BOOTHBAY HARBOR, ME – A large lawn sign that reads "Black Rifles Matter" is offending some tourists in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.
The sign's creator, Linc Sample, said the sign is about gun rights, not race. Sample painted it and placed it on private property after an ad in the local paper supported an assault-style weapons ban.
"That's really a trigger for me -- the assault weapons ban," said Sample.
He said he used the phrase "Black Rifles Matter," a play on the phrase "Black Lives Matter," to have impact.
"If anything, they should be flattered I used the phrase," said Sample.
But some have been upset by the sign.
"We have received a few complaints from visitors to the region," Boothbay Region Chamber of Commerce Director Rick Prose said.
Town officials say Sample is exercising his First Amendment rights to free speech, and has all the proper permits for a sign that size.
Sample regularly changes the large sign on Townsend Avenue, and said a new one will soon replace the Black Rifles Matter sign.