NRA president: Obama and 'the left' to blame for 'hundreds' of death threats

National Rifle Association President David Keene is accusing President Barack Obama and "the left" of stoking fears to generate "hundreds" of death threats against him and his family.

Ernest Istook and Kate Brewster, hosts of The Heritage Foundation's Istook Live, on Thursday asked Keene to respond to an amateur video game that allowed players to "assassinate" him and NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre.

"It's really illustrative," Keene explained. "I mean, I've gotten dozens, hundreds of death threats."

"How recently have all of these death threats come your way?" Istook wondered.

"These are all since the first of the year," Keene said. "And what this reflects are two things. One is the uncivil way in which ideologues on the left in this country go after their enemies."

He continued: "The second thing it shows is the reflection of the left and the President of the United States’ attempt to demonize and blame those who disagree with them for everything that he doesn’t like."

Keene also appeared on NBC's Today Show on Thursday, where he told host Savannah Guthrie that an NRA video advertisement which accused Obama of being an “elitist hypocrite” for opposing guns in schools while allowing his own children to be protected by Secret Service "wasn’t about the president’s daughters."

"We believe that every parent ought to be able to be comfortable, knowing that their children are safe, and if that requires armed security, it’s as good for the working man as it is for the president," he insisted to Guthrie.

Listen to this audio from The Heritage Foundation's Istook Live, broadcast Jan. 17, 2013.

(h/t: Think Progress)