A photo-op with the North Pole's most famous resident costs $5 (USD) for members and $10 (USD) for non-members at the Scottsdale Gun Club in Arizona.
Ron Kennedy, the General Manager of the club, sayspeople have different ways of expressing their enthusiasm for the holiday season.
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"Well, it's designed to be a holiday-themed event,where people can express their passion for firearms and their holiday spirit. Not too many times people can come in and actually be posed in front of Santa with the $80,000
Garwood Minigun behind them, and a selection of other firearms," Kennedy said.
"I don't think it's unusual. I think again, it's -people want to express themselves in different ways. Some people like to do it with a Santa at the mall.
Some people like to do it in front of their tree at home.
A lot of our customers want to do it with firearms at the club," Kennedy added.
The club's first "Santa and Machine Guns" event brought in about 500 people on November 26th, Kennedy said. More than 1,000 people are expected to attend the second event scheduled for December 10th.
Kennedy said the idea for photo opportunities with Santa started in 2010, after a member dressed-up like Santa and throngs of club members wanted to have their pictures taken with him.
None of the weapons are loaded, Kennedy said.
