The "Open Carry T-shirts" website says the image of a gun in shoulder strap holster on the shirt "looks like a real gun, at a short distance." GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., Feb. 17 (UPI) -- A Colorado business owner said his T-shirts bearing realistic pictures of guns in shoulder holsters are a statement about gun rights. Paul Liebe, owner of Nitelife Billiards and Supply in Grand Junction and co- creator of the T-shirts with Sean Strand, posted a warning on the website for the "Open Carry T-shirts" saying the image of a gun in shoulder strap holster on the shirt "looks like a real gun, at a short distance."
"Law enforcement officers may overreact to your shirt," the warning reads. "Listen to the officer. If he says, 'freeze, halt, stop,' just listen to him."
Liebe said he started by selling the shirts locally, but he now gets orders from as far away as Italy and Afghanistan.
He said the T-shirts are a statement about Second Amendment rights, but he has some safety tips for wearers.
"Don't put your hand on the shirt on the gun," he told CBS Denver.
A Facebook page Liebe set up to sell the shirts says they "drive anti-gun nuts crazy," but supporters of gun control haven't been the only ones critical of the T-shirts.
"But open carry advocates that we are, even we would think twice about donning one of these and strolling down, say, 8th Avenue in New York," reads a post on the pro-gun blog The Truth About Guns. "Wear what you want. Just be prepared for the very real potential for pearl clutching and, depending on your location, leather clearing."
Liebe said he has not heard of anyone wearing one of his shirts having a negative experience with law enforcement.
