Ted Nugent Slams Response To Aurora Shooting, Suggests Armed Moviegoers Could Have Prevented It

Outspoken rocker Ted Nugent weighed in Wednesday on last week's mass shooting in Aurora, Colo., giving some colorful comments on both Twitter and radio.

Nugent began by suggesting that if a moviegoer had been carrying a "good gun," the tragedy might have played out differently.

Later in the day during an appearance on Glenn Beck's radio show, the musician and ardent National Rifle Association supporter aired his grievances with discussions about guns and assault weapons that have arisen since the tragedy in Colorado. According to Nugent, the idea that an individual could easily obtain an assault weapon is "nonsense."

"Glenn, you need to talk to your friend Bill O'Reilly, because I've never heard such nonsense in all my life," Nugent said.

O'Reilly, who opposes major gun policy reform, said Tuesday that gun sellers should be required to report the sale of major assault weapons to the government.

Nugent told Beck he disagrees.

"I think it epitomizes the ignorance out there when Bill O'Reilly states as a fact that anybody can go buy a bazooka and a machine gun without the government knowing it, unless, of course, you're in the Crips and the Bloods," Nugent said.

Police believe suspect James Holmes shot 71 people and killed 12 last week with weapons he purchased legally, including an AR-15 assault rifle.

Nugent said that the AR-15 shouldn't be classified as an assault weapon.

"This kind of information is just looney," he told Beck. "If they keep calling it an assault weapon, I may have that aneurysm."

He made a similar claim on Twitter, referring to the gun as a "universally proven sporting & self defense firearm" and saying that the 6,000 rounds of ammunition Holmes reportedly possessed weren't "squat."

Nugent also had choice words for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who in the past has been a strong supporter of gun control, but most recently said it was a "bad time " politically to pursue policy changes.

"Dianne Feinstein, who's just literally going berserk on the misinformation about the weapons and the ammunition -- this is the woman who had a concealed weapons permit but denied California citizens the right to have a concealed weapons permit," Nugent said. "She demonized the concept ... This is lunacy."

Feinstein, an author of the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, halted concealed carry reciprocity measures in California earlier this year.