An ad for a gun show is seen next to a story about Sandy Hook in the Stamford Advocate. (Twitter/Naim Ukperaj)
A Connecticut newspaper has apologized for running a print advertisement for a gun show next to an article about Sandy Hook Elementary students returning to school for the first time since last month's massacre in Newtown.
On Thursday, the Stamford Advocate ran the ad for this weekend's scheduled East Coast Fine Arms Show on the same page as the back-to-school piece, "A different Sandy Hook Elementary opens."
A reader, Naim Ukperaj, posted a photo of the unfortunate juxtaposition on Twitter along with a comment: "Such bad taste."
Hearst Newspapers, which owns the Stamford Advocate, agreed.
"Our newspapers should not be running gun ads—including ads for antique and collectible gun shows—next to stories about Sandy Hook," Paul Farrell, group publisher for Hearst's Connecticut Media Group, said in a statement Thursday afternoon. "It’s insensitive, and it shouldn’t have happened. It was an oversight, and we apologize for it. We have taken steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again."
[Related: Sandy Hook students resume classes for first time since school shooting]
Earlier Thursday in Monroe, Conn., Sandy Hook Elementary School students resumed classes for the first time since the Dec. 14 shootings where a gunman opened fire, killing 20 children and 6 adults at the school before turning the gun on himself. The shooter, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, shot and killed his mother in their Newtown home before his rampage at the school.
The school remains closed.
[Hat tip: Buzzfeed]