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.
