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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Toi Cliatt, Trina Martin and her son, Gabe Watson, say they were traumatized when an FBI SWAT team raided their Atlanta home by mistake in 2017. (Courtesy of Institute for Justice)

Credit: Courtesy Institute for Justice