Politician slammed for Facebook gun photo

sydney — A conservative Australian politician who posted a photo of himself on Facebook holding a gun in a jibe at environmentalists was reported to police and slammed on Monday as insensitive after a mass US school shooting.

George Christensen put up the image on Saturday showing him in a shooting stance with the comment “You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, greenie punks?”.

He claimed it was a tongue-incheek reference to the “Dirty Harry” film franchise in which a police officer played by Clint Eastwood takes on “people who are conducting illegal activity, such as the greens are”.

The MP has been critical of environmentalists — sometimes backed by the Greens political party — who have tried to blockade mining projects, including chaining themselves to machinery. The Facebook post was referred to the Australian Federal

Guns are not a joke and particularly in the wake of the massacre in the us only last week, 17 people shot dead

Hanson-Young, Senator

Police by the Greens, with their Senator Sarah Hanson-Young saying on Twitter she had received an emailed threat from one of Christensen’s supporters.

“Frankly, guns are not a joke and particularly in the wake of the massacre in the US only last week, 17 people shot dead, including children,” Hanson-Young told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called the post “very inappropriate”. It was also widely criticised by politicians from other parties. —