Lee Harvey Oswald had purchased his rifle, a Mannticher-Carcano, through an ad placed in the NRA's American Rifleman magazine. (Photo by AARC.org)

I believe Ted Nugent should receive the Lee Harvey Oswald Award. I am increasingly uncomfortable with his National Rifle Association (NRA) messaging.   If there is an assassination attempt on President Obama’s life (or any elected official for that matter) – Americans will see who stood on the right side of American history with regard to those who hold authoritative positions.  Did those holding authoritative and powerful positions do everything in their power to rebuke vile and violent rhetorical threats against our elected officials?

The  NRA should try to learn from our own American history and do everything it takes to rebuke violent acts of violence against fellow American citizens – and most certainly our President of the United States.

According to the Violence Policy Center:

This 30-year gun control lull came to an abrupt end on November 22, 1963, with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Lee Harvey Oswald had purchased his rifle, a Mannticher-Carcano, through an ad placed in the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine.

The ad read:

LATE ISSUE! 6.5 ITALIAN CARBINE. Only 36″ overall, weighs only 5 1/2 pounds. Shows only slight use, lightly oiled, test fired and head spaced, ready for shooting. Turned down bolt, thumb safety, 6-shot, clip fed. Rear down sight. Fast loading and fast firing.

On March 12,1963, Oswald mailed the ad’s coupon and a postal money order for $21.45 ($19.95 plus $1.50 postage and handling) to Klein’s Sporting Goods Co. in Chicago. The gun was shipped via parcel post the same month.

According to journalist Robert Sherrill in his 1973 book, The Saturday Night Special, the NRA not only facilitated Oswald’s gun purchase, but also aided in the development of the ammunition that would make this notoriously inaccurate gun more effective. During World War II the United States seized huge numbers of the rifles. When the government later decided to give a quantity of the guns to Greek anti-Communists, it worked with the NRA at Maryland’s Aberdeen Proving Grounds to develop higher-quality ammunition that would improve the gun’s accuracy. Some of the ammo eventually made its way onto the U.S. market and into Oswald’s hands. When NRA Executive Vice President Franklin Orth told this story to a Senate staffer in the 1960s, he added, “Please don’t tell anybody because we don’t want to be hung with having been involved in producing the ammunition that killed the President.”16

According to the Huffington Post, Nugent compares Obama and democrats to a coyote that should be shot (view the new footage at the bottom of linked article). “It isn’t the enemy that ruined America. It’s good people who bent over and let the enemy in,” he said. “If the coyote’s in your living room pissing on your couch, it’s not the coyote’s fault. It’s your fault for not shooting him.”

Here is another violent outburst by Ted Nugent as he fires a weapon while saying: “Obama suck this.”

President Obama is not an enemy of our country — and whether we voted for him or not (I personally did not vote for him), he is still the President of the United States who was elected by We The People.  Real “enemies” are well known terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden.  In fact, President Obama praises those Americans who carried out the operation (orders carried out under his watch) to kill Osama bin Laden, tells the families of the victims of September 11, 2001 that they have never been forgotten, and calls on Americans to remember the unity of that tragic day.

The Tequila Party is demanding an apology from Ted Nugent, but we are also demanding an apology from the National Rifle’s Association (NRA).  If the NRA does not denounce Ted Nugent … I will never be a member of their organization nor will I pay any membership fees to be part of their organization again.

We believe Mitt Romney should denounce Ted Nugent’s endorsement and recall to his history the violent acts carried out by Lee Harvey Oswald against former President John F. Kennedy.

As fringe groups continue to attack the vision our forefathers had in mind with regard to being the United States – we are seeing the fringe advocate for the divided States.  We learned a quick and scary lesson here in Arizona when our Congresswoman Gabby Giffords almost lost her life due to a madman with a weapon.

Will we see good leadership from the NRA and Romney on this issue?

If not, God help them if anything bad happens to another American elected official as history records their actions with the power and authority given unto them.

“What’s a feminist anyways? A fat pig who doesn’t get it often enough?” – Ted Nugent