National Rifle Association board member Grover Norquist undermined the NRA's conspiracy theory that President Obama would use his second term to destroy the Second Amendment during a radio appearance on Monday. The NRA has used that claim as the centerpiece of their election efforts.

Citing the ability of Congress and the Supreme Court to check the power of the Executive Branch, Norquist stated, “So if Obama was king would he go after your guns? Probably. He ain't king.” Norquist's comments came during the inaugural edition of Media Matters' new radio program, The Agenda:

ARI RABIN-HAVT, HOST: Now according to the [NRA's] CEO Wayne LaPierre, this is has all been part of -- and this is a quote -- “a massive Obama conspiracy” to quote “lull gun owners to sleep” so he can eliminate the Second Amendment in his second term. You know, you're a very reasonable guy. Frankly that statement seems unreasonable, that it's all part of a secret plot. Do you agree with Wayne LaPierre on that? That Barack Obama is trying to lull America to sleep so he can ban guns in his second term? Something I don't think is even legislatively possible at this point? GROVER NORQUIST: I think in his heart of hearts Obama is not a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and would limit gun rights to the extent that he can. Now the good news for people who care about the Second Amendment is that the House and the Senate have strong support for the Second Amendment. So one of the reasons Obama has been reasonable is that he doesn't have the votes to do something other than be reasonable. And the Supreme Court has also come down on the side of an individual right to be armed. So if Obama was king would he go after your guns? Probably. He ain't king.

Norquist's statement that Obama “ain't king” stands in sharp contrast to the musings of NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, who has been warning NRA adherents about an Obama plot to end private gun ownership. The theory was first aired out at a political rally in September 2011, when LaPierre suggested that the president's inaction on the gun issue evidenced a “massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in our country.” He went on to claim:

We see the president's strategy crystal clear: get re-elected, and with no other re-elections to worry about, get busy dismantling and destroying our firearms freedom. Erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights and exorcise it from the U.S. Constitution. That's their agenda.

The theory has been widely ridiculed since its conception. Jon Stewart characterized it as “so crazy, it's f--king crazy.” MSNBC host Rachel Maddow summed up the outlandish nature of the theory nicely in October 2011, stating, “The NRA says the way you can tell Obama is coming for your guns, is that he's not coming for you guns. It's genius! That is the insane paranoid message from the NRA this year.” Hardball's Chris Matthews reacted to LaPierre's speech by calling him “another strain of the crazy far right.”

But so far the mockery has done little to dampen the NRA's enthusiasm for pushing the conspiracy as the paramount theme of the organization's campaign against Obama's re-election.