Walmart Very Sorry About Back-to-School Gun Display

'Own school year like a hero' sign apparently wasn't supposed to be over a gun case
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 10, 2017 8:11 AM CDT
Walmart Very Sorry About Back-to-School Gun Display
This photo has been making the rounds on Twitter.   (Twitter)

Retailers are currently in the middle of the back-to-school frenzy, but Walmart is taking heat after someone snapped a photo of a glass display case filled with guns underneath a sign that reads, "Own the school year like a hero." CNNMoney reports that picture has gone viral on social media and that Walmart is now scrambling to identify the store in question and do damage control. Reaction online has, in general, not been positive, with many drawing the line between the display and school shootings. One Twitter user asked, "... what are you suggesting?" Wednesday, with Walmart's official Twitter account replying: "We hear you. This was horrible and we removed the sign as soon as we found out."

The Washington Post notes the sign appears to have come from a separate, non-gun-linked Walmart campaign, and that corporate is trying to figure out if a worker placed the sign near guns or a shopper did. "What's seen in this photograph would never be acceptable in our stores," a Walmart rep says. Walmart is hedging on where the store in question is located. But Leeanna May, the woman who says she took the photo, claims it's in Evansville, Ind., and that she spotted the "disgusting" display while shopping with her husband Wednesday. "We have already lost so many innocent lives to guns," she says. (Walmart had issues around a racial slur last month.)

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