A provocative purse is being removed from the racks of a New York-area clothing chain following an NBC 4 New York investigation into one shopper's complaints.

The controversial clutch, sold by fashion chain Easy Pickins, has a realistic-looking 3-D imprint of a handgun that could make it look like the wearer is holding a real firearm.

"If I saw a woman walking down the street with this purse I might look at her and say, 'Oh my god, that girl has a gun in her bag,'" said Natalia Perez, a former news reporter who told NBC 4 New York about the pocketbook.

Fernando Cacoillo, head of operations for Easy Pickins, said he was unaware his chain carried the pistol-themed bag and quickly ordered more than 20 stores to stop selling it.

"We’ll take it off the shelves right away,” Cacoillo said. “I would go out to the manufacturer of this handbag and have them take it off the market completely.”

Easy Pickins uses an outside company to choose and purchase merchandise and store managers were not immediately able to determine who manufactures the $18 handbag.

Perez says she is concerned a police officer responding to a crime in New York City might see a purse imprinted with a pistol and mistake it for a real gun.

“All of these things we’re seeing in the media about Ferguson, shootings, and police brutality — this is just not the message you want to send to young women to just go out and look cute with a gun in their purse," she said. "That looks crazy.”

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/weird/Purse-Gun-Handbag-Pulled-From-Stores-Easy-Pickins-296168601.html