Donald Trump Jr used Tuesday’s shooting at YouTube to stir up the gun control debate, when he claimed that the shooter’s social media accounts being taken down was a sign of a liberal conspiracy against the National Rifle Association.
Shooter Nasim Aghdam’s social media accounts were taken down not long after she killed herself and injured three people at YouTube’s headquarters in San Bruno, California Tuesday afternoon.
Many media outlets were able to take screen shots of her social media posts and download some of her bizarre YouTube videos before they became inaccessible.
Donald Trump Jr (left) used Tuesday’s shooting at YouTube to stir up the gun control debate. YouTube shooter Nasim Aghdam pictured on the right
In a Wednesday morning tweet, Trump Jr claimed that the shooter’s social media accounts being taken down was a sign of a liberal conspiracy against the National Rifle Association
Trump Jr speculated that the fact that they were taken down was evidence of a double standard when it comes to mass shooters and their political views.
‘You think there’s any chance whatsoever that a mass shooters hateful Instagram and YouTube channels would be pulled immediately if they were NRA members as opposed to liberal Vegan PETA activists? Asking for a few million friends in the @NRA’ Trump Jr tweeted.
A few agreed with Trump Jr’s comment on Twitter, saying the media isn’t interested in shooters when they appear to hold liberal views.
But most of the people who responded to Trump Jr’s tweet disagreed, some saying it was hypocritical that he was politicizing the shooting when conservatives criticize liberals for doing the same thing.
‘Asking for a [few million] friends [s]” is a sort of immature way to address a serious issue like a mass shooting. I wouldn’t expect anything else from you. Stay out of policy, it’s not your thing, kind of like property management,’ one Twitter user said.
Most off the people who responded to Trump Jr’s tweet disagreed, some finding it hypocritical that he was politicizing the shooting when conservatives criticize liberals for doing the same thing
‘The celebration you are having over a shooting is in rather poor taste Donny,’ another Twitter user, Bob Elbow, wrote.
Daniel Fienberg added: ‘Just remember this the next time you open your damn yap about LIBERALS politicizing shootings.’
Trump Jr’s comments do not appear to be based in fact, since the gunmen in mass shootings usually do have their social media profiles taken down, if they have any.
For example, following the Parkland shooting in February, it was discovered that shooter Nikolas Cruz had multiple Instagram accounts, where he showed off his gun collection and even wore a Trump hat in one photo.
Like Tuesday’s shooting, Cruz’s Instagram profiles remained public for a while after the shooting, but were eventually taken down.