Buncombe County Sheriff’s candidate R. Daryl Fisher has apologized for joking about taking guns out of residents’ “cold, dead hands.”

Fisher is a Democrat who was caught on video saying, “You’ve heard people say, ‘You’ll have to pry my guns from my cold, dead hands.'” He shrugs his shoulders, states, “Okay,” and then stands quietly while a room full of supporters laugh and applaud.

After the applause dies, he adds, “Whenever you pass away, we’ll come get it.”

His statements are near the 3:04 mark in the video:

Backlash over Fisher’s comments flooded the media, and on Sunday, he apologized. Fox News reports that he said he believes his statements were taken out of context, but he apologized nonetheless.

On Monday, the News & Observer quoted Fisher saying:

Unfortunately, a one-sentence clip from that meeting has been taken out of context and circulated on social media with a false interpretation of what I actually said. Anyone who watches the video in its entirety can see the truth and understand that my response was reasonable. While I regret having made a joke that could be misinterpreted, I stand by my actual response.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.