“Santa, please bring ammo.” Congressman posts controversial holiday photo.

Semi-automatic handguns are displayed at shop in New Castle, Pa. The number of people stopped from buying guns though the U.S. background check system hit an all-time high of more than 300,000 last year amid a surge of firearm sales, according to new records obtained by the group Everytown for Gun Safety. The FBI numbers provided to The Associated Press show the background checks blocked nearly twice as many gun sales in 2020 as in the year before. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

Congressman's Christmas photo with armed family draws criticism

by: Karen Compton

Posted: Dec 5, 2021 / 12:16 PM EST

Updated: Dec 5, 2021 / 03:08 PM EST

WASHIGNTON (WTRF) Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie is facing criticism after posting his family Christmas photo on Twitter Saturday.

The photo shows the seven Massie family members posing and smiling in front of a Christmas tree as each of them holds a gun.

Merry Christmas! 🎄
ps. Santa, please bring ammo. 🎁 pic.twitter.com/NVawULhCNr
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 4, 2021

The tweet asks that “Santa, please bring ammo.”

Massie is facing criticism for posting the photo so soon after the Oxford High School shooting in Michigan where four students died after allegedly being killed by their 15-year-old classmate, Ethan Crumbley. Crumbley received the gun he allegedly used in the shooting as a Christmas present from his parents, reports say.

His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were charged with involuntary manslaughter and are now being held on a combined bail of $1M after reportedly fleeing to Detroit.

Parents captured after son charged in deadly Michigan high school shooting

Some parents of shooting victims also criticized Massie, including Fred Guttenberg, father of a student killed at the Parkland, Florida school shooting in 2018 at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were killed.

.@RepThomasMassie, since we are sharing family photos, here are mine. One is the last photo that I ever took of Jaime, the other is where she is buried because of the Parkland school shooting.

The Michigan school shooter and his family used to take photos like yours as well. pic.twitter.com/MsQWneJXAp
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) December 4, 2021