New York Magazine’s Daily Intel blog reported this week that the U.S. Secret Service said it would be talking to Ted Nugent about threatening remarks he made toward President Obama on a radio program at the National Rifle Association conference in St. Louis last weekend. “If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will be either be dead or in jail by this time next year,” Nugent said.

Nugent — who is on the NRA’s board — has since stood by his comments, likening himself to “a black Jew at a Nazi-Klan rally,” adding, “there are some power-abusing, corrupt monsters in our federal government that despise me because I have the audacity to speak the truth.”

But it doesn’t seem that the NRA is too comfortable with what Nugent said. The gun lobby scrubbed the entire 26 minute video from its YouTube page. A Google search shows that on April 15, “NRAVideos,” the NRA’s official YouTube page, uploaded the full video of the interview in which Nugent made the remarks about Obama:

But now the YouTube URL associated with that video no longer works, reading: “This video has been removed by the user”:

Right Wing Watch still has video of Nugent’s remarks here.

ST. LOUIS, MO — “Getting a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Washington state is as easy as buying a new set of tires,” wrote Seattle Times columnist Nicole Brodeur last month, adding that residents of the state can obtain the permits “without taking a single gun-training class.”

The Nation Rifle Association has opposed regulatory measures that require gun training before residents obtain a concealed carry permit. Late last year, the NRA objected to a proposal in Wisconsin that would require state residents there to undergo four hours of training before getting the permit. “It’s clear that the will is to allow people to gauge what their own needs are,” an NRA spokesperson said of the measure. “There are some people who need additional time and others who do not.”

ThinkProgress spoke with NRA members in St. Louis last weekend at the organization’s annual meeting and exhibition. Many supported a gun safety training requirement before obtaining a concealed carry permit:

– “I don’t have a problem with doing the gun safety training or even live fire as part of the requirements.”

– “They should [require training]. They don’t give you a driver’s license if you don’t know how to drive.”

– “Yeah it’s really a good thing to go through, learn all the safety. Oh sure.”

– “I could still get my concealed carry so that, in Washington at least, Washington state, seemed a little lackadaisical. … So I think it is very helpful and should be required.”

Watch the interview clips:

The NRA is also pushing a concealed carry reciprocity bill that would force all other states to accept permits of states with lax standards.

Patricia Maisch, who grabbed a bullet-filled magazine from Jared Loughner before he could reload his semi-automatic handgun during his shooting rampage that ended up wounding Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), criticized the NRA for opposing common sense regulatory measures. “I don’t think they care. I think that the NRA has gone from gun safety and gun training to being about selling guns and making money,” she said.

ST. LOUIS, MO — GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney tried to win over National Rifle Association members on Friday, delivering a speech at the NRA’s annual meeting in St. Louis. Romney — who has in the past supported numerous gun control measures — assured NRA members that he is one of them. “We need a President who will stand up for [gun rights],” Romney said. “President Obama has not; I will.” Also on Friday, Newt Gingrich, Romney’s remaining challenger for the Republican nomination for president, went all in, saying everyone in the world should own a gun.

ThinkProgress asked a number of NRA members attending the meetings in St. Louis about the candidates and it doesn’t appear that they’re buying Romney’s pitch. Moreover, not only did many say they preferred Gingrich over the former Massachusetts governor on gun issues, but most believed Romney either isn’t pro-gun or is pandering on gun issues to get their vote:

– “I just feel like [Gingrich is] more into the gun sporting and those aspects of — and also he’s a strong backer of the Second Amendment.

– “Well so far [Romney] hasn’t demonstrated himself as being, you know, highly pro-gun but you know there’s always hope.”

– “I would trust Newt more than I would Mitt on the guns. … I just think he’s more conservative.”

– “I’d rather have Newt Gingrich. … I think he’s more pro-gun.”

– “It seems like [Romney is] just kind of grabbing at straws to get popularity at this point so the gun issue was just yet another thing.”

– “I think maybe Gingrich [will support gun rights] more so than Romney.”

– “I heard Romney’s [speech]. I think he’s an idiot. And I’m a Republican. … I believe that people should stand up for their principles and I think that he panders to whoever he’s talking to.

Watch the interview clips:

Another NRA member told Bloomberg news that while Romney is “better than Obama,” voting for Romney “will be a hold-your-nose situation.”

Perhaps Romney knows NRA members aren’t that into him (sentiment that extends deep into the Republican Party). After all, he didn’t spend much time talking about guns during his speech on Friday.

ST. LOUIS, MO — National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre has been trying to convince NRA members and the public at large of a grand conspiracy theory that President Obama wants to eliminate the Second Amendment and take away everyone’s guns. “All that first term, lip service to gun owners is just part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment during his second term,” he said in February. LaPierre picked up on this fearmongering in a speech at the NRA meetings in St. Louis yesterday, saying that “all across the country people are worried” that Obama is going to eliminate gun rights.

ThinkProgress spoke with one NRA member today in St. Louis who said LaPierre is “over the edge,” calling his theory about Obama’s secret plan to eliminate the Second Amendment “extreme language”:

TP: What do you think about what he said, I think it was yesterday, about the president and the Second Amendment? Do you believe in what he says that –

NRA MEMBER: No I don’t. I think there are a lot of people in the NRA that are not victimized by some of the extreme language. A lot of people believe it because that’s all they hear but I don’t think our government is out to take away all guns.

He said there are also a number of NRA members that share his view about LaPierre but added: “I wouldn’t say it’s widespread. If you polled the people here, the majority of the people here would probably be on his side. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t an awful lot of people out there that just think he’s a wingnut.” Watch the video:

Politifact noted that Obama’s alleged secret plan is “an uncheckable postion,” adding that “none of Obama’s previous years in office hint at the kind of extreme policy push the NRA claims he’s yearning to unleash.”

Speaking at the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) annual conference today, Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich advocated for extending the rights of the second amendment — which refer to the “right to bear arms” — beyond U.S. borders and, indeed, to the population of the entire world.

The former Speaker of the House offered some friendly criticism to the NRA’s leadership, accusing them of being “too timid,” before launching into a proposal for a new U.N. treaty guaranteeing a universal right to gun ownership, he explained:

A Gingrich presidency will submit to the United Nations a treaty that extends the right to bear arms as a human right for every person on the planet because every person on the planet deserves the right to defend themselves from those who would oppress them, those would exploit them, rape them or kill them.

Gingrich, who finds himself in a distant second place in the Republican primary contest, went on to attack the U.N. “small arms treaty” — which has neither been signed nor, as frequently misreported, infringes on the Second Amendment — as keeping us “psychologically on defense.” Gingrich argued that mass gun ownership could be used to empower populist revolts against global injustices:

Far fewer women would be raped, far fewer children would be killed, far fewer towns would be destroyed, if people everywhere on the planet had the right to bear arms. And far fewer dictators would survive if people had the right to bear arms everywhere on the planet.

Watch him:

But Gingrich wasn’t just satisfied to explain that world peace that would ensue if the number of guns in circulation — including, presumably, in war zones — were to increase. He also floated a sinister theory about the motivations behind those who advocate for global arms reduction:

Let’s take the George Soroses and the Hillary Clintons head on. They represent a world in which elites disarm the rest of us so we are then helpless when elites turn sour and when evil reappears.

Gingrich’s campaign has frequently fallen back on fear mongering and demonizing of political opponents and religious minority groups. But as his campaign runs low on funds and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney surges toward securing the nomination, Gingrich appears to be falling back on conspiracy theories and increasingly radical policy positions to keep his candidacy alive.