Ted Nugent has become well-known for strongly voicing his views on the Second Amendment, but after two recent Facebook posts that many charge are anti-Semitic, the National Rifle Association board member has deeply angered both sides of the gun control debate.
The recent posts, which feature pictures of prominent Jewish Americans who back gun control captioned with angry, anti-Semitic rhetoric, have prompted some pro-gun advocates to call for an apology.
"Anyone familiar with gun rights should also know that some of our most vocal and successful gun rights advocates ... are Jewish," wrote Bob Owens, a prominent gun rights advocate and blogger. "This anti-Semitic meme selectively ignores that reality entirely to push a repulsive and false idea."
Nugent, who has been on the NRA board since 1995, posted two controversial pictures Feb. 8 blaming Jewish Americans for gun control. One picture showed 12 prominent Jewish Americans with anti-Semitic statements and Israeli flags, and another compared anti-gun Americans to European Jews who did not resist the rise of Naziism.
The first post’s tags notably included New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, who Nugent refers to as, “Jew York City mayor Mikey Bloomberg, Nanny State trouble maker and 9/11 Israeli agent,” and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey), who is captioned as, “Gave Russian Jew immigrant your tax money.”
Later Nugent doubled down after the backlash from his first post, comparing some Americans to European Jews who didn’t fight back in the Holocaust and calling them “soulless sheep.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League, Nugent is not the original author of either photo, adding they’ve appeared previously on anti-Semitic and white supremacist websites.
The Washington Post reported several pro-gun groups are pushing the NRA to remove Nugent from its board and calling his comments "half-baked rhetoric" and "simple-minded outbursts."
“Mr. Nugent should remove this post and ‘clarify’ his statement,” wrote The Truth About Guns' Robert Farago. “The NRA should distance itself from Mr. Nugent. They should revoke his membership and remove him from their Board.”
An NRA official told The Washington Post its board members "do not speak for the NRA."
