HUDSON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio state representative who has proposed gun restrictions said he found memes that he considers threatening printed out and placed in his mailbox.
Rep. Casey Weinstein, a Democrat from Hudson, said he returned to his home last week after a few days away to find in his mailbox a stack of printed memes tied with a gold string, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
The memes were mostly anti-Democrat, and some were threatening, according to Weinstein. He said he thinks they were a response to his support for gun reform.
One of the memes said: “On this day in 1775, the British demanded we surrender our weapons. We shot them.”
Weinstein filed a report with the Hudson police and said the sergeant-at-arms of the Ohio House was alerted. Weinstein also asked that Hudson police increase patrols past his home, particularly during the night, according to the police report.
Officers have been asked to be on the alert and increase patrols in the area, Jody Roberts, communications manager for the city of Hudson, said in an email Tuesday.
Weinstein said he has gotten a high number of angry messages, mostly on social media, since he sponsored a bill that would prohibit people from possessing a large capacity magazine for a firearm. The lawmaker introduced the bill in response to the Dayton shooting in August that killed nine people and injured more than two dozen.
The messages won’t stop Weinstein from pursuing gun reform, he said.
“I absolutely am resolved as ever to pursue common-sense gun legislation and save lives,” said Weinstein.