packin' around the christmas tree
GOP congressman under fire after posting gun-toting Christmas pic four days after school shooting
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has drawn criticism after posting a photo of himself and his family smiling in front of a Christmas tree while holding guns only four days after a school shooter killed four people in Michigan, Reuters reports.
Massie captioned the photo, which he tweeted Saturday, with the words "Merry Christmas! ps. Santa, please bring ammo." Massie is well-known for his libertarian views. In April, he introduced a bill that would make it legal for 18-year-olds to purchase handguns.
Massie has yet to comment directly on the media furor that has sprung up around his post, but he did respond to one critic on Twitter, who wrote that "the bar" — meaning standard of expected behavior — "was on the floor, but somehow you managed to tunnel underneath it." Massie replied, "The BAR is under the couch. #sassywithmassie," referring to the abbreviation for a Browning Automatic Rifle.
Manuel Oliver, the father of one of the victims in the 2018 Parkland school shooting, called the post "very nasty" in an interview with CNN's Jim Acosta. Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) posted a tweet calling Massie an "insensitive a--hole."