Piers Morgan Claims to ‘Respect’ Second Amendment But Calls for Gun Control Anyway

British CNN host Piers Morgan continued ranting about America's "gun problem" on Wednesday and claimed ownership of semi-automatic rifles has "nothing to do with the Second Amendment."

"And so you have to deal with the primary problem that America faces, which is guns. Guns. Guns. Guns. And it's nothing to do with the Second Amendment right to defend yourself, and everything to do with military-style weapons that could slaughter," he insisted. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

"If he didn't have the guns, none of those children would have been shot," Morgan said of the Newtown shooter Adam Lanza.

Morgan's comments Wednesday afternoon back up what he tweeted earlier in the day:

"I absolutely respect America's 2nd Amendment - but the right to bear arms does NOT include the right to murder children with assault rifles."

Here's more of Morgan's Twitter rant.

On Tuesday night, Morgan smeared the executive director of Gun Owners of America as "dangerous" and "unbelievably stupid."

And when told Wednesday on Twitter that he appeared "somewhat gleeful that a tragedy happened to help you push your cause," Morgan answered "Of course I am, you moron." He later clarified that as "obvious sarcasm."

A transcript of the segment, which aired on CNN Newsroom on December 19 at 3:48 p.m. EST, is as follows:

PIERS MORGAN: The point is, you have to highlight what happens here and you have to learn from it. You have to learn how this disturbed young man living in his home – was it down to the violent video games he was watching? Was he obsessed with those? Was it down to a new obsession with guns because his mother took him to a firing range? Was it because his mother was apparently about to commit him to some kind of psychiatric treatment, and he was worried about – who knows what it was? Was it his mental health? We have to get to the answers.

But here's the thing. If he didn't have the guns, none of those children would have been shot. And so you have to deal with the primary problem that America faces, which is guns. Guns. Guns. Guns. And it's nothing to do with the Second Amendment right to defend yourself, and everything to do with military-style weapons that could slaughter – these things can fire 100 bullets in a minute. They are machine guns designed for mass killing. You can buy them –

BROOKE BALDWIN: I hear you.

MORGAN: You can't buy six packets of Sudafed at a pharmacy in America, but I can buy an AR-15 machine gun. It is ridiculous.