Aaron Bernstine

For the second time in three weeks, a state lawmaker representing Butler County has lit up social media with a controversial post or tweet.

In August, first-term state Rep. Aaron Bernstine, R-10th, posted a video to Facebook showing himself participating in firearms training. But the context — Bernstine said in a post accompanying the video that his Beaver County farm had been vandalized overnight as part of a political campaign to silence him — and a reference to a state law that allows property owners to use deadly force under certain circumstances, made the post a fire-starter, and Bernstine received widespread praise.

After midnight on Saturday, Bernstine struck sparks on social media again — this time on Twitter, and with very different results.

Reacting to a story by The Hill about violent protests in St. Louis after the acquittal of a former police officer accused of murdering a black man, Bernstine staked out another fiery position.

“If anyone EVER tries to stop my car on a highway with negative intentions ... I will not stop under any conditions,” Bernstine's tweet reads.

The backlash was swift and widespread. Bernstine sent his tweet at 12:26 a.m. Saturday, and as of late Monday morning Bernstine's tweet had more than 2,200 replies, more than 300 likes and 245 retweets.

The vast majority of responses were negative. People called on Bernstine to delete his Twitter account, accused him of fomenting fear and violence and of espousing white nationalist views, and called on the Republican Party to repudiate his comments.

Bernstine's post was also shared by some activist groups, including Keystone Progress, a liberal organization that posted office contact information for Bernstine and accused him of espousing murder.

“Apparently you think being inconvenienced in traffic entitles you to commit attempted murder,” the group tweeted in response to Bernstine, in a message that included an image of protestors being run over by a car in Charlottesville, Va., last month, while they gathered to oppose a rally by white supremacists.

By Saturday morning, Bernstine was back on Twitter, pushing back against the criticism and putting a finer point on what he had said. But his subsequent tweets, which referenced “thugs” and labeled some detractors as “snowflakes,” were also widely condemned.

On Saturday afternoon, Bernstine responded with an email sent to the entire state House of Representatives. In that message, Bernstine accused news organizations reporting on the tweets of “misconstruing” his words in their headlines, and argued that coverage of the backlash had constructed a “false narrative” of what transpired.

“Taking my comments to that extreme is just absurd,” Bernstine's email reads, in part. “My intent was simply to let people know that I, along with what I believe are many others, have grown tired of those who are committing crimes and acts of violence in the name of peaceful protest.”

By Sunday afternoon, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party was calling on Bernstine to apologize for his Twitter comments.

“Representative Bernstine should not have to be reminded that the right to peaceably assemble is so fundamental to our democracy that it is enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution,” the party's statement reads. “His statement is not fit for a state representative — let alone any decent person — and he must apologize immediately.”

Bernstine did not return a message left Monday morning seeking comment. He represents Slippery Rock borough and township in the state house.