In a bizarre tirade, a Republican state senator in Missouri lashed out at an Anglican priest over the issue of abortion and gun rights last week.

Missouri State Senator Brian Nieves (R-Washington) had posted a photo of a gun on his Facebook page last Friday, explaining that a constituent “brought some of his personal Arsenal [sic] for me to look at and Drewel [sic] upon.” The photo quickly generated comments, with one woman saying that Nieves was a “white racist redneck” and the priest saying he hoped Nieves would “realize that true patriotism is more than carrying a deadly weapon.”

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In response, Nieves accused the two commenters of working for the Riverfront Times, a local publication, and called them stupid.

“There is NO Possible way ya’ll are real people who really believe what you’ve written on my page,” Nieves wrote. “I’m simply not falling for it. You two are obviously just people who are pretending to be that stupid in the hopes of drawing me in to some senseless argument and then try to snatch a quote for the RFT or some other lib-rag. Sorry, I’m on to you, you over played your cards and made your comments far too stupid.”

But Nieves quickly continued the “senseless argument” after the priest said he was “saddened that any elected official would reduce himself/herself to name calling.” Nieves accused liberals of being “bullies” and then questioned whether the priest supported a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy. When the priest replied that he supported reproductive rights and opposed the death penalty, Nieves wondered whether liberals like the priest were suffering from a mental illness.

“A person commits a heinous crime, the kind we hear about in the news, and they are not allowed to be executed but an innocent baby who is wrapped in the comfort of his/her mother’s womb – Having been created by God – can be literally ripped apart, viciously murdered, and this ‘Man of God’ supports it?!?!?!” Nieves wrote.

Nieves continued to argue with the priest for another 30 minutes, writing that an abortion to save the life of the mother was “a matter of convenience” and that the priest made him sick.

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“I am perhaps too old and tired for this debate this evening,” the priest wrote. “You don’t seem to understand, or wish to understand what I said about education or providing birth control so abortion is no longer necessary. But then again, you couldn’t scream your disgust at me if you did.”

Though Nieves said he was too smart to fall for the alleged plot to “snatch a quote for the RFT,” the Riverfront Times was the first to report his Facebook comments. The online rant was later picked up by The Huffington Post on Monday.

UPDATE: On Monday night, Nieves denied saying that an abortion to save the life of a mother was a matter of convenience.

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“I never – NEVER said that an abortion to save a Mother’s life is a matter of convenience! In fact, I never even came close to saying such a thing!” he wrote on his Facebook page.

His full comment from Friday is posted below:

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