Major League Baseball Umpire Rob Drake has apologized after being criticized for saying there could be a “civil war” if Democrats try to impeach President Donald Trump.

On October 22, Drake tweeted that he may need to buy a rifle if the Democrats move to impeach Trump. Drake added, “because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVIL WAR!!! #MAGA2020.”

Drake only left the angry tweet up for a short time before deleting it and tweeting a more measured discussion of the issue saying, “You can’t do an impeachment inquiry from the basement of Capital Hill without even a vote! What is going on in this country?”

Now, the MLB ump, who began his officiating career in 1999, has fully apologized for the tweet, ESPN reported.

“I especially want to apologize to every person who has been affected by gun violence in our country,” he wrote adding, “I also acknowledge and apologize for the controversy this has brought to Major League Baseball, my fellow umpires and my family.”

Umpire Rob Drake, whose viral tweet yesterday about buying a gun for a coming civil war led to an investigation by Major League Baseball that remains ongoing, sent along a statement to ESPN apologizing for the tweet. The full statement: pic.twitter.com/jPYX8ZHpzO — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 25, 2019

“I’m going to learn from this. Once I read what I had tweeted I realized the violence in those words and have since deleted it,” Drake insisted.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @WTHuston.