Nothing is safe from politics, even the beloved mall Santa.

A video has popped up on social media that shows a child talking to a mall Santa in an unspecified town. The shy child sits across the table from the man playing Santa, who is also separated from a piece of plexiglass.

As usual, Santa asks the child what he wants for Christmas, and after a time of trying to work up the nerve, the child finally asks for a NERF gun for Christmas. A NERF gun is a harmless toy gun that shoots styrofoam darts and bullets and has been a beloved toy for decades, especially to boys.

This Santa, however, seems to have a bit of a political bent and decided to take it out on the kid.

“No guns,” said the Santa with a very nasally voice completely uncharacteristic to Santa. “No, not even a NERF gun.”

The suddenly shocked child looked toward his mother, confused and hurt.

“Nope,” continued the Santa. “If your dad wants to bring it to you, that’s fine, but I can’t bring it to you.”

The Santa asked what else the child would like and suggested other toys such as Legos or a bicycle.

“What do you think?” said Santa who immediately receive an answer.

“What do you think?” he pressed the child.

The child attempted to hold it together but soon broke down into tears. His mother walked over to comfort the boy as the mall Santa urged that it’s okay if the boy’s father wants to bring him one.

Liberal Santa sends Young Boy Away in Tears After Refusing to Gift Him a Nerf Gun for Christmas @Hasbro pic.twitter.com/9QbKtxcJGK

— Matthew (@WhiteHovse) December 7, 2020

There are many things wrong with this little event.

For one, it’s not up to Santa to deny a child a common toy because the man playing him has a set of political beliefs that run against it. If the mall itself has a policy about not encouraging the purchasing of toy guns then that policy needs to be made clear to parents so this situation doesn’t happen.

Moreover, what if this child doesn’t have a father? What if his father died or abandoned him and he was being raised by a single mother?

It seems to me this mall Santa had a political itch he needed to scratch and felt one of the ways he could do so was to deny children a toy they really want. Children look up to Santa, and if people use the image of Santa to try to sway children to believe their political leanings then these people should be fired and replaced with a person that will act the part.

Denying a child a rifle was funny in “The Christmas Story” but in real life, it’s not up to the person wearing the strap-on beard to decide what is and isn’t good for the kid to have. If a kid says “I want a toy gun” then the response from Santa is “HO HO HO I’ll see what I can do.”

That’s that.