CNN has been doing its best to spotlight host Piers Morgan after he's
clamored repeatedly for more gun laws. Morgan went on a liberal gun
control rant during the 12 p.m. hour of Newsroom on Wednesday, and CNN replayed some of the rant again that afternoon.
Morgan called semi-automatic rifles "machine guns," preached that a
"humane society" would ban such guns, and claimed the Second Amendment
didn't protect ownership of such guns. In addition, he praised liberal
politicians for pushing gun control measures.
[Video below. Audio here [1].]
"And every time one of these massacres happens, all I hear is the gun lobbies saying, don't touch our guns. Well, sorry, we're going to touch some of your guns because that's what a humane society does,"
Morgan ranted. "It says, these assault rifles are killing Americans.
There's no reason for them. We're going to take them off the street."
In addition to his live interview, some of Morgan's rant aired again on CNN during the 1 p.m. hour of Newsroom.
"This is about removing machine guns from the streets of America and from civilian hands," he added, even though domestic transfer or possession of machine guns was banned [2] in 1986, with exception for machine guns lawfully possessed prior to that date.
Morgan also praised liberal politicians for pushing an "assault rifles"
ban: "And I applaud Michael Bloomberg and Governor Cuomo and President
Obama and Joe Biden and the others for finally, I think, getting what
most, I think, decent, civilized Americans want."
He also dared Congress to defy the NRA: "And these politicians have
been cowed by the NRA and the gun lobby for too long, and it's time that
they stood up and said 'enough.'"
A transcript of the segment, which aired on CNN Newsroom on January 9 at 12:10 p.m. EST:
MICHAEL HOLMES: And Piers Morgan, of course, in the middle of this
rather fierce gun control debate. His interview this week with radio
host Alex Jones a hot topic on social media. Piers joins us on the
phone. First, Piers, let's talk about Vice President Biden's meetings on
gun violence. I mean what do you -- what do you hope to see come out of
that?
PIERS MORGAN, CNN host, Piers Morgan Tonight
(via telephone): Well, it's time that America's politicians just woke
up to the reality of what is happening in their country. You know, the
last four mass shootings in America all involved deranged young men
using AR-15 military style assault rifles. And these are killing
machines. They have no place on civilian streets or in civilian hands.
And the politicians can hide behind all sorts of rhetoric about the
Second Amendment and the right to bear arms and all of this, but no one
can convince me – and nobody has convinced me – the founding fathers
ever envisioned a situation where disturbed young men in America could
go to a Wal-Mart, or the equivalent, and buy one of these machine guns
and go to a movie theater or a school or a church or a temple or just
down the street and gun down fellow Americans. That is not what the
Second Amendment is supposed to protect. And these politicians have been
cowed by the NRA and the gun lobby for too long, and it's time that
they stood up and said "enough."
HOLMES: Of course, back when it was written, it took 10 minutes to load
a gun as well. Let's talk a bit about that Alex Jones interview and the
buzz it's creating. I mean – you're English. I'm Australian. We look at
this from an outsider's perspective, and some people who do that are
quite shocked by what they see in terms of the types of guns that are so
readily available. You say Jones' rant about despots taking away guns
backfired. One Twitter follower agrees with that. I think we've got a
graphic we can show you. He says this: "I think he" – meaning you –
"handled him perfectly. Sat back and let Alex make his own noose." Do
you – I thought the same thing when you -- when I was watching the
interview. Did you feel that it did backfire on him?
MORGAN: Yeah, I – honestly, I thought it was the best advertisement for
gun control that I could possibly have put on air. Alex Jones
represents a very extreme, but a very influential and very vocal part of
the gun lobby in America. He rants like this every day to millions of
Americans, most of whom believe what he says. This is a guy who believes
that President Bush and his administration ordered the 9/11 disaster,
for example. So you're talking with people who are scary in their
thought process. And they believe that anyone who wants any form of gun
control after any of these massacres is attacking the Second Amendment.
And in my case, they want to deport me, which of course, would infringe
my First Amendment rights, which is ridiculous.
Now you and I come from countries that both suffered in the mid '90s
big massacres. In Australia it was actually Tasmania, just off the coast
of Australia. In Britain, it was in Dunblane of Scotland. Thirty-five
died in Tasmania. Sixteen in Dunblane. All school children. And in both
countries, there was such national outrage and a unanimous view from the
politicians of the countries, in your case a right-wing politician,
John Howard. In Britain it was first John Major and then Tony Blair. So
right and left. And really significant gun control was brought in,
outlawing all forms of assault weapons and most hand guns. And, guess
what, in Australia, you haven't had a mass shooting since 1996. And in
Britain, we've had two much smaller mass shootings, but not a single
shooting at a school and a gun murder rate of about 35 people a year,
which I think is similar to Australia. In America 11,000 people are
murdered with guns a year, 18,000 take their own life with guns a year,
100,000 Americans are hit by gun fire a year. And every time one of
these massacres happens, all I hear is the gun lobbies saying, don't
touch our guns.
Well, sorry, we're going to touch some of your guns because that's what
a humane society does. It says, these assault rifles are killing
Americans. There's no reason for them. We're going to take them off the
street. And I applaud Michael Bloomberg and Governor Cuomo and President
Obama and Joe Biden and the others for finally, I think, getting what
most, I think, decent, civilized Americans want. It's not about taking
away people's hand guns at home to defend their family. I get that. That
is what I think the founding fathers intended by the Second Amendment.
This is about removing machine guns from the streets of America and from
civilian hands.
HOLMES: And very quickly, and finally, Piers, you know, I was reading
online the Australian papers today and your encounter made the news down
there, as it did in Great Britain, as well. Are you surprised by the
ferocity of the debate and what it sparked? With your debate and what it
sparked? Are you surprised at that?
MORGAN: Well, no, because I think the Sandy Hook massacre was one of
the worst mass shootings in modern history anywhere in the world. It
resonated all around the world. 20 school children, six to seven years
old, murdered with between three and eleven bullets each by a deranged
young man who, by the way, whose mother had six weapons at home knowing
he was disturbed, and he took those weapons and committed an atrocity.
If you can't do something about the gun madness in America after
something of that magnitude, you're never going to. And I think it's
good that Alex Jones has been trending on Twitter now for 36 hours,
almost everywhere around the world. It's good that people see his rant.
It's good that people see the very ugly side of the extreme elements of
the gun lobby in America because they have had their way far too long.
This is not about taking away an American family or parent's right to
have a gun at home to protect themselves or their family. That is what
the Second Amendment's about. It's not about these killing machines and
nor is it about magazines, as in the case of the shooter, Holmes, in
Aurora, that can have a hundred bullets. That was why he was able to
kill so many people.
And then there are other issues involving the reduced funding for
mental health in most states in this country which have to be corrected
and the absurdity of 40 percent of all gun sales in America basically
having no trace, no background checks and no database. It's absolute
lunacy this is allowed to happen. And, so, it is time the Congress
stopped hiding in terror behind the political power they perceive the
NRA to have and actually do what is right for the American people.