CRAZY AS IT SOUNDS

Montana Lawmaker Slammed for Saying Constitution Calls for Socialists to Be Shot

State Rep. Rodney Garcia made the comment at a party meeting, then doubled down the next day.

A Montana state lawmaker raised eyebrows on Friday when he falsely declared at a party gathering that the U.S. Constitution calls for socialists to be jailed or even shot. But Rep. Rodney Garcia isn’t backing off his remark. When the Billings Gazette questioned him about it on Saturday, the Republican legislator doubled down. “So actually in the Constitution of the United States (if) they are found guilty of being a socialist member you either go to prison or are shot,” Garcia said, though he could not point to any part of the Constitution that actually says that. The Montana Republican Party condemned Garcia’s comments, saying, “under no circumstance is violence against someone with opposing political views acceptable.”