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ACLU Board Member Resigns After Urging People To Kill Supporters Of Trump

By Shaun Boyd

DENVER (CBS4)- A board member for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado has resigned after urging people to kill supporters of presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Loring Wirbel's Facebook post was captured by The Daily Caller - a right-leaning online newspaper.

The post states, "The thing is, we have to really reach out to those who might consider voting for Trump and say, 'This is Goebbels. This is the final solution. If you are voting for him I will have to shoot you before Election Day.' They're not going to listen to reason, so when justice is gone, there's always force..."

"It's almost like, you will think the way we think, you will do what we want you to do, or we eliminate you?" says Steve House, chair of the Colorado Republican Party.

It's the second threat against Republicans in Colorado in one week.

Fern Delise, 54, of Fountain was arrested after police say she called Planned Parenthood saying, "It's tempting to walk into a republican party meeting with my dead husband's gun and just start shooting people."

shaun boyd with steve house
CBS4's Shaun Boyd interviews Colorado Republican Party Chairman Steve House (credit: CBS)

House says the party is taking additional security measures at large gatherings, "I think we have to be prepared as a party and I think politics is just overdone. We've got to realize the country needs to pick leader and we need to do a serious job of doing that but this kind of rhetoric really doesn't help at all and frankly it scares us and people need be worried about it a little bit."

The ACLU of Colorado released a statement saying it "does not condone the recent personal Facebook post of regional volunteer Loring Wirbel. The ACLU of Colorado is a nonpartisan organization. We do not endorse candidates or parties. We have proudly spent decades fighting for the rights of all Coloradans, regardless of political affiliation, to vote and to freely participate in the political process. Our members, supporters, and volunteers are free to express their own personal views and opinions in their personal lives. We have fought for decades to preserve that right, as well, for all Coloradans, no matter how strongly we disagree with the content. However, the personal posts of members, supporters, and volunteers on their own personal social media sites should not be mistaken for endorsements or official statements of the ACLU of Colorado."

ACLU TRUMP
(credit: Facebook)

House says, "The American Civil Liberties Union does good work. We're talking about civil liberties, my ability to have liberty. And yet if you talk about this kind of statement you're talking about abolishing my civil liberties in favor of what you believe. I think that kind of rhetoric doen't belong in the ACLU let alone anywhere in America. There's a point to free speech where if you're threatening violence that you've gone beyond what free speech allows and it has to be taken seriously, especially given the environment in the country right now."

Wirbel did not respond to a request for comment. He is from Colorado Springs and police there say his post is covered by free speech and they do not intend to investigate.

Shaun Boyd is CBS4's political specialist. She's a veteran reporter with more than 25 years of experience. Follow her on Twitter @cbs4shaun.

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