Conservative rocker Ted Nugent on Monday insisted that he had just been using a metaphor when he called President Barack Obama "the Chicago gangster" and then asked a NRA television host to "help me shoot somebody."
In an interview on NRA News, host Cam Edwards explained that the president's proposed universal background check legislation might as well be called "the Ban Ted Nugent Act of 2013."
"Do you realize, Ted, that under the language right now, any time somebody went to your ranch and you loaned them a gun to do some hunting or to do some plinking that would be a five-year felony?" Edwards told Nugent.
The Motor City Madman reminded Edwards that it was only a year ago that he had promised to be "dead or in jail" by the Spring of 2013 if Obama was re-elected.
"And I know it caught a lot of my friends off guard, when I said if this America-hater, if this freedom-hater, if this enemy of America becomes the president again I'll either be dead or in jail," Nugent recalled. "So it's funny that I might be dead or in jail. And that is so indicative of how callous and disconnected some are, because you are talking about arbitrary, punitive, capricious draconian felonies."
The rocker went on to complain that most people were not willing to take action even thought the federal government had engaged in "freedom-stomping and jack-booted thuggery."
"And here we are, with the Chicago gangster, ACORN rip-off scam-artist-in-chief because we, who know better, were silent," he quipped. "And the Nugent guy, well he's a radical. And again, it's not about me. I don't want a pat on the back. I don't need one."
"But when I kick the door down to the enemy's camp, would you help me shoot somebody?" Nugent asked Edwards. "Just help me clear the room."
He quickly added that his threat to "shoot somebody" had been "a metaphor."
"I'm not recommending shooting anybody. It's a metaphor of how to counterpunch the enemy if someone is willing to be on the frontline."
After interviewing Nugent last year, the Secret Service eventually determined that he was not a threat to the president.
(h/t: Media Matters)
