Susan G. Komen Foundation Says It Is Not Connected To Pink 'Hope' Handgun [UPDATE]

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.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[Rooster Coburn]

12:10 AM on 02/13/2012

Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Kahr Arms, Taurus, and many other firearms manufactures market pink guns in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. I see lots of 'em at every gun show which I attend here in Florida. Guns: They're not just a "man" thing any more!

[ScorpioTop]

09:33 PM on 02/20/2012

Gun use is an equal opportunity corrupter with 30,000 Americans killed by gun use yearly.

[Samantha Galentine]

11:51 AM on 02/10/2012

Why are you posting hate comments about Planned Parenthood on an article that has nothing to do with it? Along with posting only partial truths without the whole view being seen? No one does research anymore?

[jamsie]

02:41 AM on 02/07/2012

Last year at a Komen event some people were talking about the pink guns. I didn't believe it, most of us thought it was just an urban myth. Now that I've seen the archived web site I'm just speechless.

[JimInHouston]

11:10 AM on 02/07/2012

"Now that I've seen the archived web site I'm just speechless­. "

I understand. It really is an attractive firearm.

[OdinsEye]

06:37 PM on 02/12/2012

People have been colorizing firearms in colors like pink for many years, completely unrelated to Komen.

[ScorpioTop]

09:34 PM on 02/20/2012

Komen is about saving livings not promoting killing by gun use.

[Glenn Friedman]

01:35 PM on 02/06/2012

a donation alternative to SGK: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/NCI/donations

[lklex]

08:01 PM on 02/05/2012

Enough with pink already! In reality, cancer is primarily a men's disease (with male Americans suffering from a significantly higher age-adjusted cancer mortality rate compared to their female counterparts), and the less cancer is associated with pink anything (whether gun, ribbon, book or candle), the better.

[Emy Freeland]

04:01 PM on 02/05/2012

I think the whole pink thing is probably shot... pun intended. I mean look at it as a PR perspective and think that by association we think of SGK and their "good" work. Which is unfortunate because I don't think the pink idea was even SGK's idea to begin with. Wasn't it Estee Lauder's daughter-in-law that came up with the pink ribbon?

[jamsie]

02:57 AM on 02/07/2012

Yes, it was Lauder or someone in her organization. I think they were originally beige.

[ParsnipSoup]

01:19 PM on 02/05/2012

http://www.discountgunsales.com/walther-p-22-hope-edition-34-pr-5575.html

[ParsnipSoup]

01:15 PM on 02/05/2012

Here's a link to the page on their site with the gun. Komen is spelled correctly. It says they are partnering with them, so if that's untrue then why hasn't the organization taken legal action or at least asked them to stop saying that on their website?

[OdinsEye]

06:04 PM on 02/05/2012

Because that page is no longer promoting the product. It specifically says they are no longer taking orders for that product. The original page was yanked on Friday and replaced with that page.

SGK DID tell the dealer on Friday to pull the opriginal page, which the dealer did. Due to legal issues, the dealer may be able to keep the current page up.

[ParsnipSoup]

06:33 PM on 02/05/2012

The url changed but they are still selling it. I can't post the url here but if you go to DGS site and put Komen in the search bar it is still there, still stating that they are partnered with Komen in selling those guns- if that weren't the case they would have had to take the page down already, as we know Komen an extremely litiginous organization, they have sued others for FAR less than this infraction, which would be a major one if there really were no connection.

Furthermore, it says they are no londer taking back-orders due to the overwhelming demand for the pistol. You somehow seem to fail to include that in your various trollings on this site.

Also, how pray tell would you know about such a phone call from SGK to the dealer if you're just some regular person like the rest of us instead of an insider with the foundation, or an employee of the gun dealer's? If Komen did in fact file a cease and desist that page would have to be taken down immediately.

I don't know who you are but I am convinced at this point that you are probably someone working for SGK sent here to do some damage control

[setanta54]

06:36 PM on 02/05/2012

"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..........as usual the half arsed reporting here and catchy lines---this guy is not in the national office and even if this were connected he WOULDN'T BE RECEIVING a cent anyway.
unreal how they put quotes etc relecting their slant.

[InventPeace]

09:56 AM on 02/05/2012

There have been many groups who support the NRA for your information. IE Jewish Defense League is one that supports the NRA, why: Because as they say before every massacre or genocide the victims are first disarmed historically. Reviewing recent group assasinations:
1. Jewish in ww2 (first disarmed, then herded into ghetto's, then to trains, then to camps where most died or were killed).
2. Gnedehutten massacre (american indians, soothed into trusting their assailants, they were killed once they put down their weapons , ohio circa 1800's)
3. Mountain Meado Massacre: (Mormons talked pioneer settlers into laying down their arms then methodically proceeded to kill every one of hundreds of men WOMEN and CHILDREN circa 1870's; they said they had the approval of Brigham Young (disputed) ).
4. 11 Million Ukrainian christians killed again WW2 (even though some ukrainians initially welcomed hitler with flowers in the city of Lvov, hitlers mininons killed 11 million over the years of the war + another 4 million that were in camps). fyi: 30 million eastern european people were killed over the time of the ww2.
5. First christian converts were fed to lions after first being disarmed and transported from their homes to the prison underneath the coleseum. AND MANY MORE THRU HISTORY!

[setanta54]

12:31 PM on 02/05/2012

take it the whole 9 yards-
registration leads to confiscation
an unarmed populace is fodder for genocide.

[schotts]

01:31 PM on 02/05/2012

Yup.

[InventPeace]

02:18 PM on 02/05/2012

Yes, thats why really we need to honor the founding fathers alot more for what they tried to do for us. Old england with evil kings bluebloods owning everything , making everyone else serve them (my gosh, it sounds too much like todays usa???)

[Emy Freeland]

03:57 PM on 02/05/2012

You still can't convince me the necessity of an automatic rifle and weapons sold to the general public which under the Bush administration let the automatic weapon ban lapse. I can understand to a degree of having a hand gun and a hunting rifle but an automatic assault rifle is overkill by an overwhelming degree. Name one reason anyone NEEDS an automatic assault rifle -where you have other options for protection- for other than war zones and I'll still say that reason is crazy.

[InventPeace]

05:53 PM on 02/05/2012

Hi Emy, You seem like a nice person. Glad to know you. Discussion: Well you make a good point, but the reality is that your idea to limit guns only works when good people are involved. Al capone had automatic machine guns, they toted them around, paid off police (or get shot), and in general raised hell, because the citizens obeyed the laws, but the criminals don't.
Kinda like the honor system,, criminals laugh at those ideas. while we do the honor system. But again, only the law abiding citizens who are not the threat would obey gun control anyway. its a catch22. Crime in FL has fallen since they reinstituted the concealed carry law, and also the right to fight back instead of having to retreat when someone attacks (like home invasions and car hijackings. )
Personally I like the Taser Idea because you can protect yourself and never be accused of trying to kill anyone,.

[stuart pyburn]

06:05 PM on 02/05/2012

The guns your talking about that were banned are not automatic, they are semi-automatic. They look like their automatic counter parts but only one bullet comes out with each pull of the trigger. They are no different than any other "hunting rifle". It's all about what the gun looks like. Some people like the look of the military weapons. I like the old cowboy looking guns. Applying your logic, we only need one or two models of cars. They all do the same thing, why do we need so many that do the same but look different. Under that weapons ban you seemed to like, my 1858 Enfield musket, used during the civil war, that can only fire, at most, three rounds per minute was outlawed because a bayonet could be affixed to the barrel. the law had many flaws.

[maxfax]

09:51 AM on 02/05/2012

Time to rethink the entire 501(c)(3) exemption.

[setanta54]

01:09 PM on 02/05/2012

and would the profit making pLaNNwed pArentHOODS be included here as well ?
nobody can answer why their status remains or why they get federal aid.

[sensimilla]

04:37 PM on 02/06/2012

they get federal because, like a lot of social service organizations, they do good work for MILLIONS of women.

Why do conservative men hate anything that supports women?

[Samantha Galentine]

11:50 AM on 02/10/2012

Did you know that they provide more than what you think? Try actually going to their website and finding out. In my area we could use one since the nearest doctors are either 15 miles in one direction or 30 in the other. Gas prices would be cut way down if we had places like that in my area. They also have payment plans and certain incomes DO NOT have to pay. Research before you speak and type intelligently, I might actually read your comment with respect then.

[1oldhippie]

08:39 AM on 02/05/2012

If they aren't connected with the gun maker they would have sued by now...

[blood1]

09:32 AM on 02/05/2012

Yep, I am waiting for the law suit - but I'm not holding my breathe!

[urbancitygirl]

03:29 AM on 02/05/2012

Ha! Once you go political, you can't go back!! This genie is NOT getting back in the bottle!

[JimInHouston]

10:53 AM on 02/05/2012

Similarly, we all have seen PP's stripes.

[setanta54]

01:14 PM on 02/05/2012

it's goods all the abortionists continue to bring up PP and the profit making industry they are.....and being they MAKE A PROFIT how do they maintain their 501 exemption and still get federal money ?
so the more they yap on about the scatology of PP's ""health"" services which are nothing more than a basic work up preabortion and then bundled into groups of blood work,ecg's,""breast exams"" (PP does NOT do mammograms)BP "screenings" etc-- the more people will get INFORMED as to exactly WHAT PP does and makes their profits from.

[womenshealth]

02:16 AM on 02/05/2012

Komen has lost sight of the mission, and is now a super pac. Fire the radicals and maybe we will return some day. In the meanwhile, any corporate sponsors should be shunned until Komen cleans house.

[setanta54]

01:16 PM on 02/05/2012

komen lost sight of supposedly saving lives the minute she went in with PP as PP is a profit maker from their own abortion industry and doesn't even have any mammography sites and NEVER NEEDED a dime from anyone.

[Samantha Galentine]

11:27 AM on 02/10/2012

Planned Parenthood provides necessary reproductive health care to low income families. They have what's called a payment plan. They don't just do abortions you idiots saying that.

[TheLibraryOfCodex]

12:58 AM on 02/05/2012

Awww, so cute.

[moonpielib]

12:45 AM on 02/05/2012

Maybe they could add a Hello Kitty sticker on it...