Mel Bernstein (born 1945), nicknamed "Dragon Man", is the owner of Dragon Arms and a military museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[1][2]

Early life

Bernstein was born in Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish family. After dropping out of high school, he was drafted into the Vietnam-era Army and worked on and fired quad-mounted anti-aircraft guns at Fort Bliss; after serving two years in the military and acquiring over 100 tattoos, Bernstein started a motorcycle repair shop, where he built a custom 1966 Harley Davidson forming a dragon's wings and head with metal and fiberglass, and later modified the dragon's head so the eyes would light up and its snout would shoot fire; Bernstein claims it was the locals who saw him ride the custom dragon Harley, that gave him the nickname "Dragon Man".[1][2][3]

Career

Since 1982, after moving from Valley Stream, Long Island, NY to Colorado, Bernstein has run a mail-order motorcycle parts business, gun store, gun range, paintball park and military museum, on 260 remote acres he owns called "Dragon Land".[2][4] Billing himself as the "most armed man in America," Bernstein has weapons and equipment on display from the Civil War to Afghanistan, including M1 Garands, .50-caliber machine guns, over 80 military-grade vehicles, a functional 40 ton T54 Russian tank, six 1000-pound bombs; medieval Japanese swords captured by U.S. troops in World War II and over 900 mannequins dressed in military uniforms.[1][5][6][7] Bernstein states that some of his military weapons are so big that he cannot shoot them.[8] Bernstein is a Class III firearms dealer and values his collection of military memorabilia at ten million dollars.[2][3]

Discovery Channel accident

On June 14, 2012, Bernstein's wife and business manager Terry Flanell, was killed in an accident during the filming of a promotional piece for a new Discovery Channel reality show featuring Bernstein and his crew, called "Dragon Land".[2] Flanell was struck by two smoke bombs travelling at 150 mph during a special-effects smoke scene.[6] Bernstein and a family member filed a wrongful death suit in Federal court against Discovery Channel parent Discovery Communications and Anthropic Productions Corp. The case was later dropped.[9][10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Meet the 'most armed man in America' and his insane arsenal". Business Insider. April 4, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Dragon Man's fire: After stunning tragedy, tough guy over Colorado gun empire has gotten tougher". The Gazette (Colorado Springs). February 4, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Breathing fire The Dragon Mans lair roars with machine guns, motorcycles and controlled mayhem". csindy.com. June 2, 2005. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  4. ↑ "OUR TOWNS; On L.I., the Graying of a Bikers' Rite". New York Times. July 20, 1986. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Colorado Springs' Identity Crisis". 5280. April 1, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Woman killed by smoke bomb flying at 150mph in freak accident on TV show set". New York Daily News. June 16, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Dragonman's military museum to feature Afghanistan expansion". fox21news.com. March 3, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  8. ↑ "The Most Armed Man in America Will Make You Stand up and Say 'God Bless America'". Independent Journal Review. April 6, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Family of Colorado woman killed in reality TV pilot sues Discovery". Los Angeles Times. June 18, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Lawsuit dropped over death of Colorado woman in reality TV show". www.bizjournals.com. April 28, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  • Video tour of military museum
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