Santa Tells Boy No Nerf Guns, NRA Makes Him Lifetime Member

NORRIDGE, IL — When 4-year-old Michael DeCarlo asked Santa for Nerf or nothin', Santa called his bluff. It turns out Santa doesn't do guns — not even bright plastic ones that only shoot foam darts.

The incident happened at the Harlem Irving Plaza mall in Norridge last week. Video of the boy breaking down in tears was shared widely on Facebook, leading to an outpouring of support and a political firestorm.

"What do you want for Christmas?" the socially distant Santa asks from behind a pane of plexiglass.

"I don't know," the boy responds, before thinking for a moment. "Maybe — how about a Nerf gun?"

"Nope, no guns," Santa tells the child.

"Nerf gun," his mother interjects, perhaps thinking he misheard the boy.

"Nope, not even a Nerf gun. If your dad wants to get it for you, that's fine, but I can't bring it to you. What else would you like? There's lots of other toys. There's Legos, there's bicycles, there's cars and trucks. What do you think?"

"What do you think?" Santa asks again, causing the boy to cry.

"It's OK, you'll still get it," Michael's mother tells him as he cries into her shoulder.

She couldn't have known then how right she was. The next day, the mall sent another Santa to the boy's house with a Nerf Ultra Pharoh, a bolt-action dart gun that sells for $49.99 and can shoot special-edition gold darts up to 120 feet (protective eyewear recommended).

"This is crazy," Michael says in a video posted by the mall as he unwraps the gift.

Michael has also gotten care packages from directly from Nerf-maker Hasbro as well as from hundreds of individuals — so many, in fact, that he is donating his extras to the Salvation Army.

He's also featured in a new advertisement from the National Rifle Association, a group currently under investigation for fraud and accused of being a "foreign asset" to Russia during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to a Senate report published last year.

Set to ominous Christmas music, the ad features the boy wearing an NRA vest while having a shootout with a pro-gun Santa Claus. The ad claims the mall Santa was fired after telling Michael no guns.

It also features Michael's parents, who said they were contacted by the conservative group after the incident went viral.

"Santa's job is to make people believe in the magic of Christmas, not lecture us on politics," Michael's mother, Sabella DeCarlo, says in the NRA ad.

"I'm a police officer, NRA instructor and a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association," says Michael's father, Michael DeCarlo Sr. "I'm proud to say Michael Jr. is now a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association of America."

"Mean Santa won't be happy I have this," the 4-year-old says, holding one of his new Nerf guns in front of the camera.

"The North Pole doesn't need any commies," NRA Santa responds.