At a time when President Trump\u2019s repeated demonizing and denigration of Central Americans seeking refuge in this country is whipping up anti-immigrant fears and hostility, a Newington gun dealer has added its take on this controversy by targeting so-called \u201cillegals\u201d in a fake advertising flyer placed on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using the heading \u201cFREE GUNS FOR CT. ILLEGALS,\u201d Hoffman Guns for the Good Guys\u201d Facebook page recently featured a derisive attempt at humor at the expense of undocumented immigrants through a posting with a cartoon lampooning the situation at the southern border and text which some critics view as inflammatory. For example, the term \u201cillegals\u201d is considered a pejorative to those opposing Trump\u2019s attacks on Hispanic immigrants.<\/p>\n\n\n
At the same time, there was evidence, at least among the hundreds of positive \u201clikes\u201d and comments on Hoffman\u2019s Guns for Food Guys\u201d page, that the flyer\u2019s ridicule of undocumented immigrants and their advocates resonated with many people across the state. According to a Prospect man, \u201d The truth hurts to some snowflakes, don\u2019t worry about it.\u201d A Berlin machine tool technician said, \u201cI thought it was awesome\u201d and a Ridgefield woman commented, \u201cDon\u2019t apologize, it was funny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
However, within a week the cartoonish flyer was removed and what one state leader called a \u201cquasi-apology\u201d appeared. However, by then the Hoffman posting had been shared at least 200 times and had attracted numerous comments that its contents were racist, disgusting, stupid, tone-deaf and \u201ccontained half-baked immigration views\u201d that alienated the store\u2019s customer base.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cHoffman\u2019s was hoping there\u2019s no such thing as bad publicity, but I\u2019m hearing they\u2019re wrong,\u201d said state Senator Matthew Lesser, who copied the cartoon to his Facebook page, denouncing it as offensive. \u201cWhite supremacy and human trafficking are shameful stains on our society, not a cheap marketing gimmick,\u201d said the Middletown Democrat, a former state representative who is a member of the legislatures Black and Puerto Rican Caucus.<\/p>\n\n\n
Lesser, whose district includes Newington, said the Berlin Turnpike gun and ammo emporium \u201cheard from a ton of their own customers outraged that this business would engage in this kind of disgusting, racist advertising.\u201d Moreover, he said, \u201cI\u2019ve heard from a bunch of customers who have said they intend to take their business elsewhere.\u201d These included Hispanic and non-Hispanics, he added.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n
Within a couple of days, Lesser\u2019s posting of the flyer had received almost two hundred positive likes and was shared nearly 140 times. The many comments were overwhelmingly critical of Hoffman\u2019s and contained statements such as \u201cnever stepping into this store again\u201d and \u201chope you idiots lose business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
In addition, the state senator said, \u201cCertainly the backlash from the community has been fierce because Newington is a welcoming community and not a place where this kind of behavior is normal or tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
The flyer\u2019s most prominent element is a cartoon depicting the Statue of Liberty sporting President Donald Trump\u2019s iconic blond comb-back haircut while holding a book that says national security. In the background is a verdant green landscape. Across a brick and barbed wire wall, a man in a multi-color Mexican-style serape looks north from the desert while carrying a crying emoji.<\/p>\n\n\n
The flyer also states, \u201cWe want to find a pathway for illegals to legally purchase firearms so they can protect their family on their perilous journey to & from the border and to keep thieves away from their food stamps and all the other freebies that they so richly deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
Robert Fishman, executive director of the Connecticut Immigrant and Refugee Coalition and a former director of the Jewish Federation of Connecticut, said the Hoffman posting and its anti-immigrant tone seemed to be an outlier and that he did not see anti-immigrant sentiment becoming more visible in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Lesser and others placed the Hoffman posting in a broader context. \u201cThis disgusting behavior stems directly from the racist anti-Latino antics President Trump has normalized across the country,\u201d the state senator said.<\/p>\n\n\n
A related remark was made by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, during a briefing on the state\u2019s lawsuit against Trump\u2019s emergency proclamation to build the border wall. He said that Trump\u2019s \u201cracist, hateful attacks\u201d to immigrants and that \u201ceven the people here legally are afraid to go to work to the hospital \u2026 to church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
Like several journalists, Lesser had sought an explanation from Hoffman about the controversial flyer and did not receive a response. The senator said, But I did see Scott Hoffman (the store\u2019s owner) posted a quasi-apology on his company\u2019s Facebook page. This statement first thanked \u201call the people that (sic) enjoyed and supported my cartoon on illegals,\u201d and then adds, \u201cit was not my intention to upset anyone \u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
This message did not sit well with Yanil Teron, executive director of the Center for Latino Progress in Hartford who called it insulting. \u201cThat isn\u2019t an apology but a Trumpian statement applauding the racist base for laughing at a very offensive flyer, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n
Teron also said that Hoffman is \u201cpromoting civil discord by thanking the customer base on supporting him on being offensive.\u201d She asked, \u201cDoes the Hoffman crew laugh at concentration camps jokes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
The flyer also took a jab at Connecticut\u2019s two U.S. Senators, Richard Blumenthal, and Chris Murphy: \u201cHoffman\u2019s Gun Center wants to join with the ever talking Senator Murphy & the distinguished veteran senator Blumenthal in helping our illegal\u2019s in CT.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
Lesser and others also debunked the core premise in the Hoffman\u2019s posting that an \u201cIllegal\u2019s Freedom Pack,\u201d consisting of flag-decorated gun and holster and ammunition would be available only to immigrants who have a Connecticut pistol permit and provide proof of illegal status.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
The state senator countered, \u201cUndocumented immigrants cannot legally buy guns anywhere in the United States \u2013 that\u2019s federal law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
By Bill Sarno<\/a>\/CTLatinoNews.com<\/a> At a time when President Trump\u2019s repeated demonizing and denigration of Central Americans seeking refuge in this country is whipping 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