US lawmaker posts family picture with several guns, faces backlash

Gun violence seems to have become an everyday affair in the United States. The situation is grim to an extent that just days after four teenagers died in a shooting at a high school in Michigan, a US congressman posted a picture for Christmas on Saturday with him and his family, what it appears to be, smiling while holding several guns.  

Along with the picture, US Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, tweeted, "Merry Christmas! ps Santa, please bring ammo."   

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In the photo, Massie and six others can be seen posing while holding firearms, which resemble an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, M60 machine gun and Thompson submachine gun.  

The country has already been marred by a long slew of deadly shooting incidents. They have prompted fierce debates over gun control, gun rights and school safety.   

The posing of the family with an assortment of guns has not been well received in the country.   

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Democratic US Representative John Yarmuth, who also chairs the US House of Representatives Budget Committee, has criticised Massie’s post.  

Under US law, weapons, such as machine guns, can be used by only law enforcement, military and civilians, who have special licenses for weapons made before May 1986.  

(With inputs from agencies)