A North Carolina-based advertising company said it’s taking down a gun shop ad that disparagingly refers to four congresswomen of color as the “4 Horsemen” and “idiots.” Anti-gun violence and civil rights activists have lambasted the ad as “dangerous” and “violent.” The billboard ad for Cherokee Guns features the photos of Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.)— known collectively as “the Squad.” “The 4 Horsemen Cometh,” the ad reads, an apparent reference to the biblical four horsemen of the apocalypse. The word “Cometh” is crossed out in the ad and replaced with the words “are idiots.”

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence condemned the language in the ad as “disgusting anti-government violent rhetoric.” “Threats against members of Congress, particularly minority members are [on the rise] and it is driven by the president’s racial rhetoric,” the group wrote on Facebook. “This is dangerous!!!” Muslim Advocates, a national civil rights organization, similarly censured the ad for promoting violence against the four congresswomen, who President Donald Trump recently said should “go back” to their countries of origin despite the fact that three of the four women were born in the United States and all four are American citizens.

There are already multiple credible assassination threats & attempts on these officials.



The media is irresponsibly downplaying this and calling it "mocking."



In an age of white nationalist attacks and rampant gun violence, *this is not a joke.*https://t.co/Y6EkktqZYF — Muslim Advocates (@MuslimAdvocates) July 31, 2019

In the face of the fierce backlash, Allison Outdoor Advertising, the advertising company behind the gun shop ad, said on Wednesday that it would be taking down the billboard. “For all those who has concern over the Cherokee Guns Artwork. The board is coming down,” the company wrote, according to NewsChannel 9. “This Creative never came on managements desk for approval. We understand this is a delicate subject and we greatly apologize for it ever going up.” That original Facebook post appears to have been removed, but the company posted another message a few hours later saying the board “is coming down.” The company gave no indication when the removal would take place.