Parading US Politician Criticized For Replica Machinegun

Kris Kobach, a Republican who rose to national prominence when US President Donald Trump tasked him with investigating alleged voter fraud, faced criticism on Monday for appearing with a replica machinegun at a weekend parade.

Chicago, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Jun, 2018 ) :Kris Kobach, a Republican who rose to national prominence when US President Donald Trump tasked him with investigating alleged voter fraud, faced criticism on Monday for appearing with a replica machinegun at a weekend parade.

Campaigning for the governor's office in his home state of Kansas, Kobach on Saturday rode in an open-top Jeep painted with images of the American flag and outfitted with the large imitation gun.

The weapon pointed forward, military-style, over the jeep's roll bar and carried a belt of bullets.

One eyewitness told The Kansas City Star newspaper that there were "audible gasps" at the parade in the Kansas City suburb of Shawnee, watched by families with children already on edge after two recent high-profile mass shootings at US schools.

Other Kansas residents rebuked the stunt as "socially tone deaf" and "clueless." The backlash continued into Monday and prompted Shawnee city officials to speak out.

"We apologize if this made anyone feel unsafe or unsettled," a city statement said.

A hacker even broke into the Twitter account of a Kansas state agency over the weekend to post an insult, calling Kobach "a dumb guy with a gun." Kobach was defiant, claiming he was merely showing support for the US Constitution's Second Amendment right to bear arms.

"The outrage over the replica gun on the back of a patriotic jeep is the left trying to attack guns and your #2A rights," he tweeted on Sunday.

"I will not back down in the face of a snowflake meltdown and outrage culture," he added, employing the pejorative "snowflake" meant as a criticism of liberal views.

Although semi-automatic rifles and other firearms are readily available in the United States, machineguns are banned.

While the conservative politician had plenty of defenders, others said he had gone too far.

"I found your float extremely tacky and inappropriate," wrote Michelle Fees, a self-described "lifelong conservative" and gun ownership supporter.

She called on Kobach to "show more respect for your would-be constituents and stop insulting people." Kobach is a state official in charge of elections in the Midwestern state.

He became a national figure in 2017, when the newly-elected Trump tapped him to help lead a commission probing unproven allegations of widespread voter fraud during the November 2016 election.

Trump in January dissolved the body which faced opposition from US states and a battle to prove something that almost all experts agreed did not happen.