Arms manufacturer FN Herstal revokes advertisement from U.S. branch after controversy

A video distributed by the U.S. branch of Belgian arms manufacturer FN Herstal on the occasion of Independence Day has been revoked after causing controversy on social media. The arms manufacturer, located in the Belgian city of Liège, is owned by the Walloon regional government.

The video is about a minute long and shows how American symbols (the Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam and a bald eagle) celebrate the Fourth of July by holding target practices with guns. It is accompanied by the text "God Bless the US of A! Happy Independence Day from FN and remember if you're going to celebrate, do it the FN way".

A lot of people did not appreciate the video, especially since there have been several shootings in the United States in recent weeks. The most recent one took place during a Fourth of July celebration in Chicago. At least six people were killed and 26 wounded. 

In a press release issued Tuesday afternoon, FN Herstal announced that it had "taken note of the video distributed yesterday by the American branch on the occasion of Independence Day" and "immediately ordered the branch to remove the video". At around 5pm CET, the video had disappeared from social media.

The arms manufacturer added that it would "do everything in its power to ensure that such communication does not happen again in the future". The management did not want to comment further.

(KOR)

A HK G36 and a FN Herstal Scar SC at a cinema armory in La Courneuve, near Paris © THOMAS SAMSON / AFP