In the wake of last night’s horrific shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., an outcry has arisen on social media shaming the Charleston Post and Courier for placing a sticker ad for a local gun shop and shooting range on the front page of the paper, just above the tragic headline “Church Attack Kills 9.”

The sticker ad for the ATP Gun Shop and Range advertised a “Ladies' Night” event for $30 which includes “eye/ear protection” and a “souvenir t-shirt.”

Reader Shawn Payment commented on the Post and Courier’s Facebook page:

What advertising genius at the Post & Courier thought it was a good idea to stick a gun shop advertisement over the church attack headline this morning?

Payment’s comment quickly garnered over 100 likes on the paper’s Facebook page and more than 50 comments. Other readers took to twitter to attack the decision to include the ad on today's paper, posting images of the sticker just above the lead headline about the shooting.

The Post and Courier responded to reader Shawn Payment on their Facebook page, issuing an apology:

The front-page sticky note that was attached to some home delivery newspapers on the same day as this tragedy is a deeply regrettable coincidence. We apologize to those who were offended.

Payment’s sentiments were echoed by other readers who felt the ad was inappropriate and the apology within a post was inadequate. One reader scolded the paper, “I'd say you need to make the apology higher priority rather than just letting it be a reply to a post on your FB page.”

Some readers, however, felt that the ad was appropriate to run alongside news of the tragedy.

Commented one reader, Joey Lynn:

Why not? If you don't feel compelled to stock up on ammo and practice your shooting skills every time you see tragedies like this, then you must have forgotten that you live in America...where everyone has the right to bear arms, to protect themselves against all enemies foreign and domestic.