Donald Trump Jr was derided by Democrats and Christians alike after he posted an image of gun-wielding Easter bunnies on Instagram on “the holiest day”.
The eldest son of former US president Donald Trump shared the image on Sunday with the word and hashtag “easter”. A caption overlay also reads: “Come and take it”.
It shows three people dressed in bunny costumes and military gear, with one of the Easter bunnies holding a rifle, and at least one another with a weapon.
On Twitter, dozens of social media users called out Mr Trump Jr for sharing the image amid three mass shootings in Pennsylvania and South Carolina, which injured 31 people.
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In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, two minors were shot dead on Sunday and eight others were among those injured after 90 shots were fired at a house party, reported The Associated Press.
A mall shooting injured 14 people on Saturday in Columbiana, South Carolina, and another nine people were shot at a nightclub in the states Hampton County early on Sunday, according to police.
“There were three mass shootings this weekend, and junior posts this meme,” wrote one enraged Twitter user of the Mr Trump Jr Instagram post. “Isn’t this supposed to be the holiest of days?,” another user wrote. “It’s a sickness”.
Others mocked mocked Mr Trump Jr for his apparent obsession with the Second Amendment by writing: “These people make guns their whole personality, but on a day like this is just crazy!”
“How to give kids nightmares. Really, leave it to conservatives to take something innocent and joyful and turn it into something with all the joy of the Inquisition,” added another user on Twitter.
The furore comes about a week after a subway shooting in Brooklyn, New York City, injured more than 20 people and Republican backlash against US President Joe Biden’s push for new federal legislation to tackle gun violence.
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Mr Trump Jr was among those to attack Mr Biden for allegedly restricting the right the bear arms and shared posts on Twitter critiquing the Democrat’s attempt at banning privately made firearms, or “ghost guns”.
Mr Trump, his father, also caused controversy on Easter Sunday with messages attacking “radical left maniacs” in the Democratic Party and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who he labelled a “racist”. The comments were widely derided as being false and “un-Christian”.