A shooting range in England has begun using an image of teenage ISIS bride Shamima Begum for target practice, after receiving a record number of requests from customers, and claims it’s just a bit of “light-hearted fun.”
Ultimate Airsoft Range in Wallasey, The Wirral near Liverpool has defended their actions, arguing that it helps to bring out the “inner child” in adults. They claim a target image such as Begum’s initiates some “fantastic reactions and conversations.”The centre insists that they provide a range of images of high-profile people, such as Donald Trump, Margaret Thatcher, and Justin Bieber, as shooting targets for their customers.
A spokesperson for the shooting range told the BBC that after viewing Begum’s recent interview in which she called on the UK government to bring her home, they had come to the conclusion to go ahead with using her photo, due to “her lack of remorse and empathy.”The move has been condemned by many on social media, claiming the shooting range has gone too far.
One Twitter user remarked: “Wouldn’t want to meet the inner parents.” Others have been more sympathetic, arguing that it may be “childish and distasteful,” but that we live in a “free society.”Begum, who recently gave birth to her third child, told the Times in an interview from a refugee camp in northeast Syria, “All I want to do is come home to Britain.”It comes as Home Secretary Sajid Javid indicated to Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee that he would be stripping Begum of her UK citizenship, despite insisting he would not take such action if the individual does not have any other citizenship. The 19-year-old does not currently hold any other citizenship.