Just hours before the Jewish religious holiday of Yom Kippur anti-semitic flyers were discovered on cars outside of a gun show in Allen.
“We had a nice time and I saw a flyer on the car and I kind of thought it was a menu for a local restaurant,” said Andy, who didn’t want his last night used. “This was hate speech. This wasn’t a different political view or supporting a particular political party, this was hate speech.”
The antisemitic flyers had been placed on cars all around the parking lot.
Andy took the flyer home to show his wife, who was just as taken aback by the message.
“I can’t believe it’s 2023 and the symbols and the rhetoric in this flyer was reminiscent of World War II antisemitism and it really made me sick,” said his wife Catrina.
In a statement to NBC 5, the organizers of the event, Premier Gun Shows, released a statement that reads:
“Premier Gun Shows was not aware of this taking place yesterday. The individual or group that was distributing these on vehicles has done so at a few other shows in the past. They do not make their presence known. Premier Gun Shows absolutely and without a doubt rejects and condemns this messaging and the hate behind it. We have been advised that since many of our shows are hosted at public venues we cannot interfere or remove these flyers – they are protected under the First Amendment, no matter how terrible. Again to be very clear, these flyers do not reflect Premier Gun Shows values or beliefs.”
Groups that monitor extremist activity say Texas is no stranger to hateful speech.
According to an annual audit conducted by the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents in Texas increased by 89% from 2021 to 2022.
Catrina and Andy took a moment to gather their thoughts and decided speaking up was the only answer.
They’ve sent letters to lawmakers asking them to do the same. “Expressing our desire for them to speak out against this forcefully. To make it known that this is not the kind of community that we want to have for our children to grow up in.”
