Gun Ad On Sun Sentinel Front Page Featuring Parkland Victim Draws Outrage
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PARKLAND (CBSMiami) – Outrage over the placement of a controversial ad has forced the South Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper to temporarily suspend running gun advertisements.
Wednesday on the front page of the newspaper there was a color picture showing family and friends of Parkland shooting victim Alyssa Alhadeff unveiling her headstone at Star of David Memorial Gardens Cemetery in North Lauderdale.
Just below in bold yellow, black and red print was an ad for the Fort Lauderdale Gun Show complete with the picture of a handgun.
"I opened it up and I was horrified," said Fred Guttenberg, who has the paper delivered.
Guttenberg is the father of another slain student, Jamie Gutttenberg.
He took his outrage to social media posting.
"Looks like the Sun Sentinel editor on this page failed," Guttenberg's post said. "A story on the victims of gun violence and they put a gun coupon on the page."
"My daughter was killed by a weapon and so when we talk about victims and the emotions, it's beyond jarring," Guttenberg told CBS4.
Guttenberg wasnt the only one to call out the paper.
Stoneman Douglas student activist Cameron Kasky described the ad as 'grossly offensive'.
Another reader found it 'inexcusable and unacceptable'.
The paper's publisher Nancy Meyer issued an apology which said in part, "We deeply regret placement of a gun advertisement on our front page Wednesday. It is against our policy to run gun and other types of controversial advertising on our front page. We are taking steps to ensure this does not happen again, and the Sun Sentinel now has a moratorium on gun advertising."
Guttenberg called the moratorium a huge decision.
"I want to make sure it is more than temporary, make sure it is a permanent stop, he said. "But yeah I'm satisfied."
Kasky said "I'm very glad the Sun Sentinel has decided not to run gun ads after what happened on the front page today. Their decision to right the ship for the days to come is very morally just and I hope they stick by it."
