Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL) replied to a gun control critic on his official Twitter account Friday night in a profanity-laced tweet after he voted to pass a gun-grabbing bill in the House.
Garcia, who supported the House’s legislation that would ban certain semi-automatic firearms, tweeted his celebration of the bill’s passage. ”I just voted to reinstate the assault weapons ban. Now it’s the Senate’s turn to pass it and send it to President Biden’s desk,” he said.
An anonymous Twitter account wasn’t happy with the congressman’s support of the gun control legislation and replied to Garcia’s tweet, writing “Never even heard of this guy and I won’t comply even if his silly law passes.”
Instead of letting the jab go like most politicians do on social media, Garcia’s official Twitter account responded to the tweet with obscene language.
“You are borderline retarded, ya f***ing dips***,” Garcia tweeted.
The response was taken down two hours later, according to Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn, but not before multiple people captured screenshots of the congressman’s profanity-laced insult.
Rep. Chuy García (D-IL) tweeted profanities and a slur in response to a random Twitter account with 531 followers who trolled him. pic.twitter.com/LUjqWnDoxd
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) July 30, 2022
Garcia issued a statement Saturday, explaining that the tweet was not approved by him and was written by someone on his staff.
“Last night a member of Congressman García’s staff posted an unauthorized tweet from the Congressman’s account using profanities and offensive language to individuals living with disabilities,” the statement read. “The language used was absolutely inappropriate and inconsistent with Congressman Garcia’s history, values, and character. The individual responsible will be held accountable and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.”
Statement from Congressman García’s Spokesperson, Fabiola Rodríguez-Ciampoli: pic.twitter.com/SyagCscHA0
— Congressman Chuy García (@RepChuyGarcia) July 30, 2022
The gun control legislation passed by the House in a 217-213 vote Friday night is not expected to survive in the Senate. The bill would reinstate the assault weapons ban that was in place from 1994 to 2004 and prohibit the sale or manufacture of certain rifles (including AR-15s), shotguns, and pistols based on the features that they have, The Daily Wire previously reported.
The gun-grabbing bill was also celebrated by President Joe Biden. “Today, House Democrats acted by unifying to pass an assault weapons ban to keep weapons of war off our streets, save lives in this country, and reduce crime in our communities,” Biden said in a statement. “The majority of the American people agree with this common sense action.”
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.