Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz is speaking out against the Associated Press photos that showed him speaking at a shooting range while an image of a gun was pointed directly at his head.

The controversial photos, which were taken Saturday by AP photographer Charlie Neibergall, showed a poster of a gun aimed at his forehead while he was delivering a speech at CrossRoads Shooting Sports in Johnston, Iowa. After being published, the photos quickly went viral and drew criticism for being inappropriate.

During a radio interview on "The Mark Levin Show," the Texas senator gave his reaction to the pictures and accused the AP of being biased against conservatives.

"There's no doubt that if they had run the same photo and it had been Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama that the entire world would have recoiled in horror and the editor who made the decision to run it would very likely have been fired," Cruz said, according to Mediaite. "And there would've been a public apology."

Cruz also pointed out that there is a big difference in how the AP portrays him compared to the President.

"It is not surprising to see," Cruz said. "I've kind of enjoyed some of the contrast of all the AP photos of Barack Obama with a halo of lights behind his head versus me with a giant gun pointed between my eyes. ... That's their hostility coming out."

In response to the photo controversy, the AP's Vice President and Director of Media Relations Paul Colford released a statement late Sunday, reported Politico.

"Presidential candidate Ted Cruz, was shown in a series of 14 photos taken by an Associated Press photographer at a 'Celebrate the 2nd Amendment' event Saturday afternoon, held at a shooting range in Johnston, Iowa," Colford said.

"Five of the photos published by AP included images of guns seen on a wall in the background so that it appeared a pistol was pointed at Sen. Cruz's head. The images were not intended to portray Sen. Cruz in a negative light."

Talking Points Memo reported that the photos have been removed from the AP website.