

You better not mess with Santa — at least not with the AR-15-toting Santa on a billboard near a Northern California gun range.

That’s right, jolly old Saint Nick is now packing heat — and wearing shades — in a controversial sign advertising Down Range along Highway 99 in Chico.

According to KNVN-TV, the sign reading “We build ARs for Santa” has been up for a week, promoting firearms as Christmas presents.

Down Range co-owner Steve Dyke told the TV station that he wanted to take advantage of his location along the highway and made sure his Bad Santa was practicing good gun safety.

“Santa has got his eye protection on, his fingers off the trigger, the guns pointed in a safe direction,” Clark told KNVN-TV.

As expected, not everybody is ho, ho, ho-ing about the image of the beloved Christmas icon armed with a rifle.

“The idea of this symbol of joy and giving holding an assault rifle it’s just so contradictory,” Tom Imhoff told the TV station. “You almost don’t know what to do with it.”

So what’s next for the gun range? Dyke said to look out for an gun-wielding Easter Bunny or even a well-armed Cupid on his billboard.