Former major league baseball player Aubrey Huff is preparing for a Bernie Sanders presidency at the shooting range, where he's teaching his children how to shoot in the "unlikely event" that the Vermont senator beats Donald Trump in 2020. In a viral Twitter post that's been widely derided for seemingly referencing a right wing-mounted civil war, Mr Huff says that "knowing how to effectively use a gun under socialism will be a must."

His post tagged the accounts for the National Rifle Association and conservative comedian Chad Prather, along with the hashtag #2ndamendment.

Mr Huff ended his baseball career in 2014 after a three-year stint with the San Francisco Giants, including World Series runs in 2010 and 2012.

He claimed socialism in the US will create "crazy people rioting and trying to break into my house for food or shelter."

Mr Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, embraces a European and Nordic model of social democracy.

When one person suggested calling child protective services, Mr Huff replied: "This is the world we live in today. Teaching your children how to safely handle and shoot a gun at a legal gun range is now grounds for having your children taken away from you."

Another person said Mr Huff's display amounts to "white supremacist indoctrination masquerading as parenting".

His response: "Yes. Yes. That's it. Me at the gun range to my boys: 'yes son aim for his forehead. A kill shot to the head is 100 points.' Wow people get a grip! I'm teaching them how to responsibly handle and fire a gun. Plus it's amazing bonding time for dads and sons."

He later said that "pussified leftist middle-aged white men that take bathroom selfies are the most embarrassing demographic in this country."

His comments follow another Major League Baseball figure who threatened a civil war if Mr Trump is no longer in office.

Last month, MLB umpire Rob Drake apologised after writing on Twitter that he would be "buying an AR-15" and warned of "Cival War" if the president is impeached.

Mr Huff's latest defensive tirade followed a day of posturing himself as a men's rights activist on his Twitter account, where he frequently posts misogynistic and homophobic comments alongside his support for Mr Trump.

Responding to a news story about Michael Strahan's divorce on 25 November, the also recently divorced Mr Huff said there's "no way women who have never threw a touchdown pass, hit a game winning 3, or hit a 2-0 slider deserve half of a mans hard earned money just for having his babies."