Salman Rushdie on Colorado theater shooting: Right to bear arms ‘is the real Bane of America’

Author Salman Rushdie is facing a backlash over comments he made on Twitter following Friday's deadly shooting at the premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a Colorado theater.

"The 'right to bear arms' is the real Bane of America," Rushdie wrote in an apparent reference to Bane, a character in the blockbuster film who some witnesses speculated the suspected shooter was dressed as at the time of the shooting.

Rushdie's tweet was met with a near-immediate backlash. And the controversial "Satanic Verses" author—who survived a 1989 assassination attempt—retweeted many of them.

"A Batman pun? That's your response to a shooting massacre?" the user @adamtreusch wrote. "Seriously?"

"Are you unfamiliar with the meaning of the word 'bane'?" Rushdie replied.

"Learn about gun law in America before you talk about things you clearly know nothing about," the user @DPMurphey wrote.

"Seeing as you're not American I don't think you get a say," @1opinionatedred wrote.

"I live here," Rushie, who was born in India, replied. "Do Americans not get a say in world affairs?"

"[The] 2nd Amendment is more necessary than ever, for Americans to protect themselves from ruling elite," another user wrote.

"Protect how, exactly?" Rushie asked.

"So true," Peter Timmerman wrote in response to Rushdie's initial tweet. "But maybe a tad too early."

"A little too late for those kids in Colorado, I'd say," Rushdie wrote.

At least 12 people died in the Aurora, Colo., shooting. James Holmes, a 24-year-old resident, was arrested by police outside the theater.

"After Columbine I was on Bill Maher's old show arguing vs. NRA's Ted Nugent about gun control," Rushdie tweeted. "Lots of Nugents on my timeline today."