Ted Nugent makes comment at NRA meeting about shooting Harry Reid

Gene J. Puskar / AP

WASHINGTON — While speaking at a recent National Rifle Association event, rocker and NRA board member Ted Nugent said facetiously that if he had to accept Sen. Harry Reid’s help, he would shoot him afterward.

Nugent made the comment during a question-and-answer session at the pro-gun group’s annual meeting April 12 in Nashville, Tenn.

An audience member asked Nugent about the NRA’s relationship with the Nevada Democrat and Senate minority leader.

The conversation, audio of which was obtained by left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters, started when the audience member asked Nugent “how and why did the NRA ever endorse Harry Reid to serve as the front man of Osama Obama?”

In Nugent’s response, he called Reid a liar but said Reid was a necessary evil, according to Media Matters’ summary of the event.

Nugent went on: “If your child is dying and there is only one way to get to the doctor, would you get on Harry Reid’s boat to get there? ... I’d get on the boat, get there, and then I’d shoot him.”

As Timothy Johnson, Media Matters’ gun and public safety program director, pointed out, the NRA has never endorsed Reid, whose views on gun laws have shifted over the years from a gun-rights supporter to leading the charge for stricter gun laws. The NRA did donate $4,000 to Reid’s 2010 re-election campaign.

Reid's office had no comment.

Listen to audio of Nugent's comments below.