Boston Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez answered questions about a five-year-old pro-Second Amendment Instagram post on Tuesday, and made clear that he still stands by the Constitution and the Second Amendment.

The post, from 2013, was a quote Martinez had associated with Adolf Hitler. It said, “To conquer a Nation, First disarm it’s (sic) citizens.”

ESPN reports that Martinez posted the quote and under it wrote, “This is why I always stay strapped! #thetruth.”

When reporters called him out on Tuesday, Martinez apologized if he had offended anyone but he made clear he would not back down on his convictions. He said, “I saw [the quote] and I posted it. I had no intent to offend anyone, but it was mostly just to state a point — a political point at the time that I believe in. … I stand by the Constitution and the Second Amendment. It’s something that I take pride in, and it’s something that I’ll back up.”

Martinez explained how his family had to flee a dictatorship in Cuba under Fidel Castro and suggested that is was that experience that makes the idea of being denied the right to bear arms unacceptable.

He added, “Everyone here has a right to their own political beliefs, and everybody has the right to stand by what they believe in. That’s what makes us American. We’re all not going to agree on the same things, but that’s what makes this country so great.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.