The Jeb Bush photo that caused Twitter to go nuts for a few hours

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush won Twitter for a few hours on Tuesday after posting a photograph of a handgun under the one-word caption “America.”

His tweet prompted a flood of praise, outrage and dripping sarcasm.

The former Florida governor - who didn’t immediately explain the photo of the pistol inscribed with his name - posted it after visiting the weapons maker FN Manufacturing in Columbia, South Carolina.

Candidates for the Republican presidential nomination are campaigning in the state ahead of its primary on Saturday.

Bush is polling fourth with around 10 per cent of the vote.

His tweet received more than 7,000 likes and 9,000 retweets within an hour and a half of its posting - a record for his account, whose posts rarely rack up more than a hundred retweets.