Mel Bernstein

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 Huntington, 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 accidentally killed 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. "Meet the 'most armed man in America' and his insane arsenal". Business Insider. April 4, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  2. "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. "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. "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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