TW
0

by Ray Fleming

PIERS Morgan, former editor of the Daily Mirror, has had understandable difficulty establishing himself as a leading figure on American television but his nightly discussion programme on CNN has been given a boost by his forthright views on American gun laws and the consequent “Deport Piers Morgan” campaign by the gun lobby. On Monday night Piers Morgan's guest was the originator of the campaign, one Alex Jones, a radio show host. Inviting Jones was a clever move since he soon worked himself into a ranting rage at opponents of the American citizen's right to bear arms and shouted: “Hitler took the guns. Stalin took the guns. Mao took the guns. Castro took the guns. Chavez took the guns.” He then threatened that “1776 will occur again if you take our firearms away.” Although President Obama has been occupied with other matters since the school shooting in Newtown, the news from Washington is that he has asked Vice President Joe Biden for gun control proposals by 15 January with White House legislation by the end of the month. The President is right to act quickly while the memory of Sandy Hook school is fresh but he will face very strong opposition from most Republicans, some Democrats and the formidable National Rifle Association whose solution to the problem is to put an armed guard in every school in the country.