NCIS star Mario Bello has come under fire for posing with an AR-15 in a photo she posted to Instagram this week.
The photo shows Bello and boyfriend Elijah Allan-Blitz standing side-by-side. She is holding an AR-15 with optics and he is holding a Glock handgun.
The Wrap reports that some fans reacted positively to the photo of “Agent Jack Sloane,” aka Jacqueline Sloane, while a number criticized her for posing with guns in the photo. Some fans were especially critical that Bello posed with an AR-15 just weeks after the October 1 Las Vegas attack.
One fan wrote: “That’s a shameful pic. Always been a fan, but glamorizing assault weapons after Vegas is clumsy at best, callous at worst. One less fan. Good luck with ‘NCIS.’”
Breitbart News reported that Modern Family Star Ariel Winter took similar heat for posing with various guns and posting those photos to Instagram in September. Winter was celebrating the fact that she had gotten her California Firearm Safety Certificate, which allows her to purchase firearms.
In one photo, she posed with what the left describes as an “assault weapon.” In another she posed with a holstered handgun:
Winter faced pushback not simply for posing with guns, but for doing so in a celebratory manner after strongly supporting gun control candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. After all, an “assault weapons” ban was one of Clinton’s go-to campaign promises.
According to The Sun, one of Winter’s Instagram followers responded to the photos by writing, “But as soon as a shooting happens, guns are evil right? Hypocrite.” Another wrote, “Holding them, do you actually shot guns and believe in the Second Amendment? Just asking because I know that Hollywood does one thing and says another.”
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.