Gun-violence protesters hang 17 crosses from Louisville gun show billboard for Florida victims

Seventeen crosses bearing the names and ages of those killed in last month's school shooting in Florida were hung overnight from a Louisville billboard that advertises a local gun show.

The white crosses were hanging Sunday morning off the front edge of the billboard, which featured a picture of a man holding two guns next to text that advertises the "National Gun Day Gun Show" at the Kentucky Exposition Center in late February.

The names and ages of the victims of the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, were written in black text on the crosses.

The billboard is located on the southbound side of Interstate 65. It's visible from the northbound side of the freeway just before the Fern Valley Road exit.

Both the crosses and the text on the billboard were scheduled to be removed Sunday afternoon, according to Carly Zipp, spokeswoman for Outfront Media, which owns the billboard.

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It is unclear who is behind the crosses. But it's the second billboard in the same stretch of freeway to be targeted since the Florida school shooting, as well as a school shooting in Marshall County, Kentucky, in January that left two people dead.

Last month, a billboard on the northbound side of Interstate 65 near the Fern Valley Road exit was tagged with a message that stated: "Kill the NRA" and a reference to "Resist 45," a group that opposes President Donald Trump.

The school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead has renewed outrage and debate over the nation's gun laws, and the NRA is drawing criticism from those who want to see tighter regulations on firearms.

Photos of the tagged billboard last month circulated widely on social media. The NRA's official Facebook page also shared a photo of the sign, telling gun owners that it's "a wakeup call. They're coming after us."

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"Resist 45" has popped up on several billboards across Louisville last year, including one on a University of Louisville soccer board near campus and another along Interstate 65.

A billboard targeted in October featured a small "Resist 45" tag in the corner and referenced a campaign scandal in which Trump was recorded in 2005 talking with Access Hollywood host Billy Bush about sexually assaulting women.

A Facebook page for Resist 45 has been deleted.

Justin Sayers: 502-582-4252; jsayers@gannett.com; Twitter: @_JustinSayers. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/justins.