EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) – A tweet from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office with a photo of a man resembling Santa getting his concealed handgun permit prompted several opposition replies on Twitter.
The sheriff’s office sent the tweet around noon on Friday, along with a link to a web page with more information on how to obtain a concealed handgun permit in the county.
“Guess who came in to receive his Concealed Handgun Permit today?” the tweet asked with an emoji of Santa’s face. “Did you know the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office has issued 49,750 Concealed Handgun Permits with another 2,560 awaiting to be issued?”
The tweet received over 550 comments as of 4:45 p.m., and included comments, such as “Santa has a fvcking gun is what you’re going with? Should I show my child this pic? Will it comfort them? Will they love Santa more? Who is this tweet for?”
Another person said, “I showed this to my kid & now he’s terrified that Santa is going to come to our house to shoot him. Thanks a lot for ruining Christmas!!”
In response to the outrage on Twitter, the sheriff’s office released this tweet:
“EPSO intended to highlight our staff in the Concealed Handgun Permit Office, not to be insensitive. Santa correlates to the month of December and we thought he would help to recognize our hard working staff.”