Rock musician Ted Nugent responded Sunday to the acquittal of George Zimmerman by calling his killing of Trayvon Martin "the purest form of self-defense there is."
In a column for conservative news website Rare, Nugent labeled Martin, who was shot by Zimmerman, a "17-year-old dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe." In Nugent's retelling of the shooting, he said Zimmerman did what "anyone" in that situation would have done.
George screams frantically for help as Trayvon Martin pummels his face and head furiously, inflicting damaging and potentially life threatening wounds. Fearing for his life and about to lose consciousness at the hands of an enraged, violent attacker, George Zimmerman does what anyone who wishes to live would do, and he reaches for his concealed handgun, firing a single shot to neutralize the deadly force being wreaked upon him.
Nugent said that "non-racist America" is pleased with the outcome of the trial, which he called a victory for "common sense, honesty and decency" in this country. According to Nugent, Martin was the only individual guilty of racism the evening he was shot.
Martin Luther King Jr. is rolling over in his grave that he sacrificed his life for the cause of judging people by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin, as so many of his own race carry [on] in self-destructive behavior while professional race mongers blame everything on racism. It is painful and heartbreaking to say and write this, but horrifically it is true. Blacks kill more blacks in a weekend in Chicago than the evil, vile Ku Klux Klan idiots did in 50 years. Truly earth shattering insane. And not a peep from Obama or Holder. Tragic.
Read the full column here.
A staunch gun advocate and National Rifle Association board member, Nugent appeared publicly to defend gun ownership after both the Martin and Sandy Hook shootings. In an April 2012 interview with Piers Morgan, Nugent warned that civilians like Zimmerman should be armed in the event that an attack escalates.
"Those of us that are armed, we have a responsibility to keep that new assault from taking our weapon, because if the assault escalates to that degree, certainly the fist can go into a deadly situation if they get a hold of the gun-bearer's gun," he said.
In a February interview with Morgan, Nugent argued that people should distinguish between gun owners and criminals.
"99.99 percent of the gun owners of America are wonderful people that you are hanging around with here today," he said. "Would you leave us the hell alone? Go after the nut jobs, go after the murderers, because I don’t know any."
Before You Go
