After a gunman opened fire on several Republican congressmen and their staffers at a baseball field in Virginia on Wednesday morning, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told reporters that the attack could have ended in a massacre had it not been for the Capitol Police.

Sen. Paul was sitting in the batting cage when he heard the gunshots; he had been practicing with the GOP congressional baseball team. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and four others who were also in attendance were injured, but Capitol Police officers quickly engaged with and apprehended the perpetrator, whom police later identified as 66-year-old James T. Hodgkinson from Illinois.

Everybody probably would have died except for the fact that the Capitol Hill police were there, Paul told MSNBC. Unfortunately, [Rep. Scalise] was hit and I hope he does well, but also by him being there it probably saved everyone elses lives because if you dont have a leadership person there, there would have been no security there.

Paul also released a statement echoing his praise and appreciation for the Capitol Police officers who stopped the shooter.

The incident quickly ignited a gun control debate online where the shooting was utilized by those who advocate for stricter gun laws, on one hand, as well as those believe looser gun laws could have prevented such an attack and helped stopped the one that occurred.

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, a debate on the availability of gun silencers scheduled Wednesday afternoon was delayed after the shooting.

As the heated debated centered on Second Amendment rights intensifies once again, one of Sen. Pauls own tweets resurfacedone that some suggest smacks of hypocrisy, given his press statements.

In June last year, the Republican appeared to quote Fox News contributor Judge Napolitano on Twitter, which said: [We] have a Second Amendment to shoot at the government when it becomes tyrannical!

Paul has presenteda pro-gun stance throughout his political career, with a voting record to show it. He has opposed legislation he believed impinged on the constitutional right to ownership, which maintains the right to bear arms as necessary to the security of a free State.

However, on Wednesday, critics claim, Paul found himself at the wrong end of his own argument when he was targeted himself.

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Sen. Rand Paul's year-old Second Amendment tweet resurfaces after shooting - The Daily Dot