Frontier Firearms, a gun shop in Tennessee, has responded to the shooting in Oregon earlier this month by offering discounted firearms to Christians.
"If Christians are going to be targeted, we need to protect ourselves," Brant Williams, owner of the shop said.
The store is offering a five per cent discount to all those who say "I am a Chrsitian" before purchasing a new handgun.
The offer was announced shortly after the shooting at Umqua Community College in Oregon, during which gunman Christopher Harper Mercer allegedly asked students if they were Christians before shooting them.
Williams and Eric Parish, the Vice-President of Frontier Firearms, believe that the mass shooting was religiously motivated:
"I don't care if you're a Democrat, or Republican, an Independent, the Green Party, I don't care what party you're with. But to say that that shooting right there had nothing to do with religion is ludicrous," Parish told the Daily Beast. "What if someone had done the same thing and they only shot them if they were Muslim? Would the President react differently?"
Although initially for Christians alone, Parish has said the sale is no longer reserved for one particular religion, rather it is open to anyone willing to declare a religion prior to buying a new weapon.
"Religion was a part of this country's founding, you know religious freedom. And that's what it's about," Parish said. "Being able to say 'hey I'm this,' without getting shot in the back of the head because of it."
He said that if a customer said he was a Muslim that "of course" they would be able to get a discount.
"This is America," Parish said. "And I'm pretty sure you can pick what your religion is without being persecuted for it."
