A Chicago-area gun store owner said booth at Comic-con has been frozen out of the four-day show in Rosemont, IL.

DS Arms owner Dave Selvaggio said he’s been working on his booth since March and planned to include replica guns and special Comic Con promotions for gun safety and shooting classes.

“Just because people are fans of comic books and sci-fi doesn’t mean they’re not interested in protecting themselves and their family and their belongings,” Selvaggio said.

Selvaggio said Comic Con attendees are a target market for businesses like his since they are filled with many fans of movies and games which involve firearms.

“Maybe 90 percent of people walking around in costumes have (presumably fake) firearms,” said Selvaggio, who added that his company has provided props for movies. “All of these movies are filmed with live guns, with firing devices and with replicas.”

But when the show opened on Thursday, Las Vegas-based Wizard World tore down Selvaggio’s booth after allegedly receiving online complaints in response to a ‘real gun dealer’ at the show.

“We want everyone to have a good time at the show,” said Wizard World spokesman Jerry Milani, who would not respond to when he made the decision to tear down DS Arms’ booth. “We want this to be fun.”

Selvaggio said the gun shop’s booth had been set up for about an hour and a half across from displays of stuffed toys and Hello Kitty totes until a Wizard World staff member came through and took it down.

While sword and blade dealers can be seen throughout their events, Wizard World policy for blades sold at booths is to have any purchases checked in until purchaser is exiting the venue.

Apparently Wizard World’s Comic Con policy banning “any parts or accessories that can readily cause harm” to attendees includes promotional discounts on gun safety and shooting classes.

Glad they chose to enforce their new policy at this weekend’s event in Chicago…. it’s abundantly clear past attendees would have no interest in taking shooting classes or benefit in the least from learning gun safety.

Well done, Wizards.