On Sept. 24, 2023, visitors at an event organized by Premier Gun Shows discovered flyers scattered on cars all over the parking lot. According to NBCDFW, the flyers contained antisemitic rhetoric and promoted conspiracy theory content.
“Officers collected all of the flyers they could find, and we have notified FBI and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for their information only," Sgt. Johnathan Maness from the Allen police told Local Profile.
An official statement by the event organizers condemned the hate speech incident saying that is something they’ve encountered before. “The individual or group that was distributing these on vehicles has done so at a few other shows in the past,” Premier Gun Shows told NBCDFW. “They do not make their presence known. Premier Gun Shows absolutely and without a doubt rejects and condemns this messaging and the hate behind it.”
However, the organizers said they are unable to interfere in the distribution of these flyers as “they are protected under the First Amendment, no matter how terrible. Again to be very clear, these flyers do not reflect Premier Gun Shows values or beliefs."
The flyers allegedly promoted a neo-nazi propaganda film and spread antisemitic conspiracy theories regarding gun regulation.
"At this point, there is no offense other than an ordinance violation of solicitation, however, it is unknown who placed them on vehicles," explained Sgt. Maness.
Only three days before the flyers were found, the ADL released Hate in the Lone Star State, a report on extremism and antisemitism in Texas. According to the report, Texas saw a significant increase in antisemitic incidents over the last two years, rising 89% in 2022, from 112 to 212 incidents in one year. The report also highlighted the Allen Premium Outlets shooting in May 2023 among the violent plots conducted by extremists between 2021 and 2023.
According to a previous report by the ADL, in the past ten years, 444 people were killed by extremists, of whom 335 (or 75%) were killed by right-wing extremists. Out of those 335 murders, 73% were committed by white supremacists.