Republican Thomas Massie condemned for Christmas guns photo

A US congressman has posted a Christmas picture of himself and what appears to be his family, smiling and posing with an assortment of guns, just days after four teenagers were killed in a shooting at a high school in Michigan.

Thomas Massie of Kentucky tweeted: “Merry Christmas! ps. Santa, please bring ammo.”

Ethan Crumbley, 15, faces charges of terrorism and murder after the deadliest school shooting in the US this year. His parents were arrested on Saturday in connection with the killing of Tate Myre, 16, Hana St Juliana, 14, and 17-year-olds Madisyn Baldwin and Justin Shilling at Oxford high school near Detroit. Six other students and a teacher were wounded in Tuesday’s shooting.

Massie, who represents a solidly Republican district, posted the picture of himself and six others holding firearms resembling machine guns and semi-automatic weaponry, some of which are made to look almost identical to fully automatic weapons.

Under US law, weapons such as machine guns are restricted to the military, law enforcement and civilians who have obtained special licenses for weapons made before May 1986.

Jonathan Van Norman, a campaign manager for Massie, did not immediately reply to a request for comment via Twitter.

The Democratic US Representative John Yarmuth condemned his fellow Kentuckian’s post. “I’m old enough to remember Republicans screaming that it was insensitive to try to protect people from gun violence after a tragedy,” Yarmuth tweeted, apparently referring to calls for gun control laws.