Elon Musk tweets photo of guns: "My bedside table" (2024)

Elon Musk tweeted a photo of two guns in the early hours of Monday morning and captioned the image: "My bedside table."

Since finalizing his deal to purchase Twitter in late October, billionaire Musk, 51, has won the praise of conservatives and drawn the ire of liberal figures as he floated a number of changes and reiterated his stance on prioritizing what he describes as "free speech."

With his tweets continuing to attract high engagement levels, Musk shared with his almost 120 million followers a photo that showed a pistol placed on the bedside table, while a vintage firearm sat inside an open box.

The guns sat beneath a lamp on the bedside table, alongside four opened cans of caffeine-free Diet co*ke and what appeared to be an open bottle of water.

Captioning the image, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO wrote: "My bedside table."

In a follow-up tweet, the businessman added that there was "no excuse for my lack of coasters."

Within 20 minutes of being uploaded on South African-born Musk's account, the image had already attracted more than 55,000 likes.

Alex Hern, technology editor at The Guardian, was among a number of Twitter users who identified the gun in the forefront of Musk's image as a replica pistol from the video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

One part of the image that sparked intrigue and questions was an object in the left-hand corner that appeared to be avajra, which represents strength and wisdom in Buddhism.

Per an article published by Tricycle: The Buddhist Review earlier this year, the vajra is associated with Vajrayana Buddhism, representing indestructible power.

As well as Buddhism, it represents a firmness of spirit and spiritual power in the dharmic traditions of Hinduism and Jainism. In Hinduism, it is seen as one of the most powerful weapons in the universe.

Since taking over Twitter, Musk has reinstated the accounts of the likes of Jordan Peterson, the Babylon Bee, and former President Donald Trump, who was banned from Twitter on January 8, 2021, two days after his supporters stormed the Capitol building. Kanye West, who was locked out over antisemitic comments, has also returned.

However, Musk has drawn the line at conspiracy theorist Alex Jones making a return to the platform, more than four years after Twitter announced in September 2018 that it had permanently suspended the accounts of the conspiracy theorist and his show, Infowars.

Earlier this month, neuroscientist and author Sam Harris directed a message to Musk on the matter, tweeting: "Is it time to let Alex Jones back on Twitter, @elonmusk? If not, why not?"

"Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven," Musk wrote in response.

"Alex f***** up with Sandy Hook. He admitted that and apologized," said German-Finnish political activist Kim Dotcom.

"My firstborn child died in my arms," Musk responded, further explaining the reasoning behind his stance. "I felt his last heartbeat. I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame."

"I think Alex Jones is a piece of s*** but you are creating the @elonmusk policy," argued Peter McCormack. "You have world leaders with accounts who literally drop bombs on children and are refusing an a****** who said stupid s***."

Musk quietly welcomed twins in November with Shivon Zilis, an executive at his artificial intelligence company Neuralink, in July, according to a report by Insider.

He is known to have nine living children—five with his ex-wife, Justine Wilson, including one set of twins and one set of triplets; two with Zilis, and another two with singer Grimes, real name Claire Boucher.

Early in their marriage, Musk and Wilson welcomed son Nevada Alexander in 2002. He died of sudden infant death syndrome at 10 weeks old.

Last month, Jones was ordered by a Connecticut jury to pay the family members of eight Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent who responded to the 2012 school shooting $965 million for describing the massacre as a hoax.

Jones was found liable for defamation after spending years describing the shooting, in which 20 first-graders and six school administrators were killed, as a hoax and accusing the victims involved of being actors complicit in staging the deadly tragedy. Prosecutors were asking for $550 million.

This is the second multi-million-dollar verdict against Jones, who was ordered in August to pay $4 million in compensatory damages and $45.2 million in punitive damages to another set of parents whose child was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting.

Update 11/28/22, 6:35 a.m. ET: This article was updated to add extra information.