Novi, Michigan – Ammunition in Phoenix, a small store about 30 minutes west of Detroit, re-manufacturing ammunition used primarily by highly competitive shooters, suddenly became a national name more than four years ago after it began publicly trolling people who voted for Joe Biden in the controversial elections of 2020.
Since then, brothers and co-owners Justin and Kyle Nazarov have embraced their online infamousness. Blaze News visited the facility in Novi, Michigan, where he learned personal and professional reasons for the company’s political activities.
background
Justin Nazarov told Blaze News that he was always a “libertarian” guy with political heart, but when Fenix opened in October 2016, just weeks before President Donald Trump was elected for his first term, he had no intention of mixing personal opinions with professional marketing.
At the time, Justin was still working with the insurance company and wanted to separate his private life from his business life.
“I thought this was a business. Treat it like a business. This is not you. This is not a reflection of you. This is the business you run,” Justin recalls.
After the next presidential election in 2020, he kicked Trump out of his oval office for four years, replacing him with Biden. Archive version of his campaign website.
Biden’s election poses a direct threat to Phoenix and other small ammunition shops, which sell products primarily online. However, as the 2020 BLM riots still remain in the background, and the country is upset by the blockade of the community, the orders for ammunition continued to pour so quickly that the people of Phoenix could barely catch up.
Even Biden voters who feared the possibility of violence had ordered ammunition in self-defense. At that point, Justin said he decided to have a slightly more fun and forced buyer to check the box to make sure he hadn’t voted for Biden before completing his purchase.
“I wanted to see if anyone noticed, right? I thought I’d get a laugh. [and] People on Twitter would say, “Look at what these people have added to the website,” Justin argued.
Justin said he was on the floor when the woman called to complain that she couldn’t complete her order without checking the box. Justin told Blaze News that he tried to explain to the woman the ammo between purchasing ammunition online and voting for candidates who wanted to ban online ammunition sales, but he couldn’t go anywhere.
“She said, ‘Yeah, I’ll get it, [Biden’s] It’s not really banning that. He’s just reducing the amount of ammunition you have,” Justin said.
“That’s when I clicked in my head,” Justin continued.
The discussion with the women encouraged Justin to take an even more bold stance on the Phoenix website and create a splash page that will show you how she voted for in 2020. Those who did not vote for Biden were allowed to continue their order. Those who did it were redirected to the second revision page of Biden’s campaign website.
Justin showed News Blaze that the purpose of the Splash Page is to educate voters on Biden’s true platform. “There may still be some who are reachable, but they are really honestly not aware of everything he says he wants to do,” Justin reasoned at the time.
Average tweets
Within a few weeks, the Splash page on the Fenix website will create national news, and experts will Bottom right and Left to the left The outlets placed emphasis on Phoenix’s political activities.
By early 2021, Justin, who controls all of Phoenix’s social media content, decided to stop the political neutrality of Phoenix’s marketing, and instead took him to Twitter called X, in solidarity with many loyal customers who felt their opinions on the second revision were being ignored.
“We’ve become interested in people. How do we do that? …Let’s talk about some of these current events,” he said.
The move worked, and interest in Phoenix spiked. “Our mailing list has grown much larger. We’ve gained more followers on Twitter,” Justin explained. “We’re seeing a big interaction and we’re beginning to reach more people.”
Perhaps the most notable and controversial way Phoenix began to get involved in politics was by printing memes and tweets on packages sent to customers. Justin and others took photos of the package, shared it on social media, and sometimes sent liberal targets and others into a bout of rage.
Dr. Peter Hotez, who supported the development Covid boosterafter the company called him a “war criminal,” someone demanded that Phoenix officials “stop” their exercise of their rights to free speech.
For Justin, there were two advantages to fan labels. First of all, they are inexpensive ways to separate Phoenix from the competition. He said large companies can’t afford to engage in politics because they have lucrative contracts with government agencies like law enforcement.
“We’re in a market where we have to take that kind of risk… to survive,” he said. “We have to find a way to sell it. It’s an interesting and unique way. We don’t have the money to infuse tens of thousands of dollars with radio or TV ads.”
The image also helps invade Phoenix with politically active buyers, he said.
“Time has passed and I’ve started to understand my customer base more… I’ve been in these worlds, understanding competitive shooter and training classes and extremism. “I think it’s important for people to be passionate about this… the ability to protect themselves and others.”
Without the right to have an arm, “You don’t have freedom of speech,” Justin argued. “You really don’t have anything.”
haters gonna hate
As expected, politically charged tweets and packaging from Fenix spurred mixed reactions. Even Michigan politicians noticed.
In August 2023, the Michigan Election Commission sent a letter to the company saying the investigation was open to marketing practices after receiving a complaint about a bag with a message decorated with the message “Mi State Rep Jaime Churches.” The church is Democrat on the left Who defended it? State-level restrictions are strict About gun rights.
The MEC’s message about the church could be in violation of Michigan’s Campaign Finance Act, and promoted “recall voting” without promoting “recall voting” and “recall voting.”
“Because the material explicitly advocates for election or defeat of a candidate, this material includes explicit advocacy as defined by the law,” and therefore “paid” disclosure is required, the MEC explained.
The letter admonished that such a crime is a misdemeanor that can be punished with fines up to $1,000 for up to 93 days in prison.
Screenshot of letters. Used with permission.
Phoenix’s lawyers later denied coordinated efforts to remind them of the state legislator’s church, claiming that production of packaging occurred at the Phoenix facility at “minimum cost.” The Michigan State Department’s Office of Elections rejected the complaint in November 2023 due to “inadequate evidence.”
A year later, the state Congress Member Losing her seat, Phoenix won the winning lap. “We had a great escape, Jaime, “Company I teased November 7th, 2024, two days after the election.
Tweet screenshot
Oakland County Commissioner Gwen Markham similarly expressed concern over Phoenix ammunition. In an email in September 2020, Markham warned that then Homeland Security Division manager Thomas Hardesty and then Novi Police Chief David Molloy were engaged in “hostile” online activities.
“Justin Nazarov is known online for his presence and sometimes appears at events with open carry “just because I can,” the email continued. “He likes to scare people.”
Email screenshot. Used with permission.
Markham did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
But it wasn’t just state and local officials who expressed anger over the unusual packaging and Phoenix’s rude online presence. Justin has shown the blaze news of other Missives who have been tackled what his office message board has been calling the “wall of fame” filled with the nasty messages his company has received over the years.
“f*** you! You deserve to suffer with getting COVID, you **hole” reads one message.
“You don’t respect the rights of others. In fact, you don’t act like an American. You should move your business to Russia,” says another.
“Half of these are people who are telling us to do f*** off, and half of these are people who say it’s the funniest thing we’ve ever seen,” Justin told Blaze News.
Flame News Photo
Trump incites slimy “optimism”
The rest of the Nazarov brothers and Phoenix ammunition is not always on sale even by President Donald Trump, embracing the controversial image and heartily laughing at the opportunity to troll former President Joe Biden and his voters.
“I actually didn’t take Trump seriously until it was probably September,” Justin told Blaze News, referring to the 2016 election.
Trump took office and issued a “title enforcement order.”Protects Second Amendment Rights“Justin is still under his watch about what Trump expects to do with the term.
“This EO was published more than 30 days ago,” Justin wrote Blaze News on March 25th. “So far, I’ve received Zero commentary from Ag Pam Bondi. It seems AgPamBondi is too busy plaguing Epstein’s situation to plague them dealing with violations of constitutional rights.”
“I have something optimistic due to some of the other choices in Trump’s Cabinet, but I really don’t expect meaningful gun control to be removed.”
In the meantime, to strengthen his business and strengthen his skills, Justin took part in the competitive shooting and worked to infiltrate with the next generation to keep his business and second modifications as long as possible.
“We donate money to people who are young, competitive shooters,” he said. “We donated money to a school that is trying to teach firearms education, a charity we support.”
“I’m 39,” Justin continued.
“So we try to stick to meme culture.”
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