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Mimi Launder
May 22, 2018
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iStock / mikedabell; Getty Images / Justin Sullivan / Staff
A Texas governor has abandoned a shotgun giveaway contest from his website after ten people were killed in a shooting at Santa Fe High School last week.
Governor Greg Abbot cancelled the contest, which ran as part of his re-election campaign, after he was blasted as tone-deaf and inappropriate on social media.
The Austin chapter of March for Our Lives - the gun control initiative started by survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida - criticised the giveaway on Twitter.
Previously, the Texas Tribune reports, participants entered with a chance to win a $250 gift certificate that could be redeemable for a 'Texas-made shotgun'. Now, the website doesn't mention the gun, only offering a $250 gift certificate.
John Wittman, a campaign spokesman, told CNN the change was made over the weekend because of the mass shooting. The contest began on 1 May - before the shooting in Santa Fe - and ends 31 May.
You're probably wondering why a government official would host a competition to win a potentially fatal weapon in the first place. That would be fair a question. But unfortunately we don't have a clear answer beyond 'Because America?'.
More: More people have died in school shootings than in the US military this year
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