NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating threats made against a state lawmaker after he announced plans to give away an AR-15 rifle.
The weapons are similar to the one used to murder 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday.
Republican state Rep. Andy Holt says his office was contacted repeatedly by an anonymous caller with a Memphis phone ID. The caller said he was armed and threatened to pay Holt’s office a visit.
“And that’s whey we have actually doubled down and said ‘We’re not gonna giveaway one AR-15, we’re gonna giveaway two just to prove a point.’ We will not be derailed by the activities of these murderous and deranged radical Islamists.”
State Democratic Party Chair Mary Mancini was scathing in her rebuke of Holt for what she calls his “insensitivity.”
“Representative Andy Holt is someone who never ceases to use an opportunity to grandstand and this instance is no different.”
Mancini is calling on the Republican super majority in the state legislature to have a serious conversation about new meaningful gun control measures.
Holt is telling the media he intends to press charges against his threatening caller.