National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent suggested that George Zimmerman, who was acquitted on charges of unlawfully killing 17-year-old Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, should file a lawsuit to hold Martin's parents “liable for the emotional pain and suffering Mr. Zimmerman has been put through for the past 18 months.”

According to Nugent's reasoning, because Martin was a minor at the time of his death, his parents should be held responsible for his actions.

From his July 17 column for conservative website Rare, where Nugent worried that “Zimmerman may also face a wrongful-death civil suit brought by Trayvon Martin's family, who refuse to admit their son was a troublemaker who brought about his own demise”:

Parents can be held responsible for the actions of their minor-age children until the children reach the age of majority (meaning adulthood), which is exactly why Mr. Zimmerman should explore filing a lawsuit against Martin's parents. The age of majority in Florida is 18-years-old. Trayon Martin was 17-years-old when he attacked Mr. Zimmerman, which potentially means that Trayvon's parents may possibly be held responsible for the stress, emotional pain and anguish their son caused George Zimmerman.

I'm just your simple Motor City guitar player, and generally despise lawyers and all of their bureaucratic layers or legal maneuvering, but Mr. Zimmerman should hire a legal shark to determine if he has grounds to sue Trayvon Martin's parents for the actions of their son.

Since Zimmerman's acquittal on July 13, Nugent has made a number of inflammatory comments about Martin. In a July 15 column for Rare, he termed Martin a “dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe.” Nugent doubled down on those comments in a July 16 column for birther website WND, describing Martin as an “enraged black man-child” and a “Skittles hoodie boy.”

Nugent went on an extended rant on the topic of race during an appearance on conspiracy radio program The Alex Jones Show on July 16. Among Nugent's claims were that African-Americans could solve “the black problem” if they just put their “heart and soul into being honest, law-abiding, [and] delivering excellence at every move in your life.”

Nugent also attacked Martin's family as “puppets” and said they have “sucked blood from the community where it took place” for accepting a settlement from the local homeowners association: