An American Civil Liberties Union leader has doubled down after catching heat for his comments about Donald Trump.
Loring Wirbel, board member of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Colorado chapter and co-chair of the ACLU’s Colorado Springs chapter, allegedly said that he would shoot Trump supporters before they get a chance to vote for him.
Daniel Cole, executive director at the El Paso County Republican Party, said that he captured screen shots of Wirbel’s remarks, which he allegedly posted to Facebook on December 7.
No fan of Trump, but if you are threatening to shoot his fans … you’re doing it wrong. Good catch @Daniel_J_W_Cole pic.twitter.com/JTvHn4Ur6P— Aaron Gardner (@Aaron_RS) December 10, 2015
After the screen shots circulated on Twitter and got picked up by The Daily Caller, Wirbel claimed that the post was falsified in an interview with a local TV news station. But Cole expressed disappointment at Wirbel’s denial on Twitter, calling it “shameless.”
ACLU Chair says we photoshopped comment. Shameless. @iowahawkblog @EmilyAReports @KristinnFR https://t.co/Jln8YUDpRa— Daniel Cole (@Daniel_J_W_Cole) December 11, 2015
While the original post could not be found, it could have been removed after it was posted.
Additionally, Wirbel had a pattern of posting controversial comments about Trump on Facebook. On December 8, just a day after he allegedly made the comment about shooting voters, Wirbel stated that Trump is a “hate-speech felon who should be in prison.”
The timing of Wirbel’s alleged comments is extremely ironic, given that the ACLU has backed President Obama’s call from increased gun control in the wake of the San Bernardino attack. Previously, the organization has spoken out against the watch lists, and is currently suing the federal government for using them unconstitutionally. After President Obama called for individuals on the list to be banned from owning guns however, the ACLU agreed with him.
“There is no constitutional bar to reasonable regulation of guns, and the No Fly List could serve as one tool for it, but only with major reform,” said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s national security project in a blog post.
