In case you had any doubts about former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's patriotism or masculinity, he wants to put them to rest.
Bush's tweet came just hours after he met with employees at the FN USA firearms plant in Columbia, South Carolina. FN USA is a subsidiary of Fabrique Nationale d'Herstal, a Belgian firearms manufacturer.
Backlash was swift elsewhere on Twitter, where users took issue with Bush's one-word caption. Many pointed out that the nation's relationship with guns correlates to a gun-homicide rate far higher than anywhere else in the developed world. Others suggested the tweet smelled of desperation, retweeting it with the phrase, "please clap," a reference to a campaign appearance earlier this month in which Bush had to ask the audience to applaud his remarks.
Bush's Second Amendment credentials came under scrutiny last year when a survey from the UK's Telegraph revealed that he was one of the few GOP presidential candidates who didn't own a gun -- alongside New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. With Christie and Fiorina now out of the race, Bush may have been the only remaining Republican who didn't own a gun. Now, however, that is clearly no longer the case.
Bush has seen lackluster results throughout the 2016 campaign. He currently trails by nearly 30 points in South Carolina, which will hold its presidential primary election next week.
If this doesn't reverse the trend, he can always get a bigger gun.
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