In another explosive debate with Piers Morgan on Thursday night, Breitbart News editor-at-large Ben Shapiro accused Morgan of responsibility for Americans’ growing sense of threat from the federal government.
“I think the reason that so many folks are talking about the possibility of government tyranny is three-fold, really,” Shapiro said. “It’s the Obama administration’s increasing reliance on big government and that I think threatens some people. I think it’s folks like Alex Jones, who do this routine where every time they shut down a city like Boston because of a terrorist attack it’s the end of the world and military law is at hand. And, honestly, it is because of folks like you, Piers. Because you go out of your way to, you know, you really give the impression that you’re interested in taking away people’s fundamental right to bear arms and I think that scares a lot of folks.”
When Morgan responded that he didn’t want to take away people’s handguns, Shapiro pressed him – and finally, Morgan admitted he’d like to try a United Kingdom-style total gun ban in the United States. Here’s the transcript:
PIERS MORGAN, CNN: We’ve discussed this, I’m not against the right to bear arms. I’m seriously against the right to have military style assault weapons to blow kids brains to pieces in schools.
BEN SHAPIRO, BREITBART NEWS: I still don’t understand your opinion on this. You say that you’re against military style assault weapons, but you’re OK with handguns. Handguns kill 6,000 people a year, assault weapons kill 300.
MORGAN: Well, they’re both a big problem: handguns in Chicago, and assault weapons with mass shootings.
SHAPIRO: You’re from the UK, why don’t we just go with a full gun ban?
MORGAN: Well, we’ve discussed this, the UK has 40-50 gun murders a year, the U.S. has 12,000. Why don’t we try it our way?
SHAPIRO: I’m glad you finally let your agenda out there —
MORGAN: I don’t have an agenda, I just want to make America safe and save lives. That’s my agenda.