A post on the official Instagram account of SIG SAUER, a New Hampshire-based gun manufacturer, caused outrage over their selection for the winner of a gun giveaway.
Shortly after 9 A.M. on Monday morning, SIG SAUER’s Instagram profile posted the announcement of a winner in a gun giveaway contest titled, “Give Me That SIG MK25 Giveaway”, in which the winner of the contest gets a SIG SAUER 9 millimeter P226 MK25 handgun, with an approximate retail value of $1,199. Gabriel Franklin, who goes by the Instagram username Sadboy2001, was announced as the winner.
The comment thread on the post erupted with outrage after fans of the gun maker’s Instagram page saw the Instagram profile of the winner, which included “legalize murder” and “whitetrash” on his profile bio. Other posts on the winner’s Instagram profile include a post titled “just took a Xanax”, a photo of Franklin’s 2013 arrest mugshot, and another photo of Franklin drinking whiskey out of a large bottle.
Fans of the page expressed disgust over the selection, with many clamoring for a re-draw, and others in disbelief over the selection.
One Instagram user, 2378tcdd, even went as far as saying SIG SAUER lost him as a customer:
“You seriously going to give a gun to a guy [that is] pro murder? Well, you lost me as a customer. Unbelieveable. He literally has his mugshot in his pictures.”
Another user, imacarbiergirl, commented over the “legalize murder” phrase on the winner’s profile, pointing out the obvious slip-up by the person managing the SIG SAUER social media profile:
“Way to go Sig. Give a gun away to a man whose Instagram bio says “legalize murder.”
In order to enter the contest, Instagram users with a publicly-viewable profile had to follow the @Sigsauerinc profile, respost the image of the giveaway and tag 3 friends, and use the #GIVEMETHATSIG hashtag in their post. Over 4,100 posts with the #GIVEMETHATSIG hashtag were made as of Monday morning.
According to contest rules on the manufacturer’s website, the winner is chosen in a random drawing on August 11, 2015 from all eligible entries received by Game-End.
The contest rules also state certain rules for eligibility,
The winner will be required to have a valid driver’s license or proof of identification and will be required to complete an ATF Form #4473 and pass a NICS background check at his or her local firearms retailer that holds a valid Federal Firearms License at the winner’s own expense. Failure to comply with each of these requirements will result in a forfeiture of the prize.
It is not known if the winner is eligible to receive the prize.
SIG SAUER has yet to respond to our request for a comment.
Update 11:45 AM EST.
The post announcing the winner has been deleted from the SIG SAUER Instagram page and replaced with another post announcing a re-draw winner, a firefighter with the Instagram username @camarojnkie.
