TED NUGENT: 'NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION Is The Most Important Civil Rights Organization In The World'

Outspoken conservative rocker Ted Nugent has slammed the attorney general of New York for suing to to seek the dissolution of the National Rifle Association, alleging fraud and abuse in the way the NRA's chief executive and other officials ran the operation.

New York State attorney general Letitia James's lawsuit specifically names the organization's top brass as corrupt and inept, charges them with illegal conduct because of their diversion of millions of dollars away from the charitable mission of the organization for personal use by senior leadership, awarding contracts to the financial gain of close associates and family, and appearing to dole out lucrative no-show contracts to former employees in order to buy their silence and continued loyalty.

An NRA board member, Nugent told Newsmax's "The Chris Salcedo Show" (see video below): "Well, number one, what is more important in the American Dream right now than the God-given individual right to keep and bear arms to defend yourself from these recidivistic street thugs. So, number one job in America is being a member of the National Rifle Association. It's the most important civil rights organization in the world. What other rights can you possibly hang on to if you don't have the right to defend yourself? Especially when these leftist freaks are engineering recidivism — they're letting the worst dangerous violent criminals out into the streets and then attempting to limit the availability of self-defense tools. I mean, this wouldn't make a 'Twilight Zone' script.

"All I can tell you is the NRA is more important now than ever," he continued. "And when you look at the background of this monster, this traitor in New York — the attorney general, and the mayor, and the governor — they're out to destroy individual freedoms. And who's the biggest fighter for individual freedoms? The National Rifle Association. That's all your need to know."

The suit specifically charges the NRA as a whole, as well as executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre, former treasurer and chief financial officer (CFO) Wilson "Woody" Phillips, former chief of staff and the executive director of general operations Joshua Powell, and corporate secretary and general counsel John Frazer with failing to manage the NRA's funds and failing to follow numerous state and federal laws, contributing to the loss of more than $64 million in just three years for the NRA.

In the complaint, attorney general James lays out dozens of examples where the four individual defendants failed to fulfill their fiduciary duty to the NRA and used millions upon millions from NRA reserves for personal use, including trips for them and their families to the Bahamas, private jets, expensive meals, and other private travel. In addition to shuttering the NRA's doors, attorney general James seeks to recoup millions in lost assets and to stop the four individual defendants from serving on the board of any not-for-profit charitable organization in the state of New York again.

"The NRA's influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets," said attorney general James. "The NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse, which is why we seek to dissolve the NRA, because no organization is above the law."