Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) responded Thursday after his Twitter account was suspended for posting a photo of his wife shooting a gun while on a hunting trip in Montana.
“My wife is an excellent shot and a great sportswoman,” Daines wrote on Twitter. “We hunt together and eat what we kill. #Montana #2A.”
The photo, which showed his wife shooting a rifle while wearing a blaze-orange vest, was retweeted by Daines on Wednesday. However, the tweet was quickly taken down after the social media platform received criticism for allowing the photo.
The senator responded to the suspension with a statement Thursday.
“Twitter has an anti-hunting bias and a double standard,” Daines said. “This suspension is yet another example of Big Tech silencing conservative voices.”
He continued: “My wife is an excellent shot, a great sportswoman, and she hunts with me and eats what she kills. Montana’s hunting heritage is something we should be proud of. #2A #Montana.”
The tweet that was taken down showed Daines’ wife, Cindy, shooting a rifle near the banks of a river in Montana. In the tweet, he praised her for “putting dinner on the table.”
Daines, who is up for re-election this November, is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and has long defended gun rights. He has also spoken out against attempts to limit access to firearms.
“We have a right to defend ourselves and our families,” he tweeted in 2019.
The senator’s suspension comes amid a growing debate over gun control in the wake of several mass shootings this summer. Twitter has long taken a hard stance on posts related to firearms, banning the posting of images of guns in several countries.
Whether or not Daines’ suspension will have any effect on his re-election bid remains to be seen. But for now, he is standing firm in his support for hunting and gun rights.