Amusement park's decision to pull personalized bullets from gift shop sparks outcry: 'Lighten up!'

An amusement park in Pennsylvania pulled personalized bullet keepsakes from its gift shop following a complaint on social media – but is now facing backlash over the decision.

Sarah Keller was at Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, Pa., with her children when her youngest daughter noticed the display, according to lehighvalleylive.com. Keller told the news outlet that her daughter said, “Whoa, that’s crazy,” when she saw the souvenirs labeled as personalized rifle bullets and the packaging that read, “The Right to Keep and Bear Arms.”

Keller, however, felt both horror and disbelief.

“This is not OK,” she told lehighvalleylive.com. “We shouldn’t normalize this.”

The local outlet reports that Keller said the item was “insensitive and unacceptable in a family theme park.” And although her friend, Lisa Boswell, wasn’t there to see the display herself, she agreed and took to Twitter to share her grievances.

“Offering kids a bullet with their name on it at an amusement park gift shop is already the most ill advised thing to happen this summer,” Boswell tweeted. “Imagine a shooting survivor encountering this?”

Boswell told lehighvalleylive.com that her friend’s encounter was “inexplicable,” adding that “it showed a lack of sensitivity” on Dorney Park’s behalf, especially in today’s climate.

“Our children are repeatedly asked to prepare for mass classroom homicide (lockdown drills) and can’t play outside safely,” Boswell said, explaining her involvement in multiple efforts against gun violence. “I know that changing the culture around guns is just as important as changing laws. I tweeted hoping Dorney would do the right thing and remove the keychains.”

Then, the park did.

In response to Boswell’s tweet, Dorney Park wrote, “This item has been pulled from our merchandise. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”

Dorney Park didn’t immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment. However, it provided the following statement to lehighvalleylive.com:

“We ceased offering the merchandise because we believe we can offer our guests products that are more suitable for our family friendly environment.”

Keller told the outlet that she cried of joy when she found out that the items were pulled, saying “They’re doing the right thing.” However, people on Twitter have also expressed opposition to the pressure that came from Keller and Boswell, saying that the items weren’t offensive.

Still, others agreed with the women, saying that the items should have been removed long ago.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

• Teacher reportedly suspended for storing gun in classroom: 'It's an added protection'

• Teacher retires from 'toxic' profession in Facebook post: 'I will not miss what education has become'

• Kamala Harris slams Florida's new bill to arm teachers with guns: They 'don’t need a gun. They need a raise.'

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