The National Rifle Association’s top official defended the inflammatory language his organization has used about federal agents, saying Sunday that references to “jackbooted government thugs” are accurate.

“Those words are not far - in fact, they are a pretty close description of what’s happening in the real world,” NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The NRA’s attack on federal agents in a fund-raising letter has been cited as an example of the kind of rhetoric that creates a climate for violent acts such as the Oklahoma City terrorist attack.