’ Gun event, angering LGBT activists and social media users reports KFOR 4. The image in question features two men armed with rifles flanking a square, rainbow painted target that resembles the LGBT pride flag along with the caption “new high visibility targets on the 500 yard range.”
The post immediately garnered backlash across social media, with many believing the post is a response to the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage nationwide last month. Freedom Oklahoma Executive Director Troy Stevenson spoke with event organizers to clarify the meaning behind the target:
“He assures us that it wasn’t meant as a threat. It was a situation where I don’t think the people doing it understood social media or how bad their joke was.
“You could definitely tell by reading the comments that they were trying to make a joke out of this. But once again, it was going way too far and offending a lot of people and it was very threatening language.”
Race organizers clarified that participants in past races complained about the low visibility of targets, and that the painted target was implemented to boost visibility for participants. Oklahoma Run ’n’ Gun has since removed the post from social media. Watch KFOR 4’s coverage of Run ‘n’ Gun’s mix of poor taste in judgment and bad timing, below:
