An internet meme has been circulating in social media that mocks Lion Claws, which as of recent months, has been under severe criticism by competitors and other airsofters. The military simulations outfit organizes events all over the U.S. to cater to airsoft players in their own regions. It has been accused of underhanded tactics to block competitors from using facilities for their own events, such as the case of the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Indiana.

And this internet meme is “hard to ignore” as far as Lion Claws is concerned since there are personalities who work with Lion Claws who have actually served their country. The internet meme undermines the contributions of these individuals since in trying to paint airsofters as not “heroes” with a broad brushstroke has brought disrespect to these individuals who are considered to be truly heroes in real life.

Here it is for you to assess if it was done in bad taste:

Their Public Relations Division got in touch with us to send this statement about the meme. Since we have posted statements from their competitors here, we will also be posting them here for our readers to know:

It has come to our attention that the attacks against our organization have started once again. We chose to ignore the propaganda in the recent past rather than feed into it, but unfortunately the attacks made against us earlier in the week in the form of a photoshopped meme was done in poor taste, and was something that we could not simply ignore. We pride ourselves in honoring our nation’s heroes of the armed forces, and do as much as we can to support them through our charitable donations generated from our events.

Although our organization is blessed to have men like Col. (RET) Danny McKnight, Ranger Hall of Fame inductee MSG. (RET) Howard "Mad Max” Mullen, Delta Force Command Sergeant Major (RET) Mark Collazos & many other staff members who are actual heroes of this great nation, we would never grant that title to airsofters who have never earned it, let alone create a meme saying that playing airsoft makes them heroes.

The worst part of this recent attack is that just three weeks ago, our nation observed Memorial Day, a day that we remember our fallen men and women of the armed forces who are real heroes. The parties involved in creating this meme, and started circulating it should be ashamed of their actions, and should be condemned for their disrespect to our service members.

We do not condone this type of behavior and apologize that our name and logo was used to create this tasteless image, but we assure everyone that our organization had absolutely nothing to do with it, other than being the focus of the attacks.

We would like to thank our supporters and sponsors for recognizing what is fact, and what is not. We will continue doing all we can to help our service members, while hosting some of the nation’s best airsoft events.

Keep airsoft positive.

Things can get vicious in the internet, and we just hope that when there are conflicts in terms of conducting business in airsoft, things are kept civil. We always announce proudly to the world that airsoft is a very honourable sport/hobby, let's keep it that way always even in the aspect of business to provide services to airsoft players, wherever they are.

Photo used here was taken during Op: LC-XV, Memorial Day Weekend 2016:

(Left to right) Delta Force Command Sergeant Major(RET) Mark Collazos, US Army Ranger Sean Menches, Col.(RET) Danny McKnight & Ranger Hall of Hame inductee MSG(RET) Howard "Mad Max" Mullen.