Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's tweet that more armed Frenchmen could have prevented the hostage crisis in Paris on Friday is facing a torrent of criticism.

The ex-Georgia lawmaker and one-time Republican presidential candidate sent the tweet below as part of a series of dispatches about the coordinated terror attacks, which have killed more than 100 people in Paris.

The reaction was swift. BuzzFeed reports that Mark Owen, a broadcaster on the France 24 network, accused Gingrich on air of capitalizing on a crisis to advance a political agenda. "Newt Gingrich, shame on you," he said.

There was no shortage of blowback on Twitter as well, including these responses:

Even some conservatives were urging caution about making that argument. Consider this post from Erick Erickson, the Georgia talk jock.

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Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney — pictured during a hearing Monday, Dec. 15, 2025 — has cleared the way for Georgia's State Election Board to obtain Fulton ballots and other documents from the 2020 election. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

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