Joe Scarborough, Piers Morgan Talk Gun Control, Assault Weapons This Morning [Video]
Commentary | Piers Morgan’s gun control tweets have taken the Twitter-osphere by storm, and the CNN anchor should be praised for his bravery above all else here — for a man who adopted America as his career home, he is not allowing his status as a Brit to slow his roll when it comes to pointing out America’s flawed gun policy and the necessity of limiting access to assault weapons.
Piers Morgan is not the only voice in American media speaking up about gun control, but the fact he won’t be cowed due to his home of origin is striking. Now Joe Scarborough — traditionally a pro-gun rights conservative — is echoing the British expat in his call for a re-examination of the guns we allow civilians to carry in the US to devastating effect.
Could this horrible event really be the one that causes Americans to shed their team colors and really work together on better gun laws? Maybe.
One factor is the continual assertion that discussing guns and gun policy is disrespectful to families of victims, with calls not to “politicize” the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary — but as the conversation about guns dubbed “assault weapons” continues, it’s impossible to untie the Newtown school shooting from the very real and relevant issue of combat weapons in the hands of civilians.
Both Joe Scarborough and Piers Morgan seem to be saying the same things about gun control, — and hopefully the outcome here is that both sides of American politics can come together and hammer out a reasonable approach to the Second Amendment that protects from needless loss of life more intuitively. (And that lobbyists and special interest groups will take a back seat to the safety of all Americans.)
America is divided on commentary like Piers Morgan’s gun control stance — many feel now is not the time to discuss guns, but at least an equal number believe that to accept such a notion is to tacitly accept that we can’t change the gun problem in America.
Morgan tweeted this morning about gun control, opining that an assault weapons ban is the only way forward for the US, saying:
America must ban civilian assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. That’s the only rational, humane response to #Newtown #GunControlNow
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) December 17, 2012
The CNN anchor also tipped his hat to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, who perhaps even more bravely than Morgan spoke as a Republican about gun control this morning (embedded below), saying:
“I am a conservative Republican who received the NRA’s highest ratings over four terms in Congress .. I saw this debate over guns as a powerful, symbolic struggle between individual rights and government control… I’ve spent the last few days grasping for solutions and struggling for answers, while daring to question my long-held beliefs on these subjects.”
Morgan tweeted after Scarborough’s comments:
Pro-gun Republican TV anchor @joenbc ‘s brilliant mea culpa. This took courage. I hope more follow his lead: on.msnbc.com/R1Mv0o #Newtown
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) December 17, 2012
Piers Morgan’s gun control bent over the past few days has certainly angered very many Americans, who don’t want to discuss gun policy in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary, particularly with a guy from England.
But Scarborough’s words in contrast with Morgan’s really drive the point home. There is no single solution to this issue, but as Piers Morgan keeps arguing, we must consider exactly how these identical massacres occur and how we can proactively prevent them instead of accepting what has become an unwelcome American tradition.
Do you agree with Piers Morgan that gun control needs to be discussed now?
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