'Do better': Matt Gaetz draws flak for sharing photo of himself with gun bearing Donald Trump's Georgia mugshot

WASHINGTON, DC: Rep Matt Gaetz took to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, July 3, to upload a photo of him holding a gun that featured a picture of former President Donald Trump's mugshot. He captioned the post, "Get Ready." 

Trump quickly appropriated his mugshot, taken after he surrendered on charges of scheming to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results leveled by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, as a symbol of his political frustrations and even turned it into campaign merchandise.

Matt Gaetz posts a picture of himself with a Glock handgun featuring Donald Trump's mugshot

The far-right Florida lawmaker's post has so far received more than 167k views and over 1,000 comments.

Gaetz, a staunch Trump ally, is notorious for spearheading the effort to remove former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from office in 2023, which caused weeks of instability among Republicans.

He took this action as payback for McCarthy, according to many news reports, refusing to end an Ethics Committee inquiry into him on allegations that he used illegal narcotics, had accepted unlawful gifts, had sexual contact with a minor, and engaged in obstruction.

Notably, one of Gaetz's associates entered a guilty plea when the FBI looked into the allegations of child sex trafficking independently; nonetheless, the case was closed without any charges being brought against Gaetz, as per Raw Story.

Internet reacts as Matt Gaetz shares photo of a handgun bearing Donald Trump's Georgia mugshot

Soon after Gaetz shared the photo of the handgun bearing Trump's Georgia mugshot, netizens were quick to bash the Florida lawmaker. 

One joked, "The irony, of course, is that Trump isn’t legally allowed to touch it," and another said, "Is that a threat??? Are you threatening Democrats with this? You know some of us live in Florida, right?" 

"Seriously, this is what an elected official does for $200K (including expense allowances) per year?!" questioned a person. 

Someone else urged, "Dude I Know that I ain’t you with your finger on the trigger!! What kind of example are you setting! Do Better Mr Gaetz," while one more said, "Bring it on. If this is a threat you’ll be very sorry you posted this."

Another netizen wrote, "Don't give us any reasons to hurt you, Matt Gaetz," while an individual remarked, "Did you look down the barrel of the gun to make sure it wasn't loaded Matt? Better make sure, safety first."

"Too many people are clueless about guns. And to me, that sort of proves they should not have them. Proof in the news every week, if not every day lately," shared another person. 

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.