(CelebrityAccess) — The National Rifle Association is facing increasing pressure from gun enthusiasts to distance itself from board member Ted Nugent after he posted a series of apparently anti-Semitic images and messages on his Facebook page.
On Monday, Nugent posted an image which depicted 12 prominent American Jews, each with an Israeli flag superimposed, claiming that they were the driving force behind gun control, including Senators Dianne Feinstein, Charles Schumer, Carl Levin and Richard Blumenthal; former New York Mayor Michaal Bloomberg, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel. Text accompaying the image, which the Anti-Defamation League notes has circulated among white supremacist groups for years, suggested that the identified individuals 'hate good over evil' and that they 'hate freedom.'
In a subsequent post, Nugent posted an image with text suggesting that gun ownership could have prevented The Holocaust and that the current political movement to change gun laws in the U.S. were leading 'Soulless sheep to slaughter.'
Since the posts, Nugent has been the targe of criticism from across the political spectrum, according to the Washington Post, with gun control activists and second amendement advocates calling for Nugent to be removed from the NRA's board.
Bob Owens, editor for the pro-gun BearingArms.com, wrote this week that Nugent had "stepped in it" and that many gun rights advocates are now “simply done with Nugent.”
“They’re tired of feeling that they have to defend his half-baked rhetoric and simple-minded outbursts,” Owens wrote on BearingArms.com. “Many people are calling for him to resign from the NRA Board and for him to have his membership stripped from him."
“While I think forcing him out of the NRA entirely is a bit much, I do think he owes the world a sincere apology. If he can’t find that sincerity in his heart, then he has no business being on the board of an inclusive organization such as the National Rifle Association.”
The NRA has remained largely silent on the controversy, but an NRA spokeswoman told The Washington Post on Wednesday that “individual board members do not speak for the NRA.” – Staff Writers
