IF you know your American history you will find the swastika used very prevelently in 2 different places/cultures.
1. Many tribes of American Indians used it as a good luck symbol. You'll see it in photos of TePees and on jewelry among other places.
2. The white man also used it in the late 1800s and very early 1900s. Two examples I can think of quickly are on poker chips and best of all - as the division symbol on the 45th Inf Div patch worn on the left shoulder of the uniform in the 1920s & 30s. Gold swastika on a square red patch worn standing on one corner. In 1939, after the start of the war in Europe, this was changed to the Thunderbird - also in gold on the same red patch.
2a. The main train station in Pueblo, Colorado was built in the 1890s. The floor has many, many swastikas inlaid into the floor tiles. Still there today.
To sum it up, the nazis were only the most recent in the world to use it and also the only ones with which it has a bad conotation. Unfortunately much of the world only remember the nazi useage!
I see absolutely Nothing wrong with using that flag as a back drop for those rifles! Course there are some who would pitch a bitch about someone using a Confederate Battle flag as a back drop for a collection of Richmond muskets!
Sarge |