The gun control debate took another dramatic turn on Thursday, as it was discovered that someone sent a letter to President Barack Obama laced with ricin.
The deadly toxin was also found in two other letters sent to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. All three letters were sent from Shreveport, LA, were postmarked May 20, and all three were intercepted before reaching their intended targets.
As if being laced with ricin wasn't alarming enough, though, CBS News is reporting that the letter included the following extremely threatening remarks:
"You will have to kill me and my family before you gets my guns. Anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional, God-given right and I will exercise that right till the day I die. What's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you."
While Bloomberg said he's "not angry" about the letters and the threat, he said he would continue to fight the battle against illegal gun use.
Meanwhile, social media was buzzing about the incident, especially since these haven't been the only poisonous letters sent in the last few months.
Many on Twitter simply turned to ridicule, wondering why, in the year 2013, people were sending toxic letters to the president when there are so many layers of security ensuring he/she will never be in contact with them.
"Do they actually think the president will *receive* the ricin letter when they send it? I mean, really," @katiedrumm wrote.
Many others, meanwhile, pointed to the notion that if pro-gun owners are sending poisoned letters to elected officials, they may not be in the right frame of mind to own guns anyway.
"So, the nutter(s) trying to kill the President and Bloomberg with ricin is supposed to be granted freedom with guns. Makes sense," @dpleasant tweeted.
Still, the fact that a few people take it upon themselves to try and kill world leaders via the mail shouldn't reflect poorly on every single gun owner in the country, and people like @TheQuestman made sure to remind people of that.
"Just because Ricin letters complain about Gun Control don't necessarily mean they come from a pro gun person," he wrote.
Sadly, as dangerous as the ricin letter incidents are, @GiuseppeNorris couldn't help but mention what this means for the more literary-minded folks in the country.
"The art of letter-writing is gone," he wrote. "The only people who still use pen, paper & postage stamps are my mom & those guys who send ricin letters."
