An arms maker in Florida is engraving Christian symbols on its assault rifles, in a marketing ploy denounced by a Muslim group as fomenting "hatred, division and violence".

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The Crusader assault rifle is inscribed with the cross of the Knights Templar, a religious order that fought in the Crusades, and a psalm from the Bible — features that its maker, Spike's Tactical, says are intended to keep the weapons out of Muslim hands.

"We wanted to make sure we built a weapon that would never be able to be used by Muslim terrorists to kill innocent people or advance their radical agenda," company spokesman Ben Thomas said.

The Christian symbols would prevent the guns from being shipped to the Middle East, he said, claiming the rifles had been a hit with the company's customers.

"We sold out of rifles in the first 72 hours and there's a backlog of several weeks," he said, declining to say how many had sold.

The Florida branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement decrying "this manufacturer's fancy new gun".

"This is just another shameful marketing ploy intended to profit from the promotion of hatred, division, and violence," it said.

Mr Thomas, asserting he was not a bigot, insisted: "If they think the word of Jesus Christ causes hatred, they don't understand Jesus Christ."

AFP