In the wake of the tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida, host Don Lemon began Wednesday’s CNN Tonight completely off the rails as he delivered a rambling tirade smearing gun rights advocates and telling viewers it was only a matter of time before they or one of their loved ones was killed by a gun.
“The story is this. This is a sickness that has infected the country. Unchecked and unfettered gun violence,” Lemon angrily declared near the top of the show as he soon dove into ridiculousness. “Do you feel safe tonight? There's another fact that we need to face. Every single one of us is just playing the odds at this point.”
That was only the tip of Lemon’s unfettered iceberg of hyperbole:
The odds that in a country of 325 million souls that we won't be the ones who get hit by the next bullets that start flying. We won't be the one that gets that phone call about someone you love who did. Your son, your daughter, your brother, your sister, your spouse, or your parent, even a friend. Anyone you know. The phone call that changes your life. But with every deadly shooting in this country, the odds get worse and worse and worse.
“Are you really willing to keep playing those odds? Your life is too precious for that. The lives of our loved ones are too precious. The lives of the people in our cities and towns are too precious. Have we forgotten that life is a gift,” Leman asked. A problematic question considering the left is so adamant about defending abortion.
After listing other tragic mass shootings, Lemon ghoulishly opined: “This is what we are right now. But is this really who we want to be? A country where anybody, at any time, could be shot to death?”
Lemon then asserted that he just wanted to put politics aside because it was all about saving people’s lives, but he imminently unleashed his ire on gun rights advocates. “People who oppose gun control will say, today is not the day to talk about it. And you know what, they are absolutely right. Because the day to talk about it was weeks, months, years, or decades ago,” he spat. “If we don't, we have no one to blame but ourselves.”
He wrapped up his monologue but trying to guilt trip the entire country, stating, “This is America, people. Don't forget that. I know that we are better than this. So let's discuss all of it. The facts and the story behind all of it.”
Despite Lemon’s farcical pronouncements that we’re “playing the odds” before each one of us was killed, homicides are at a near all-time low. According to the FBI, and reported by the libertarian Mises Institute, the United States was experiencing one of the lowest murder rates in over 50 years. And if Lemon doesn’t believe that, CNN once reported similar numbers.
According to the government statistics, the murder rate has been on a pretty rapid decline since it was near its peak in the 80’s and early 90’s. Interestingly enough, it was the same time period in which Lemon previously claimed New York City didn’t have a crime problem. The comment came during the 2016 Republican National Convention where he was disputing the fact former Mayor Rudy Giuliani reduced crime.
But Lemon’s hysterical and fact-free 2018 fear mongering was ridiculous and only served to push the liberal political agenda.
Transcript below:
CNN Tonight
February 14, 2018
10:00:27 PM Eastern [4 minutes 3 seconds]DON LEMON: This is CNN Tonight. I’m Don Lemon. Thanks for joining us. And I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. A very troubled world tonight. Our breaking news, 17 people shot to death today at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida. Five people hospitalized, life-threatening condition. Ten more in non-life-threatening condition. The suspect, a 19-year-old -- 19 years old, a former student -- in custody. And sources say he is talking to investigators. He had been expelled.
Law enforcement sources say the weapon used to kill those 17 people was an AR-15 style firearm. He had a gas mask and smoke grenades and pulled the fire alarm, just to lure out more victims. Sources also saying that he tried to mix into the crowd, the crowd of students, to try to escape. Those are the facts right there. But they don't even begin to tell the full story here, the entire story.
The story is this. This is a sickness that has infected the country. Unchecked and unfettered gun violence. Today, 17 lives are over. 17 families are torn apart. Parents who sent their kids to school this morning, imagine that, many people send their kids to school. Just like they've done every other day for years. They trusted their kids would be safe. Teachers went to work this morning, trusted that they would be safe in their space, in their work environment. The way we all should be safe in our work environments, every day, everywhere in our schools. Our churches, our offices at concerts, at nightclubs.
Do you feel safe tonight? There's another fact that we need to face. Every single one of us is just playing the odds at this point. The odds that in a country of 325 million souls that we won't be the ones who get hit by the next bullets that start flying. We won't be the one that gets that phone call about someone you love who did. Your son, your daughter, your brother, your sister, your spouse, or your parent, even a friend. Anyone you know. The phone call that changes your life. But with every deadly shooting in this country, the odds get worse and worse and worse.
Are you really willing to keep playing those odds? Your life is too precious for that. The lives of our loved ones are too precious. The lives of the people in our cities and towns are too precious. Have we forgotten that life is a gift?
It's a disgrace that this is still happening after Sandy Hook, Columbine, Virginia Tech, Emanuel AME Church, Pulse nightclub shooting, Las Vegas, the list goes on and on and on. This is what we are right now. But is this really who we want to be? A country where anybody, at any time, could be shot to death. And then when a bunch of people are killed and lives are shattered, we are sad and maybe angry, and then we forget, and we move on, until the next time. With the tragedy remaining in the headlines for even a shorter time than it did before.
So just forget politics here. This is about lives. The lives of all Americans. We need to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Everyone agrees with that. People who oppose gun control will say, today is not the day to talk about it. And you know what, they are absolutely right. Because the day to talk about it was weeks, months, years, or decades ago. And yes, of course, we also need to make mental health a priority in this country. But guess what, we can do both. We can do both of those things at the same time. If we don't, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
This is America, people. Don't forget that. I know that we are better than this. So let's discuss all of it. The facts and the story behind all of it.
(…)
