Rich Larson figured the eve of the pheasant opener in South Dakota would be a great time to promote his firearms auction business.

He rented space at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport with the hope of attracting out-of-town hunters to an upcoming auction. His table included pistols and long guns, and it was right next to a Sioux Falls Police Department table.

To the hundreds of hunters streaming into the airport, it was no big deal. But to others, Larson said, there were looks of astonishment and disgust – a sign of the cultural divide that exists in the United States when it comes to firearms and hunting.

“I’ll tell you, it’s incredible,” Larson said.

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His display provoked a commotion on Twitter when Samuel Sinyangwe Tweeted to more than 96,000 followers that he had just landed at the Sioux Falls airport and discovered guns were being sold there.

“Just landed in Sioux Falls,” he Tweeted. “THEY ARE SELLING GUNS IN THE AIRPORT.”

As of 4 p.m. Friday, the tweet has 3,000 retweets and 650 comments

Sinyangwe is a co-founder of Campaign Zero, a group that aims to eliminate police violence. He describes himself on Twitter as a New York based “Black Activist. Data Scientist & Policy Analyst.” He was in town to speak at a couple of Sioux Falls-area businesses.

His Tweet prompted a flurry of responses – many of them of the disgust and astonishment variety and some of them denigrating South Dakotans, white people and “flyover country.” Which then prompted responses and, as often happens on Twitter, the political Tweet war was on.

What many of them didn’t know was that this weekend marks the opening of the pheasant season, a huge event for the state’s economy.

And Twitter being Twitter, they were also responding to a false report. The firearms were only on display – just a few of the items that would be at the next auction.

“These are for an auction,” Larson said. “We’re not selling them here.”