Carl Nett, a Republican candidate for secretary of state in Kentucky, suggested in a tweet the shooting of a Democratic congressman who supports gun control, HuffPost reported.
Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., sent a tweet Monday noting that he is proud to display a button with the "F" rating he received from the National Rifle Association. Since then, other lawmakers have also tweeted photos of themselves displaying their "F" rating.
Nett, a former Secret Service and Central Intelligence Agency officer, responded to Yarmuth with a tweet that was later deleted, HuffPost reported.
"Move it over just a bit. I was trained center mass," Nett wrote in the tweet. Law enforcement often uses the term "center mass" to mean shooting a target in the chest, HuffPost reported.
Local and state Republican organizations rebuked Nett for the post.
"We condemn that tweet, in the strongest of terms, as well as any suggestion of violence against anyone," the Louisville GOP tweeted.
Nett then apologized in a series of tweets.
"I recognize that my attempt to be clever was far from clever, particularly in light of politically motivated acts of violence against elected officials," Nett wrote, mentioning the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and the attack on Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.
A representative for Rep. Yarmuth told the Louisville Courier-Journal that Yarmuth had accepted Nett's apology, HuffPost reported.
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