Walmart Regrets Welcoming Kids Back to School With Guns

It’s August, and that means your local big-box store is probably already knee-deep into “back to school” sales on essential gear like backpacks, notebooks, and high powered rifles.

Er…well, maybe not that last one, unless you happened to be browsing the aisles at an Evansville, IN, Walmart, where customer Leeanna May says she saw a large display case of firearms topped with a brightly colored sign urging shoppers to “own the school year like a hero” on Wednesday.

“We have already lost so many innocent lives to guns,” May told The Washington Post on Thursday, claiming she immediately alerted store officials about the offensive juxtaposition—after tweeting it (her account is now locked).

Walmart, for its part, immediately apologized for the display, and after determining the location of the offending store, said that the local manager had taken the sign—part of a broader “superhero” themed push by the company—down.

In a statment to the Post, a Walmart official reportedly confirmed that the picture appeared accurate, apologized again, and said it was investigating how it could have happened.

I’m gonna go out on a limb, and suggest that perhaps it’s because Walmart—the largest gun retailer in the United States—has for years helped normalize the sale and use of firearms, stocked comfortably alongside ordinary household items like toilet paper and socks.

 
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