Twitter takes down Republican Briscoe Cain’s tweet within hours because it violates rules on ‘threats of violence’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A Republican state lawmaker from Texas has caused outcry for tweeting “My AR is ready for you Robert Francis” after Democratic presidential candidate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke pledged to ban and confiscate AR-15 military-style rifles.

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Within hours, Twitter took down Briscoe Cain’s post, which O’Rourke’s campaign labeled a “death threat”. “It violates our rules for threats of violence,” a company spokesperson said late Thursday night.

Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) This is a death threat, Representative. Clearly, you shouldn't own an AR-15—and neither should anyone else. pic.twitter.com/jsiZmwjMDs

Earlier, Cain, a 34-year-old “conservative Republican” lawyer who represents a district outside of Houston, Texas, had mocked Twitter users who called his comment a threat of violence. “You’re an idiot,” he told one commenter. When O’Rourke called the tweet a death threat, and said it proved that neither Cain nor anyone else should own an AR-15, Cain responded, “You’re a child, Robert Francis.”

O’Rourke endorsed a ban on the possession of certain military-style rifles shortly after the mass shooting last month in his home town of El Paso, Texas, in which 22 people died and dozens were injured. He has specifically called for a mandatory government buyback of AR-15s, following Australia’s gun control model.

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Cain, who did not respond to an emailed request for comment, appeared to defend his tweet as simply a version of a popular slogan among American gun rights activists – “Come and take it” – which generically dares any politician to try to confiscate their guns.

In response to thousands of people responding with anger and concern that he was threatening violence against a presidential candidate, the millennial Republican wrote, “I get ratioed in the reg”, meaning that his tweets are regularly overwhelmed with a large ratio of disapproving comments.

The Twitter policy that Cain violated, according to a Twitter spokesperson, was the rule that “You may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people.”

The rest of Cain’s Twitter account, including his response calling O’Rourke a child for labeling the tweet a “death threat”, remained online Thursday night.

The O’Rourke campaign reported the tweet to the FBI, a campaign spokesperson told the Guardian. The campaign declined to offer any additional comment, including any response to Twitter’s decision to take down Cain’s original tweet.

Spokespeople for the FBI’s Houston bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday night.

Some Twitter users noted that Robert Francis was also the name of Robert F. Kennedy, who was shot dead while running for the Democratic nomination for president in 1968.

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐧 (@BriscoeCain) You’re a child Robert Francis https://t.co/rU3WoYQFQV

In 2018, Cain appeared to bring a gun to a Democratic convention in Fort Worth, Texas, as part of a disruptive prank in which he handed out gun control signs.