Republican official Dan Adamini apologizes for distasteful Kent State comment

Michigan Republican leader Dan Adamini came under fire after tweeting a distasteful comment concerning the recent UC Berkeley protests.

Adamini took to both Facebook and Twitter to express his disdain for the protests. He has since deleted the posts, but Michigan's Democratic Party shared screenshots:

When speaking about the protests, which were sparked by the event by alt-right leader Milo Yiannopoulos, Adamini said it's "time for another Kent State." He's referencing the Kent State University shooting that occurred in 1970, where soldiers brought in due to protests ended up killing four students and wounding nine.

See images from the Kent State shooting

"Violent protesters who shut down free speech? Time for another Kent State perhaps. One bullet stops a lot of thuggery," he tweeted.

Adamini, Secretary of the Marquette County Republican Party, doubled down in a Facebook post: "I'm thinking that another Kent State might be the only solution ... They do it because they know there are no consequences yet."

Soon after, Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, Brandon Dillon, called for Adamini to resign from his position.

Spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party, Sarah Anderson, also condemned Adamini's words. She told the Detroit Free Press, "Dan spoke for himself, not on behalf of the party. It was insensitive and out of line."

Check out photos from Berkeley's protests

Kent State also release a statement speaking against Adamini. They invited him to see the campus and their May 4 Visitor Center, which was established four years ago to commemorate the tragedy. "This abhorrent post is in poor taste and trivializes a loss of life that still pains the Kent State community today," the statement read.

Adamini released an apology to the Free Press, stating, "It was stupid, it was poorly done. But my goal was to stop the violence by protesters, not commit violence against protesters."

"The point I was trying to make, admittedly I did it very poorly ... was that the violence is really getting out of hand, and much like in the 1960s, the violence created an atmosphere where something terrible and tragic like Kent State could happen."

He continued, "I'd like to see the violence stop before we have a tragedy."