World Series champion Aubrey Huff faced condemnation after posting on social media that he is teaching his sons to use guns in case Sen. Bernie Sanders beats President Trump in 2020.
Huff, 42, tweeted last Tuesday that he was “getting my boys trained” on how to use a gun “in the unlikely event” Sanders became president because “knowing how to effectively use a gun under socialism will be a must.” He was widely criticized on social media in response, with some suggesting that he was inciting violence and referencing a possible civil war. Both Kathy Griffin and Tom Arnold blasted him, and he fired back.
Getting my boys trained up on how to use a gun in the unlikely event @BernieSanders beats @realDonaldTrump in 2020. In which case knowing how to effectively use a gun under socialism will be a must. By the way most the head shots were theirs. @NRA @WatchChad #2ndAmendment pic.twitter.com/6xUsS7ciX3
— AUBREY HUFF (@aubrey_huff) November 26, 2019
Despite the backlash, Huff told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that he’s received dozens of private “messages of support,” which he said was the “most surprising” part of the experience from people who wanted to back him but feared condemnation for publicly doing so. He compared those people to the Trump supporters in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, who kept secret their political preference. Huff also dismissed accusations that his tweet was inciting violence and noted that he was teaching his children how to handle guns responsibly.
He also noted that his Twitter following has more than doubled since the middle of November. He had approximately 15,000 Twitter followers on Nov. 15, according to a screenshot from the Wayback Machine, while he has 31,500 follows as of the publication of this story.
Huff, who played for five teams during his 13-year career, also said that people would be shocked to know how many of his teammates during his time with the San Francisco Giants were conservative despite playing in a more liberal city.
The former two-time World Series winner, also told the Washington Examiner that he grew up in Texas and that his dad took him to gun ranges starting at the age of 5. Huff’s father was shot and killed as an innocent bystander during a domestic violence incident when he was 6-years-old. Huff’s father was an electrician, and he tried to intervene in a disagreement between a man and a woman when the man murdered both of them. The murderer is now serving life in prison.
