Chris Rock received death threats over gun stance

Comedian Chris Rock was inundated with death threats after he called for tighter legislation for gun control.

The funnyman reveals his email inbox was flooded with abuse last year (13) after he spoke at an event in Washington, D.C. to back a campaign demanding stricter rules to govern the sale of weapons following a number of mass shootings.

During an appearance on TV show Chelsea Lately, Rock insisted the experience had made him wary of supporting the cause in public again.

He told host Chelsea Handler, "I'm not like, 'Get rid of all the guns'... I just don't think people should have machine guns in their house. Is that too much? Same way I can't drive a NASCAR (race car) down Sunset Boulevard (in Los Angeles) because there are regulations, maybe we should have some gun regulations...

"(I received all these) crazy emails... (saying) 'I'll kill you b**tard. I'll shoot you in the head!' I was like, you know what? This ain't (sic) worth it. I don't need this... You need a machine gun to go against the gun people... You'll never see me talk against anything for the rest of my life. If you see me talking about a cause, they are giving me a check. If you see me against a disease, I got it."