'Santa, please bring ammo': US politician criticised for photo with guns days after school shooting

Republican representative Thomas Massie (front left) is a well-known gun rights activist in his home state of Kentucky. Credit: Twitter/@RepThomasMassie

A US congressman has been heavily criticised for a Christmas card photo of him and his family posing with seven guns.

The politician posted the image just days after a school shooting claimed the lives of four people.

Thomas Massie - a Republican representative for the state of Kentucky - tweeted a photo over the weekend alongside his family, all holding assault rifles.

The caption read: "Merry Christmas! ps. Santa, please bring ammo."

The photo, posted to Rep Massie's 284,000 Twitter followers, received high profile messages of both criticism and support.

The tweet comes just days after a school shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan, where four people died and seven were injured.

A 15-year-old student is accused of committing the shooting with his father's gun.

Mourners gathered at a vigil to remember the victims of the Oxford High School shooting in Michigan. Credit: AP

Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime died in the Parkland school shooting in 2019, condemned the tweet.

He replied with a picture of his daughter Jaime, alongside a picture of her grave.

Mr Guttenberg said: "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."

Anthony Scaramucci, who served as former President Donald Trump's communications director, also criticised the tweet.

He said he would fund the campaign of anyone who challenges Mr Massie for Congress.

But the photo also received messages of support.

Conservative commentator and gun rights activist Candace Owens - who has almost three million Twitter followers - said: "Can somebody explain to me how they worked out that the Michigan school shooting is @RepThomasMassie’s fault because he shared a picture of him and his family holding legal fire arms?".

Mr Massie has been a congressman for Kentucky since 2012.

He is a long-standing supporter of gun rights, and has said in the past that he doesn't think gun control would stop school shootings.

Earlier this year, the 50-year-old introduced a bill to lower the age to buy handguns from 21 to 18.

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