WASHINGTON -- The Susan G. Komen Foundation has responded to reports Friday that it is affiliated with a handgun manufacturer selling a pink gun designed to promote breast cancer awareness, saying that it does not have a partnership with the manufacturer and has not received donations from it.
Business Insider first reported Thursday that Discount Gun Sales was selling a 'Hope Edition' handgun and donating a portion of the proceeds to Komen, the largest breast cancer charity in the nation. Komen came under fire this week for cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood, before ultimately reversing course on Friday and stating that the family planning organization will remain eligible for grants.
"Discount Gun Sales is proud to team up with the Susan B. Koman [sic] Foundation to offer the Walther P-22 Hope Edition in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A portion of each P-22 Hope Edition will be donated to the Seattle Branch of the Susan G. Komen Foundation," read the description on the gun seller's website. "The P-22 Hope Edition has an exclusive DuraCoat Pink slide in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Utilizing the same reliable controls and firing mechanism that has made the Walther P-22 America's top selling handgun, the Hope Edition will be a limited production pistol offered exclusively through Discount Gun Sales."
Specs include a pink slide, black frame and a "modern, eye catching high tech design."
The extent of the partnership between Komen and Discount Gun Sales was initially unclear, particularly since the gun seller misspells the name of the charity on its website. Yet Andrea Rader, the director of communications for Komen, told HuffPost Friday afternoon that the two groups are not actually affiliated at all.
"We do not have partnerships with any firearms manufacturer. Nor does our Seattle Affiliate receive donations from this manufacturer," said Andrea Rader, who works in the public relations department at Komen. "As you noted, they even got the name of our organization wrong."
A spokesman for Komen's Seattle chapter, meanwhile, told The Huffington Post that his group was completely unaware of Discount Gun Sales' "Hope" gun and hadn't received any donations from the company.
"This fundraising scheme is not sanctioned by us; we had no knowledge of it. We have not received a single penny from this gun seller. It is a rogue scheme," said Jim Clune, communications manager for the Puget Sound Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "We have forwarded this issue to the National Komen office, requesting they contact Discount Gun Sales with a cease and desist order."
The webpage promoting the gun was pulled down Friday afternoon. An archive of that page can be seen here.
Discount Gun Sales did not respond to requests for comment for this article.