Fact Check: Christmas card of Kentucky politician holding gun is not the governor

In the aftermath of a deadly mass shooting in Louisville, an old Christmas card featuring U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie and his family holding automatic weapons has been repeatedly misidentified on social media as Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s Christmas card.

The card, which was released by Massie on Twitter in 2021, shows the Republican Congressman and members of his family holding various guns around a Christmas tree.

But some on social media have confused Massie with Beshear, and have said it was the Democratic first-term governor’s Christmas card.

It’s not.

Massie’s original Tweet, which included the photo, was posted in early December 2021, shortly after a mass shooting at a school in Oxford, Mich. Many criticized both the timing and contents of the Tweet.

In response to the backlash, Massie retweeted comments from Candace Owens, a Republican commentator, who wrote: “Can somebody explain to me how they worked out that the Michigan school shooting is (Massie’s) fault because he shared a picture of him and his family holding legal fire arms?”

Others have incorrectly speculated the Christmas card was of the family of the shooter, a 25-year-old white male who worked at Old National Bank in downtown Louisville. The shooter killed five people and inured several others Monday before Louisville Metro Police shot and killed him.

Massie, an avid gun rights supporter, on Twitter Tuesday tied the mass shooting to the bank being a gun-free zone.

“Every bank I’ve been to in Kentucky has some form of gun free zone sign on the door. Signs don’t stop deranged criminals, but they disarm those who follow rules,” Massie wrote on Twitter.