# Rocker Ted Nugent threatens to assassinate President Obama **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 17, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089 "2012-04-17T22:36:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/301 "2012-04-23T02:08:00Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I’m a Lifetime NRA member. I say that to suggest that my sympathies generally lie with the pro-gun side of a debate. > > Can you explain to me what his remark meant? I interpret it to mean that laws will be passed during Obama’s second term that would make gun ownership a crime. And if they tried to confiscate his guns, shots would be fired. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/302 "2012-04-23T02:12:32Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I interpret it to mean that laws will be passed during Obama’s second term that would make gun ownership a crime. And if they tried to confiscate his guns, shots would be fired. And you interpret it that way because you’re frothing angry about things that aren’t true. What’s worse than a full grown man throwing a tantrum is a full grown man doing it because he believes a bunch of lies told to him by his TV. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/303 "2012-04-23T02:14:02Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I interpret it to mean that laws will be passed during Obama’s second term that would make gun ownership a crime. And if they tried to confiscate his guns, shots would be fired. He is president, not king. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/304 "2012-04-23T02:28:49Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Given Obama’s stance against the 2nd Amendment and gunowners (remember the clinging to guns and god smartass remark?), you should be seriously considering not voting for Obama this time around. the orignal quote was "You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. " How is that a smartass remark and how can that be construed to mean he is going to take everyones guns and kill them if they don’t give them up? ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/305 "2012-04-23T02:51:05Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Given Obama’s stance against the 2nd Amendment and gunowners (remember the clinging to guns and god smartass remark?), you should be seriously considering not voting for Obama this time around. You are simultaneously tragic and fucking hilarious. I mean, you’re hilarious until I realize what it must be like to be you, and that you’re allowed to vote. Being that fucking stupid has gotta be a job of work. That kind of stupid doesn’t just happen to people with a normal number of chromosomes whose mothers didn’t shoot up while they were pregnant. I mean, when I think of the effort you must put into avoiding any legitimate source of factual information, believing the shit you hear from illegitimate sources no matter how ridiculous, and failing to apply even the miniscule amount reasoning ability you were endowed with, it must be fucking exhausting. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/306 "2012-04-23T02:57:29Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > … laws will be passed during Obama’s second term that … will be passed by the Congress with how many votes . . . or do we, well you, need to watch “[I’m Just a Bill](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dVo3nbLYC0)” again? CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/307 "2012-04-23T03:55:43Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I interpret it to mean that laws will be passed during Obama’s second term that would make gun ownership a crime. And if they tried to confiscate his guns, shots would be fired. **Clothahump** , do really believe this? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/308 "2012-04-23T04:07:14Z")
The army has apparently [decided](http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/22/us/kentucky-nugent-canceled-concert/index.html?hpt=us_c2) that Nugent is no longer welcome to perform on their base in Kentucky: > [@](#): > > It’s lights out on Ted Nugent’s scheduled performance at an Army base in Kentucky. > > \ > > “After learning of opening act Ted Nugent’s recent public comments about the president of the United States, Fort Knox leadership decided to cancel his performance on the installation,” according to an announcement posted Saturday on the base’s Facebook page. I think the most depressing thing about the story is this part: > [@](#): > > It was not immediately clear whether Styx or REO Speedwagon planned to carry on with their scheduled performance. Styx, REO Speedwagon, and Ted Nugent? Never mind the waterboarding; the military apparently has a policy of torturing its own troops. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/309 "2012-04-23T04:42:16Z")
Let me interject a bit of information into this debate. The POTUS doesn’t pass laws. The Congress does. However, there are quite a number of ways that the POTUS can restrict firearm ownership, most notably by means of one or more executive orders. This is what is apparently worrying the backwoods militia types who Nugent is pandering to. The fact that Mr. Obama has not created a single executive order that restricts gun ownership does not phase these folks. They believe that Mr. Obama has a hidden agenda that will be enacted during his second term. They also tend to believe that _Deliverance_ was a documentary. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/310 "2012-04-23T06:01:47Z")
Well, for one thing, rural goobers only rape city boys when no cousins are at hand. ---
**Author:** ![Batfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Batfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batfish)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/311 "2012-04-23T10:06:06Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > … > > They also tend to believe that _Deliverance_ was a documentary. Who do they think are the good guys? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/312 "2012-04-23T10:41:37Z")
There’s a joke about a French architect visiting America who always says the same thing when asked what a building makes him think of: “Women”. When asked why, he shrugs and answers, “_Everything_ makes me think of women”. There are some people who interpret everything said by a Democratic president as, “I’m gonna take your guns away!” ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/313 "2012-04-23T13:46:31Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > **Clothahump** , do really believe this? I suspect it’s more akin to “hope” than “believe.” Many people look forward to early retirement, buying a vacation home, traveling the world in an RV… and then there’s always a persistent (albeit graciously small) minority of damaged individuals who yearn for their own little cinematic “blaze of glory” moment. It’s extremely sad, and would be more disturbing if they (unlike the gangbanger trash whose ideology they share) weren’t all talk and no action. Think of them as irascible children forever frightened that some unseen force will take away their toys, and the pieces fall into place. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/314 "2012-04-23T13:50:44Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > The fact that Mr. Obama has not created a single executive order that restricts gun ownership does not **phase** these folks. Nitpick: faze. If only their opinions _were_ a phase they were passing through. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/315 "2012-04-23T14:06:09Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I interpret it to mean that laws will be passed during Obama’s second term that would make gun ownership a crime. And if they tried to confiscate his guns, shots would be fired. It boggles the mind that someone with access to the full range of available news sources could think that there was the slightest chance of any such thing happening during the stated time period. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/316 "2012-04-23T14:09:16Z")
This is why Democrats might just as well come out in favor of gun controls. The NRA and its sycophants are going to always vote Republican anyway, so there’s no upside to paying lip service to the Second Half Of The Second Amendment. So elect me and I’ll ban guns. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/317 "2012-04-23T14:36:12Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > **Clothahump** , do really believe this? He may or may not, but I know there are Republicans that do, and it would not surprise me if Mr. Nugent were one of them. I’ve seen the Fox News stuff saying this (from watching The Daily Show). ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/318 "2012-04-23T14:43:29Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > This is why Democrats might just as well come out in favor of gun controls. The NRA and its sycophants are going to always vote Republican anyway, so there’s no upside to paying lip service to the Second Half Of The Second Amendment. So elect me and I’ll ban guns. That wasn’t a winning strategy when Bill Clinton tried it. He admitted as much, himself. His '92 gun ban was the high water mark for restrictive gun laws in this country and it cost the Democrats dearly. It was, in fact, a major factor in giving control of the legislature to the Republicans. There are more than a few pro-gun Democrats in this country and alienating them so that they either don’t vote or vote for some protest candidate is like handing the election to the Republicans. FTR, when the NRA grades politicians, the D or R after their name isn’t a factor. Their voting records are what counts. John Murtha got good, solid “A” ratings from the NRA throughout his career. For most of his career, until he became VP, so did Al Gore. Being a Democrat and endorsing gun control need not be linked. Pennsylvania is a heavily Democratic state and, outside of Philly where they keep wanting to make their own rules in defiance of state law, a very gun-friendly state. Though you, personally, wish to enact bans, it would be better for the party if they just left the gun issue alone…at least at the national level. All they accomplish with it is driving away voters. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/319 "2012-04-26T13:01:00Z")
Nugent’s remarks are definitely worth an investigation by the Secret Service, but as far as legally charging him with something, he has enough wiggle room to drive a truck through. He could argue that he really meant that if Obama was re-elected, he would go out and smash things getting himself arrested for disorderly conduct and/or he would be so distraught that his body couldn’t take the agony and would die (or whatever he wanted to say). That being said, Republicans need to quit hitching their wagon to whatever celebrity makes a pro-GOP statement… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089/320 "2012-04-26T13:19:18Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Nitpick: faze. If only their opinions _were_ a phase they were passing through. Don’t faze me, bro! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocker-ted-nugent-threatens-to-assassinate-president-obama/619089.md?page=17)