Mason, TX – Texas Gun Instructor Draws Heat For Anti-Muslim Ad

    31

    In this Oct. 28, 2011, photo, Crockett Keller prepares his merchandise at a gun show at the fairgrounds in Fredericksburg, Texas. (AP Photo/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel)  Mason, TX – On a YouTube clip that has gone viral, brash Texas handgun instructor Crockett Keller defiantly tells Muslims and non-Christian Arabs he won’t teach them how to handle a firearm.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    State officials see the ad as possible discrimination, and may revoke Keller’s instructor license.

    Tens of thousands of YouTube viewers have watched the $175 ad for Keller’s business in the small community of Mason, which has won him a handful of admirers but that embarrassed locals say misrepresents their community. Muslim groups dismissed the 65-year-old as a bigot.

    Among the couple of thousand residents in the Central Texas town, Keller has other reputations.

    “He’s a character and likes attention,” said Diane Eames, a jeweler with a downtown shop in Mason’s quaint town square.

    Keller has received plenty of attention since his radio spot on a rural country music station in Mason County, about 100 miles west of Austin, went viral on the Internet. Keller said he whipped up the script on his iPad in 10 minutes. The ad quit airing last week.

    “If you are a socialist liberal and/or voted for the current campaigner-in-chief, please do not take this class,” Keller says in the ad’s closing seconds, also taking a swipe at President Barack Obama. “You’ve already proven that you cannot make a knowledgeable and prudent decision as required under the law. Also, if you are a non-Christian Arab or Muslim, I will not teach you this class. Once again, with no shame, I am Crockett Keller.”

    The Texas Council on American-Islamic Relations called the ad ugly rhetoric undeserving of media attention. Others have called Keller’s phone number from the ad to personally tell him worse, including alleged death threats.

    The Texas Department of Public Safety is now investigating whether to revoke or suspend Keller’s license to teach concealed handgun courses.

    “Conduct by an instructor that denied service to individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion would place that instructor’s certification by the Department at risk of suspension or revocation,” the department said in a statement.

    Inside a remote highway cabin on the edge of the Llano River, where a draped, full-size cannon is parked across from his desk, Keller said he was inspired to make the ad after being “flabbergasted” by a couple neighbors who left the state to campaign for Obama. As for refusing to teach Muslims, Keller described that as an afterthought tacked onto the spot, which he couldn’t remember but said was likely generated from something in the news.

    “I got to thinking, ‘Hmm, I’m arming the enemy,'” Keller said.

    Of course, even Keller knows that Muslims were unlikely to show up at his door asking to take his $100 course.

    Mason County, as Eames described it, is “white bread” — the population was 93 percent Caucasian in the latest census, and all Republican statewide candidates won with at least 70 percent of the vote in 2010. Keller said he wasn’t aware of any Muslims in Mason County, nor could a handful of locals name one.

    Eames and Joyce Arnold, a real estate agent, said they worried about the radio spot embarrassing the city. Eames ran what she described as a successful sex-toy business in Mason before opening the jewelry store, and Scott Haupert, co-owner of the Sandstone Cellars Winery, said Mason is more tolerant than Keller’s comments would suggest.

    “I voted for Obama and I’ll vote for Obama again,” said Haupert, an avowed Democrat. “If I signed up to take his gun control class, he would not reject me.”

    But Keller has also won over some fans. As he spoke with a reporter in his cabin, rancher Clyde McCarley knocked on his door and asked about signing up for a class.

    “It’s mighty dadgum interesting to me that some people can say anything they want, and you make a statement and they bring down the house on you,” McCarley said.

    Mustafaa Carroll, executive director of the Texas Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the group is watching how the state responds to Keller’s ad and whether the agency revokes his instructor license.

    “We try not to give too much credibility to some of these people who do outlandish things,” Carroll said. “But there are some issues that we do have to address.”


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    31 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    SherryTheNoahide
    SherryTheNoahide
    12 years ago

    Well… it’s a private business, so he can run it into the ground with his racist nonsense if he wants to!

    I cannot fathom how anyone would willingly purchase merchandise from this man.

    Unreal.

    Anon Ibid Opcit
    Anon Ibid Opcit
    12 years ago

    He has the right to run his private business the way he wants. But the CCW portion of it is regulated by the State of Texas. They have not only the power but the duty to deny certification to someone who discriminates on the basis of religion or place of national origin. He does, so his certification needs to be pulled.

    Avrohomk
    Avrohomk
    12 years ago

    Yasher koach. A little eccentric but he says what is onhis mind. More people should be honest

    favish
    favish
    12 years ago

    remember, he stated ‘pledge allegiance’ (see picture)…and he has plenty reason to state that

    favish
    favish
    12 years ago

    #6 when we’ll substitute ‘alla akbar, slaughter and kill the infidels. sons of apes and pigs’ to ‘harge alleh goyim de bashefer is grois etc’ then we will also deserve the same suspicion.

    festayid
    festayid
    12 years ago

    Idk what the big deal is, this man is just stating the obvious,Islam in a threat to the free world so it would make no sense to sell a gun to our enemies,pretty elementary reasoning

    12 years ago

    #9
    In 1939 jews were unarmed, go buy yourself 5-10 guns and 5000 rounds of ammo

    favish
    favish
    12 years ago

    #22 either you living in a cave or you dont understand the underlying issues…see posters with a little common sense

    12 years ago

    Funny. I don’t remember any Yidden flying planes into the WTC while screaming, “Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echod.”

    favish
    favish
    12 years ago

    #24 your repeating …see #23 #15 etc whats wrong with you. i dont care how many rabbis agree with you. They have just as much ”seicel’

    favish
    favish
    12 years ago

    #29 mrs noahchide you have to have thick skin to post anywhere. there will always be biting words….