Rep. Thomas Massie said Monday he'll never delete the controversial photo he posted over the weekend of him and his family holding guns in front of a Christmas tree.
Massie's picture has gotten over 81,000 "likes" on Twitter but also attracted a lot of criticism because he posted it less than a week after four teenagers in Michigan were killed in the nation's latest mass school shooting.
"A lot of people think that's going to be our Christmas card," Massie said of the gun-filled photo during a Monday interview on conservative radio host Todd Starnes' show.
"We actually took a very similar picture holding musical instruments because we like to shoot guns and play music when we get together as a family. And the one that's going on the Christmas card are bluegrass instruments."
He indicated his family took the other photo that later caused an uproar online because they figured, "'Hey, wouldn't it be fun to hold the guns instead of the instruments?'"
"So we did that and I posted it, and wow. I didn't just kick a hornet's nest, I aggravated every hornet in the world," the Kentucky Republican said.
"You know, in 'Ghostbusters' they said don't cross the streams ... and I crossed guns with family and Christmas, and those are three things that really could trigger the leftists, and I didn't realize that it would be such an explosive cocktail when you put it together. But it adds up to freedom."
Massie was dismissive of people tying his family photo to the school shooting in Michigan.
"That was the biggest thing in the media that they could use to try and take me down," he said. "I'm going to double down. I'm never going to delete that picture."
In a separate interview Monday, Sen. Rand Paul also offered his perspective on his congressional colleague's controversial family photo.
Related:Thomas Massie slams mask, vaccine requirements at 'freedom rally' against COVID-19 rules
"I think I've gotten Thomas' Christmas card before, and they often have guns in their Christmas card. They live in a rural setting in Lewis County, and they're hunters.
"My guess is that it was sent out in a pre-programmed way. Every year they send out something for Christmas. …But you'd have to ask him. But I don't think it was specifically intended as a statement or in relation to anything else that was going on other than Christmas."
Paul also said: "I know they're big into hunting. I know they shoot snakes, they shoot deer. … And they're big advocates for the Second Amendment and hunting. I think trying to say that it was a statement about something else isn't fair to Thomas Massie."
Morgan Watkins is The Courier Journal's chief political reporter. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @morganwatkins26.
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