National Rifle Association board member R. Lee Ermey, best known for his drill sergeant role in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, criticized “neutered” boys who commit suicide because of bullying for not standing up to their tormenters.

Ermey made the comment during a February 7 appearance on an NRA News show to preview his upcoming show on The Sportsman Channel Saving Private K-9. Claiming that “we've neutered all the young boys in this country,” Ermey said, “We've got little kids committing suicide because somebody bullied them in the school yard. Well, you know what, I was bullied when I was a kid, but I tried diplomatically to get out of the situation. If that didn't work, then I would resort to force, I would pop the guy in the snot locker, drop him down on the deck, and he would think twice before he came and bullied me again.”

Ermey previously appeared on NRA News to attack recipients of public assistance and people with disabilities. In promoting his book Gunny's Rules: How to Get Squared Away Like a Marine -- which he said “tells you how to take command of your life, get off welfare, unemployment, food stamps and regain a little bit of your self-respect” -- Ermey lamented that “nowadays lazy is our new cripple.”

In 2010, Ermey was fired from a Geico insurance commercial acting gig after stating during a speech at a Toys for Tots event, “I think we should all rise up, and we should stop this administration from what they're doing because they are destroying this country. They're driving us into bankruptcy so that they can impose socialism on us.”

In addition to serving on the NRA's board of directors, Ermey is an "ambassador" for handgun manufacturer GLOCK.