Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, an emerging conservative folk hero, got a speaking slot at today’s NRA convention, which he used to rile up the crowd by suggesting that the arrows in the talons of the eagle on the Great Seal of the United States be replaced with a semi-automatic rifle.

Referring to President Obama’s 2008 campaign remark about voters who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them,” Clarke said, “Now let me say this about being one of those ‘bitter clingers.’ There is nothing else I would rather hold in my hand when fighting government tyranny than a Bible in my left hand that I use to swear to uphold the Constitution, and in my right hand a Winchester rifle, a symbol of freedom and liberty in the United States of America.”

“In fact,” he continued, “I propose that we change the Great Seal of the United States, you know the one with the American bald eagle holding an olive branch in one claw and arrows in the other. We should take those arrows out of the eagle’s claws and replace them with a semi-automatic rifle, preferably one that shoots M-855 ammunition.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms dropped a proposed ban on M-855 armor-piercing ammunition last month after an outcry from gun advocates.