A social media post that seemingly references Sunday’s mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub has led to an investigation of two Camp Pendleton Marines. 
 
 The Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force announced Thursday that it is looking into a photo posted Wednesday in a Facebook group called Camp MENdleton Resale, which advertises itself as a private forum for male troops and veterans. 
 
 The photo, which has since been removed, shows a uniformed Marine corporal pointing a rifle toward the camera. A caption at the bottom says, “Coming to a gay bar near you!” 
 
 Based on other features shown on the post, it appears the photo also was sent through the instant messaging program Snapchat. The post has since been shared on several other Facebook pages. 
 
 This incident continues a week of questionable or disturbing responses to the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, where 49 people — most of them gay or lesbian — were killed and more than 50 others were wounded. The death count makes it the largest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. 
 
 Shooter Omar Mateen, who was killed by police, had voiced anti-gay sentiment and solidarity with the jihadist group Islamic State. Authorities said it’s still unclear exactly what motivated him. 
 
 On Sunday, a pastor gave a sermon in Sacramento about how Mateen should have killed more gays at the nightclub. On Tuesday, someone placed a Craigslist posting referring to the mass shooting with the warning, “San Diego you are next.” The San Diego Police Department said it’s working with others to determine who made the comment. 
 
 In the case of the rifle-toting Marine, it’s an open question whether the post was a tasteless joke or a genuine threat. According to the Marine Corps Times, which first reported on the issue, the Marine who posted the photo did so with the comment “Too soon?” 
 
 Whatever the motivations, Marine Corps officials were not amused. 
 
 “We are currently investigating a threatening social media post and will take appropriate action,” said a statement from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. “This type of behavior and mindset will not be allowed, and it is not consistent with the core values of honor, courage and commitment that are demonstrated by the vast majority of Marines on a daily basis.” 
 
 Under investigation are the corporal in the photo and the person who posted it on Facebook — both of them active-duty troops at Pendleton, a Marine spokesman said. He declined to name those Marines. 
 
 It wouldn’t be the first time a social media gaffe has derailed a military career. 
 
 Defense Department policy is that its members should not advocate illegal discrimination or criminal activity when representing the U.S. military, said 1st Lt. Thomas Gray, a 1st MEF spokesman. Also, wearing the uniform is prohibited when it might bring discredit to the service, he said. 
 
 In 2012, Camp Pendleton Marine Sgt. Gary Stein received an other-than-honorable discharge after he made disparaging comments against President Barack Obama on Facebook pages. Stein was the creator of an Armed Forces Tea Party group on Facebook and spoke at a tea party rally. 
 
 First Amendment free-speech rights are restricted for the military, said Thomas Umberg, who served in the Army’s judge advocate general corps and is now in private practice in Orange County. 
 
 “To the extent that this was meant to either intimidate somebody or bring discredit to the Marine Corps, it could be a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” Umberg said. 
 
 That could be a career-ender for an officer, he said. For a junior enlisted Marine, it might not automatically mean discharge but it wouldn’t be good for promotion prospects. 
 
 Moderators of the Camp MENdleton Resale group on Facebook deleted the post on the same day of the image’s posting and banned the person involved, Caleb Moss, co-founder of the group, said in messages to The San Diego Union-Tribune. 
 
 Moss said he takes the issue seriously. 
 
 “We believe that it was a very insensitive and possibly dangerous photo that needed to be taken seriously given the nature of the possible threat,” he said. 
 
 “We responded to the photo as soon as we were alerted to it. We have 25,000 members and get about 3,000 posts every seven days. We rely on our members ... to help moderate, which they did. As a group, we do not condone any type of hate speech or threats,” he added. 
 
 Moss said someone took a screen shot of the post and shared it outside of the group, which is when it gained broad attention. He also said the group’s moderators had already deleted the post by then. 
 
 According to organizers, the MENdleton Facebook group’s intended purpose is to be a forum to help the veterans community. To that end, they launched a nonprofit foundation in 2015. 
 
 “We support veterans and service members, especially calls for help when they are in a bad place,” Moss said. “We have a huge support network and have gotten homeless veterans back on their feet, unemployed veterans jobs, and other projects.” ||||| Two active-duty Marines are under investigation in connection to a social media post purportedly threatening to attack gay bars following Sunday's deadly mass shooting in Florida. 
 
 The California-based I Marine Expeditionary Force launched a command investigation after a photo surfaced on social media showing a corporal in uniform holding a rifle with his finger near the trigger. The words “Coming to a gay bar near you!” appear at the bottom of the photo. 
 
 The picture was posted recently to Camp MENdleton resale, a closed Facebook group for male Marines with more than 25,000 members. The person who purportedly posted it also wrote “Too soon?” 
 
 The post follows Sunday's terror attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people and left 53 wounded. 
 
 First Lt. Thomas Gray, a spokesman for I MEF, told Marine Corps Times that the command has identified the Marine in the picture and the one who posted it on Facebook. 
 
 “We cannot discuss details of an ongoing investigation, but I can tell you the command is taking this incident seriously,” Gray said. 
 
 Marine officials have vowed to take “appropriate action” in response to the social media post, according to a statement released by I MEF. 
 
 "The Marine Corps does not tolerate discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender or religion," the statement says. “...This type of behavior and mindset will not be allowed, and it is not consistent with the core values of honor, courage and commitment that are demonstrated by the vast majority of Marines on a daily basis." 
 
 Michael Moss, the founder of the Camp MENdleton resale Facebook group, said on Facebook that the post was deleted as soon as it was reported, and the person was banned from the group immediately. 
 
 "We do not tolerate hate speech,” he said. Moss was not immediately available for comment. 
 
 The incident coincides with a separate investigation by the FBI and San Diego police into an anonymous threat posted Tuesday on the men-seeking-men section of the Craigslist San Diego personal ads, according to local television station KGTV. 
 
 "Orlando was long overdue," the post stated, according to ABC affiliate. "...San Diego you are next." 
 
 So far, there are no indications that the Marines' social media post and the Craigslist threat are linked, but both investigations are ongoing, Gray said. ||||| Join this group to see the discussion, post and comment.
– Two Marines are under investigation after a photo was posted Wednesday to Facebook showing a uniform-clad corporal with his hand on the trigger of a rifle aimed at the camera and the message, "Coming to a gay bar near you!" The image, believed to be from Snapchat, was posted to a private Facebook group for male Marines at California's Camp Pendleton with the caption "Too soon?" The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force has promised "appropriate action," noting the Marine in the photo and the one who posted it have both been identified, reports the Marine Corps Times. A rep says "the command is taking this incident seriously" and "does not tolerate discrimination." "This type of behavior and mindset will not be allowed, and it is not consistent with the core values of honor, courage, and commitment that are demonstrated by the vast majority of Marines on a daily basis," a statement adds. A Marine rep notes military members are banned from promoting discrimination and from wearing the uniform in such a manner that could harm the Marines, per the San Diego Union-Tribune. The co-founder of the "Camp MENdleton Resale" Facebook group says the Marine who posted the "very insensitive and possibly dangerous photo" was banned and the photo removed as soon as it was reported. (A similar threat was found on Craigslist.)