US electronics chain offers free guns to TV subscribers

A new promotion by RadioShack electronics chain in the US states of Idaho and Montana is offering free guns to first-time subscribers of satellite TV service Dish Network.

John Marshall, owner of a RadioShack store in Mountain Home, Idaho, said the flagging economy was behind the promotion, which he began advertising this week.

"There's no problem with it here; this isn't New York City," he said about the gun giveaway.

Customers who sign up to Dish Network packaged for the first time are given a coupon for $135 (£82) to buy either a pistol or a shotgun from a local sporting goods store. The promotion has unsurprisingly sparked criticism by gun-control advocates elsewhere in the United States.

The guns-for-subscriptions offer is the brainchild of Steve Strand, owner of a RadioShack store in Montana's Bitterroot Valley.

Mr Strand affirmed that the promotional campaign was a sure-fire strategy to target satellite subscribers in a region where firearms are commonplace. Since the offer was introduced last autumn, Mr Strand said that subscriptions for Dish Network packages have increased threefold. (read more)