A Republican congressman posted a Facebook message threatening to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters as he wrote that anyone arriving in Louisiana “aggressively natured and armed” would have a “one-way ticket” and that he’d personally “drop 10 of you,” according to the Lafayette Daily Advertiser.
U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, a Lafayette Republican, threatened to shoot a rumored group of openly armed protesters and drew immediate criticism from U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, saying his “dumb and reckless Facebook post requires serious condemnation.”
“If this shows up, we’ll consider the armed presence a real threat. We being, We, the people of Louisiana, one way ticket fellas. Have your affairs in order. Me? I wouldn’t even spill my beer. I’d drop any 10 of you where you stand. Because some of We, like me … We are SWAT. Nothing personal. We just eliminate the threat. If you show up like this, if we recognize threat,” Higgins wrote.
“You won’t walk away. That’s not a challenge, fellas, its a promise. We don’t want to see your worthless ass nor do we want to make your mothers cry. You’re the ones threatening. If you show yourselves, aggressively natured and armed in my presence, in my neighborhood, where I work, anywhere close enough to put my family or my fellow citizens in danger. That is where your journey will end. fast. How fast? 1,450 FPS fast.”
Facebook eventually removed the post.
A Twitter user captured a screenshot of the post.
To which Higgins responded that Facebook deleted his post and not him.
According to The Acadian Advocate
, “The Black Lives Matter protest outside Lafayette City Hall was a peaceful affair and featured a barbecue, a jab at Guillory after a demonstrator was arrested over the weekend after setting up a grill on the street outside Guillory’s house to cook hot dogs and hamburgers in a stunt aimed at luring the parish leader outside to talk.”