Roughly two months after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a right-wing political activist, gun maker Sig Sauer has debuted new “Freedom Series” pistols that “pay tribute to the commitment and conviction of Turning Point USA,” the conservative advocacy group founded by Kirk. The pistols have white slides engraved with the word “freedom” and an American flag. Sig Sauer has promised to donate $50 from each pistol sale to Turning Point USA.
GrabAGun, an online gun retailer backed by Donald Trump Jr., has also partnered with Sig Sauer to donate an additional $50 to Turning Point USA for each “Freedom Series” pistol sold as part of its “Celebrate Freedom” event. The donations are relatively small considering the guns currently retail for $700 to $1,500.
The “Freedom Series” appears to be an attempt to target younger right-wing supporters of Kirk’s in a bid to make money off of his death. This also isn’t the first time Sig Sauer has played into political divisions and culture wars — a common marketing tactic for gun makers. Last year, the company debuted an ad embracing the radical insurrectionist theory and suggesting AR-15s were necessary to overthrow the government.
Sales in the Name of Charlie Kirk
While Sig Sauer may be the largest gun maker in the U.S. to debut products celebrating Kirk’s legacy, it is certainly not alone. AR-15 manufacturer Daniel Defense recently sold “Live Like Charlie!” T-shirts adorned with the word “freedom” and the American flag as well as a Bible verse. But unlike Sig Sauer, Daniel Defense donated all of the proceeds to Turning Point USA.
The product page for the T-shirts, now sold out, notes that Charlie Kirk’s “passion, conviction, and unwavering dedication to what he believed in touched countless lives and continues to inspire us to live with purpose. This shirt is more than just apparel — it’s a reminder to ‘Live Like Charlie’ every single day.”
Like Sig Sauer, other gun companies have chosen to honor Kirk, a victim of gun violence, with their own special-edition guns. For example, Missouri Guns & Ammo, another online gun retailer, is currently selling a customized Tisas 1911 pistol that the company calls the “Charlie Kirk Commemorative 1911 Christian Patriot” for $1,500. The gun is engraved with Kirk’s signature and likeness, the Turning Point USA logo, and phrases like “Known for Speaking the Truth,” “Faith & Family,” and “Big Government Sucks.”
On its product page, Missouri Guns & Ammo notes that Charlie Kirk “was tragically murdered, because someone couldn’t handle the truth,” and states that an undisclosed “portion of every sale of this firearm will be donated to TP-USA in Charlie’s honor.”
other gun industry players
As of this writing, several Charlie-Kirk-inspired 1911 pistols and AR-15 components, like the kind shown below, can be found on GunBroker.com, an auction website known as the “eBay of guns.” The customized pistols from Crusader Firearms have starting bids of $4,000.
Other members of the gun industry have chosen to honor Kirk’s legacy in other ways — through dedications on social media, for example. Gun Central, a gun shop in El Paso, Texas, went further by having a mural of Kirk painted on an exterior wall for customers and passersby on I-10 to see.
While these tributes are not selling products directly like Sig Sauer and the others, they are notable appeals to ring-wing supporters of Kirk’s that simultaneously risk alienating potential customers who did not share his worldview.