CNN's Piers Morgan tried to resurrect his desperate push for gun control on Wednesday's Piers Morgan Live. Morgan spat on the NRA and bullied author Wayne Allen Root for joining the organization.
"You joined the NRA after Sandy Hook. Why would anybody do that?" Morgan challenged Root. He also defended Britain's handgun ban: "And guess what, we don't get anybody shot dead in Britain! We have about 30 to 40 murders with guns a year. That's the whole point of banning guns!" [Video below the break. Audio here.]
Bypassing Second Amendment concerns, Morgan argued that plenty of guns would still be available for purchase if all the President's gun control agenda was enacted.
"Is that not enough for you? I mean, seriously. You feel like you have to join the NRA after 20 children are blown to pieces because you're worried that you'll only be left with 2,300 types of gun to shoot," he chided his guest.
Root defended his constitutional right to bear arms: "Guns in the right hands protect people. Guns in the wrong hands should be taken away. We don't want guns in the hands of mentally ill people, but the NRA protects my rights as a law-abiding citizen to have a gun, nothing wrong with that."
Below is a transcript of the segment, which aired on May 29 on Piers Morgan Live at 9:28 p.m. EDT:
PIERS MORGAN: New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is a strong believer in gun control. So, was that the reason he was targeted in this latest ricin incident? Joining me now on The Grill, a man who signed up with the NRA after Sandy Hook. Wayne Allen Root is author of "The Ultimate Obama Survival Guide: How To Survive, Thrive and Prosper During Obama-geddon." Welcome to you, Mr. Root.
WAYNE ALLEN ROOT, author: Hey, Piers. Good evening.
MORGAN: So let's talk guns, first of all. You joined the NRA after Sandy Hook. Why would anybody do that?
ROOT: Well, I just wanted to protect my rights, my Second Amendment rights. I'm not a big gun guy, by the way. I'm not one of the world's biggest gun guys. I go to a gun range once a year to practice a little bit. I keep a gun in my home for self defense, and that's it. I've never had one on my person, my car. I'm a little scared about them, because I'm not someone who's handled them my whole life.
But I always want the right to have it, to defend myself and to defend my family. So, I joined the NRA. I happen to be Jewish by birth, by the way, and I've always said in many interviews around the country that the slaughter of Jews began in Nazi, Germany in 1938 after Hitler passed a law that said Jews could not own guns. So, I just want to always make sure that in this country, we have a right to own guns as the Second Amendment says.
MORGAN: Absolutely nobody, of course, was denying you that right. I mean, do you know how many types of gun President Obama was going to leave in circulation, perfectly legally, if you implemented every single one of the gun control measures he wanted to bring in? Do you know how many?
ROOT: Well, to me, what I worry about, Piers –
MORGAN: Wait, wait. Do you know how many guns would be left in legal circulation? Ones that you could go and buy?
ROOT: I'm sure the number is high.
MORGAN: Have a guess.
ROOT: Give me the number.
MORGAN: Have a guess.
ROOT: No idea. Give me the number.
MORGAN: Have a guess. How many different types of guns you would have been still able to legally buy, once all President Obama's gun-grabbing initiatives had taken place?
ROOT: Let's say 500. I have no idea.
MORGAN: 2,300 and something. Is that not enough for you? I mean, seriously. You feel like you have to join the NRA after 20 children are blown to pieces because you're worried that you'll only be left with 2,300 types of gun to shoot.
ROOT: Piers, those children were blown away in a gun-free zone. So I think it's kind of silly to blame guns. The fact is, when a nut case sees a sign that says gun-free zone, he knows he's got a free shot to kill people. So I'm not a big fan of gun-free zones either, by the way. Guns in the right hands protect people. Guns in the wrong hands should be taken away. We don't want guns in the hands of mentally ill people, but the NRA protects my rights as a law-abiding citizen to have a gun, nothing wrong with that.
MORGAN: Would you arm every school, every hospital, every church, every shopping mall, every single person that works in those places?
ROOT: No, that was an NRA statement, by the way, and I never necessarily agreed with it, mostly because –
MORGAN: Well, you're a signed up member to the NRA and said you don't believe in gun-free zones. So to remove any gun-free zones that these mass shooters apparently deliberately target, although there is absolutely zero evidence from any of the 60 or 70 mass shootings in America in the last 30 years that any of them has ever left a note saying I targeted that place because it was a gun-free zone.
But by your logic, you would want to arm every nurse, every clergyman, every school teacher, every single person in any public place in America, would have to be armed to prevent the gun-free zone scenario taking place.
ROOT: Not true, Piers. I'm a libertarian conservative and what that means is everyone should have the choice to be armed. I don't want to arm anyone. I don't want to force anyone to be armed. I don't want to force anyone to be involved with guns who doesn't want to be involved with guns.
I'm just saying, you shouldn't force people to be disarmed. Libertarianism merely means everyone gets a choice and that's what America is about. I think that's what makes America great and that's why it's worked for all these years. Let's not pass more laws that limit people's freedoms. Let's give people a choice, that's all I'm saying.
MORGAN: Well, it was only actually a law to prevent military-style machine guns being on civilian streets and also high-capacity magazines –
ROOT: I'm aware.
MORGAN: – and also bringing in background checks for guns. But, oh no, none of these could get through the Senate. You know why? Because the NRA bullied them so they all just decided to be cowardly. You can't even bring background checks into a country when 20 children get killed in a classroom? What is wrong with America? When that happens, seriously?
ROOT: Well, you say what's wrong with America, but your home country of England has basically banned handguns in the hands of law abiding citizens.
MORGAN: And guess what, we don't get anybody shot dead in Britain! We have about 30 to 40 murders with guns a year. That's the whole point of banning guns!
ROOT: Piers, the point is that in England – and this is a stat not from Wayne Root, but it was the FBI and your version of the FBI in England – the statistics show that violent crime is over three-and-a-half times larger in England than it is in the United States, even though guns are banned.
Ask those Muslim extremist terrorists the other day, they hacked a man to death with a butcher knife. They cut his head off in the middle of the street in London. They didn't need a gun to do that. You could kill people any way you want. A rope will hang a man. A gun will kill a man and so will a butcher knife. So I think it's silly to make guns the focal point.
MORGAN: How many of those -- how many of those school children would have been killed if Adam Lanza had a rope at Sandy Hook?
ROOT: Well, if guns are the reason for Sandy Hook and all these problems, I think we should disarm Barack Obama's security force.
MORGAN: The point is – the point is, when you told me that a rope could cause as much damage, clearly that's palpable nonsense.
