I-Team: U.S. Olympic Squad Partners With Gun Website That Hosts Nazi Product Ads

The Anti-Defamation League is blasting the U.S. Olympic Shooting organization for partnering with firearms auction website Gunbroker.com which the I-Team discovered is also hosting sales of Holocaust relics and concentration camp memorabilia.

“These are symbols of hate in the worst possible way and in a society that has seen such an amazing uptick in anti-Semitism, companies need to do everything in their power to dial that down,” said Evan Bernstein, the New York Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League. “This site and those kind of products are ratcheting it up.”

Among the items for sale this week on Gunbroker.com include:

• A replica Nazi canister of Zyklon B, a type of cyanide gas used to kill thousands of Jewish prisoners in the Holocaust that the sellers says “would definitely get people’s attention on a desk top or mantle!”
• A concentration camp prisoner uniform billed as “all original and in good used condition” for $75,000.
• A book called “Holocaust Hoax Exposed.” The seller encourages people “read the truth and get the facts as you never knew before about the biggest lie ever told!!!”

Gunbroker.com bills itself as “the world’s largest online auction site for firearms and hunting/shooting accessories” and the I-Team has reported for two years on its policy of allowing people to sell Holocaust relics, Nazi memorabilia, and even anti-Semitic literature alongside the thousands of firearms for sale on the website.

The ADL has condemned the sales before, but now it is also taking aim at one of the website’s high-profile partners.

A press release published by USA Shooting last month says the Olympic team, which is officially backed by the United States Olympic Committee, “is partnering with Gunbroker.com and the nation’s gun manufacturers to support America’s shooting team” with a series of fundraising gun auctions.

“I don’t see how it doesn’t promote hate to sell the kind of items in the way they’re selling it with the kind of narrative that’s associated with it,” said Bernstein. “Doing business in this way is only making our society a worse place.”

In response to questions from the I-Team, USA Shooting issued a statement saying:

“Our relationship with Gunbroker in no way signifies our approval of these items, just as we don’t approve of every item or the editorial on the websites and social media platforms that we use to promote our sport. We use Gunbroker.com with a very specific purpose of hosting auctions of donated firearms to raise money for our team and athletes. That is the current partnership arrangement.”

The US Olympic Committee, a Congressionally chartered body with the authority to decertify Olympic teams, criticized the shooting team’s decision to stick with Gunbroker.

“Paraphernalia that celebrates hatred should be rejected in every form,” said Patrick Sandusky, a USOC spokesman. “We encourage all members of the movement to demonstrate the Olympic values every day and we are discouraged by this action.”

Despite the strong words, Sandusky declined to say if he would seek to take action against the USA Shooting Board of Directors or move to de-certify the team.

The I-Team also reached out to the U.S. Olympic Committee, which sanctions USA Shooting to compete on behalf of the United States of America, and Gunbroker.com. Neither has responded.

Among the weapons listed for sale on Gunbroker.com are handguns, machine guns, and assault-style rifles similar to the one authorities accused Pittsburgh’s Rob Bowers of using, when he allegedly stormed into the Tree of Life Synagogue, killing 11 Jewish worshipers over the weekend.

The massacre, which was the worst anti-Semitic mass shooting in American history, has renewed debate over whether social media and e-commerce websites have any responsible to scrub postings that involve hate speech or other content that could normalize violence against Jews.

After the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, Gab, the social media site that hosted many of Bowers’ anti-Semitic postings was taken offline. The founder of Gab issued a statement that said his social media site had been “systematically no-platformed by App Stores, multiple hosting provides, and several payment processors.

The I-Team reached out to PayPal, the company that processes payments for some of Gunbroker’s vendors. By this article’s deadline, we have not heard back.

The I-Team also reached out NameCheap.com, which is listed as the company that registered GunBroker’s domain name, ZenDesk, which provides the company’s customer support software. So far we have heard no comment from either.

Gunbroker.com has not responded to repeated requests for comment from the I-Team.