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After a public backlash, former presidential candidate Ron Paul used his Facebook page to clarify controversial comments he made Monday about the Navy SEAL who was killed at a Texas gun range over the weekend.

On Monday, Paul, 77, took cyber heat for a tweet he sent out following the news of the veteran's death.

Paul wrote: Chris Kyles death seems to confirm that hewho lives by the sword dies by the sword. Treating PTSD at a firing range doesnt make sense.

His comments were re-tweeted more than 800 times and most of the responses he received were negative.

Paul backtracked some and offered a clarification on his Facebook page.

He wrote: "As a veteran, I certainly recognize that this weekend's violence and killing of Chris Kyle were a tragic and sad event. My condolences and prayers go out to Mr. Kyles family. Unconstitutional and unnecessary wars have endless unintended consequences. A policy of non-violence, as Christ preached, would have prevented this and similar tragedies. -REP"

Paul has spent much of his congressional career denouncing military intervention overseas. He publicly opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and called them unconstitutional.

Eddie Ray Routh, 25, has been charged with one count of capital murder and two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Kyle, author of the best-selling book American Sniper and his friend Chad Littlefield. All three were at a shooting range in Glen Rose, Texas. Routh is on suicide watch at the Erath County Jail, where hes being held on $3 million bail.

Kyle, who had four tours of Iraq under his belt, was the most lethal sniper in the U.S. He had 160 confirmed kills and received 14 different awards and decorations, including two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals. After leaving the Navy, he wrote his biography, American Sniper.

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Ron Paul clarifies comments on death of SEAL sniper

by WHAS11

WHAS11.com

Posted on February 5, 2013 at 6:08 PM

Updated today at 6:21 PM

(WHAS11) -- The fallout is causing former congressman Ron Paul to soften his approach after receiving criticism over his tweets about the death of murdered Navy Seal Chris Kyle.

Sniper Chris Kyle was killed Saturday at a firing range in Texas and police have arrested a former Marine who was suffering from PTSD for murder.

Paul, the father of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, posted on Twitter saying treating PTSD at a firing range didn't make sense.

Medal of Honor recipient, Dakota Meyer, who is from Adair County, Ky., responded saying Kyle isn't just a hero to himself, but to America as well.

Paul had also tweeted "Chris Kyle's death seems to confirm that 'he who lives by the sword dies by the sword'."

Meyer responded to that with "Hey Ron Paul, have you lost your mind? that sword protected your freedom. Guess since I live by it I deserve to get murdered as well? #wow.

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Ron Paul softens approach after PTSD tweet criticism

Former GOP Rep. Ron Paul drew fire for a tweet about the death of ex-Navy SEAL Chris Kyle.

Ron Paul's recent tweet on the murder of retired Navy SEAL Chris Kyle sparked outrage from social media users Monday, after the former Texas congressman and three time presidential candidate suggested that Kyle died a violent death because he lived one.

Kyle, an ex-Navy SEAL and sniper with a record number of confirmed kills, was killed at a Texas shooting range last weekend by a former Marine he was helping with PTSD. Eddie Ray Routh, 25, now faces capital murder charges for the killing of Kyle and Kyle's neighbor, Chad Littlefield.

Twitter users immediately fired back at Paul:

Paul explained his comment in a Facebook post Monday:

As a veteran, I certainly recognize that this weekend's violence and killing of Chris Kyle were a tragic and sad event. My condolences and prayers go out to Mr. Kyles family. Unconstitutional and unnecessary wars have endless unintended consequences. A policy of non-violence, as Christ preached, would have prevented this and similar tragedies. -REP

Paul's son, Sen. Rand Paul, issued this statement to Breitbart News:

Chris Kyle was a hero like all Americans who don the uniform to defend our country. Our prayers are with his family during this tragic time.

Paul, an OB-GYN and former Air Force flight surgeon, was also criticized for his statement about the treatment of PTSD. As The Atlantic Wire points out, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs endorses Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PET) as a treatment for PTSD. PET encourages PTSD sufferers to safely expose themselves to situations related to their trauma.

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Ron Paul tweet on slain SEAL Chris Kyle draws ire

Former Texas Rep. Ron Paul has brought down upon himself a storm of criticism due to an intemperate tweet concerning the fallen Navy SEAL sniper, Chris Kyle, allegedly murdered by a former Marine suffering from PTSD.

Paul: 'Live by the sword, die by the sword'

According to the Huffington Post, Paul tweeted the following on the death of Kyle, "Chris Kyle's death seems to confirm that 'he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.' Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn't make sense." Kyle was allegedly murdered by a former Marine he was counseling for PTSD by taking him to a firing range in Texas for shooting practice.

Storm of criticism

The Atlantic Wire reports that an explosion of criticism of Paul's tweet occurred on Twitter, with some people calling into question Paul's sanity and competence as a physician. Paul was an OB/GYN before he became a politician. The story suggests that Paul was flat wrong about Kyle's attempt to help the former Marine by taking him to a firing range, as it constitutes a proven technique for treating PTSD called Prolonged Exposure Therapy, helping the sufferer face his fears and thus making him better able to combat them.

Rand Paul weighs in

Ron Paul walks back his remarks

Texas resident Mark Whittington writes about state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network.

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Ron Paul Faces Storm of Criticism Over Chris Kyle Remarks

In 140 characters, the newly retired congressman reminds us why he and maybe his son won't top the GOP presidential ticket

When news started spreading that Chris Kyle, a former SEAL and author of the best-selling autobiography American Sniper, was shot dead with a friend over the weekend allegedly at the hands of a PTSD-suffering former Marine he was trying to help by taking him shooting at a hunting range conservatives were incensed over the callous tweets of "some on the anti-gun Left." And then this happened:

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Ron Paul (@RonPaul) February 4, 2013

As a veteran, I certainly recognize that this weekend's violence and killing of Chris Kyle were a tragic and sad event. My condolences and prayers go out to Mr. Kyle's family. Unconstitutional and unnecessary wars have endless unintended consequences. A policy of non-violence, as Christ preached, would have prevented this and similar tragedies. -REP

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Et tu, Rand? says Ryan W. McMaken at Lew Rockwell's LRC Blog. Yes, "every American soldier is a hero, just like the Bronze-Star-winning Timothy McVeigh and the Marine Lee Harvey Oswald." But Rand isn't the only "sycophantic" conservative throwing Ron Paul under the bus for "truth-telling about the tragic outcomes that are sure to come from time spent in a military where rape, suicide, domestic abuse and general killing are widespread."

Who can be surprised that conservatives... have been falling all over themselves to condemn Ron Paul for quoting Jesus in correct context, by the way to note that the violence wrought by over a decade of nonstop war in America leads to tragedy on the home front?... The most transparent were the conservatives who claimed to be former supporters of Paul who must now go support some more "patriotic" politician: One who doesn't actually question anything the military does.... This is what it comes down to for most conservatives, of course. All that stuff about laissez faire and freedom and free markets has never been more than an act and an affectation.... Among conservatives, Ron Paul has only ever had minority support, for in the end, conservatives love government, as exhibited by their latest outrage. They just love it in a slightly different way from the left liberals. [Lew Rockwell]

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Paul has long opposed American military action... but the former veteran has begun to conflate the missions that he opposes with the men and women who carry those missions out. The sentiment Paul broadcast in this tweet betrays a contempt for Kyle that is, at best, ill-timed.... Paul would be smart to apologize for this insensitive remark, but his political opponents should be thankful for the clarity this unguarded moment has provided the general public. Though the 2012 campaign is long over, Paul's most stalwart supporters continue to insist that the Texas libertarian is the only politician who has the best interests of the troops at heart. This tweet would suggest otherwise. [Mediaite]

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Ron Paul's puzzling critique of murdered SEAL Chris Kyle