Whenever someone claims “no one is talking about taking your guns,” point them to this CBS Mornings segment from Thursday. Leaning on Holly Williams from across the pond in London, the network pushed for the British and Australian-style of sweeping gun bans and confiscations. And not only were they eager to do away with AR-style weapons but also “all semi-automatic rifles and shotguns” and “private ownership of all handguns.”
“Many people here in the U.K. feel a special bond with the U.S.,” Williams noted before lamenting, “they`re mystified, they`re confused, because here and in other countries where there`s been a massacre, the government brings in tougher gun control laws and they cannot comprehend why that doesn`t happen in the U.S.”
Williams boasted about how a school shooting in the U.K. in 1996 led to the crackdown on law-abiding gun owners. “It was the deadliest mass shooting in British history. And after a grassroots campaign, the government here banned the private ownership of all handguns,” she recounted.
That was quickly followed up with a different mass shooting, this time in Australia:
In Australia, also in 1996, a lone gunman murdered 35 people. In response, the then-conservative Australian government banned nearly all semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, and launched a program to buy back more than 600,000 weapons from those who already owned them.
“But in New Zealand, another mass shooting in 2019, 51 people killed in two mosques once again prompted legal change outside the U.S., a ban on military-style semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles,” she added.
She also spoke to former Australian Prime Minister John Howard who opined: “The greatest civil right you have is to stay alive. Staying alive and being free from random attack is a far more precious civil rights than owning a gun.”
What’s missing is the fact that here in America we have a right to keep and bear arms acknowledged by the Constitution. And part of that is having the ability to ourselves ensure what Howard described as “The greatest civil right you have is to stay alive.”
Coming back from the video portion of the segment, Williams parroted the false line that there have been hundreds of mass shootings this year and added that “here in the U.K., there are so few guns on the streets that even the police don`t generally carry firearms.”
Again, Williams omitted the real facts. The U.K. has a soaring violent crime rate including home invasions and robberies. And with the police going unarmed, it’s not unheard of to have police getting help up and robbed themselves.
Co-host and Democratic donor, Gayle King suggested she was speaking for the world when she asked: “What is wrong with the United States of America?” And co-host Michelle Miller read from a ghoulish social media post she claimed she found, saying, “Let`s take a moment to honor the sacrifice of our brave school children who lay down their lives to protect our right to bear arms.”
King ended the segment with the tired-out argument that the Second Amendment only applies to muskets. It doesn’t. And if we’re going to take her argument to its ultimate conclusion, it means the First Amendment doesn’t protect most of today’s media because they didn’t have TV or the internet at the time of our founding.
So, if CBS News wasn’t for sweeping gun bans and confiscations, why do this segment this way?
This push for the abolishment of gun rights was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Cadillac and Ensure. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Mornings
May 26, 2022
8:16:51 a.m. EasternMICHELLE MILLER: In the wake of the Texas School shooting, it’s unclear if lawmakers will do anything to tighten gun laws. That has not been the case in other countries which have experienced mass shootings.
Holly Williams is in London.
Holly, good morning. How are people there reacting to what happened here?
HOLLY WILLIAMS: Well, good morning, Michelle.
Many people here in the U.K. feel a special bond with the U.S. and it’s painful to see American children killed like this. But a lot of people I`ve spoken to here also say they`re mystified, they`re confused, because here and in other countries where there`s been a massacre, the government brings in tougher gun control laws and they cannot comprehend why that doesn`t happen in the U.S.
[Cuts to video]
BBC REPORTER (1996): Sixteen young children and their teacher have been shot dead by a gunman at a primary school near Sterling.
WILLIAMS: In 1996, the United Kingdom was horrified by the murder of five and six-year-old children by a lone shooter.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN (1996): I just can`t believe something like this has happened.
WILLIAMS: It was the deadliest mass shooting in British history. And after a grassroots campaign, the government here banned the private ownership of all handguns.
AUSTRALIAN REPORTER (1996): Good evening. All Australians tonight share the horror of the Port Arthur massacre.
WILLIAMS: In Australia, also in 1996, a lone gunman murdered 35 people. In response, the then-conservative Australian government banned nearly all semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, and launched a program to buy back more than 600,000 weapons from those who already owned them.
JOHN HOWARD (former Australian prime minister): The greatest civil right you have is to stay alive. Staying alive and being free from random attack is a far more precious civil rights than owning a gun.
UNIDENTIFIED AUSTRALIAN GUN STORE OWNER (2015): These are our most popular firearms.
WILLIAMS: In Australia in 2015, we found the nation`s tough gun control laws widely popular, even with this gun shop owner.
I mean, if you were in America, you`d probably sell a lot more guns and make a lot more money.
UNIDENTIFIED AUSTRALIAN GUN STORE OWNER (2015): Yeah, I suppose sometimes it`s not all about the money.
WILLIAMS: From Columbine, to Sandy Hook, and Parkland, school shootings have broken the hearts of Americans, but there’s been no major change to gun ownership laws in the U.S.
DR. JONATHAN METZL (Vanderbilt University Center for Medicine, Health and Society director): We`ve got a gun lobby and a corporate gun lobby that has its tentacles so deeply into our political process.
WILLIAMS: Dr. Jonathan Metzl is a sociologist who told us he’s witnessed the gun lobby pressure U.S. politicians into withholding support for tougher laws.
METZL: The lesson of those other countries is really that people came together across the political divide.
WILLIAMS: But were countries are able to do that because they don`t have powerful gun lobbies?
METZL: A hundred percent yes. Definitely, yes.
WILLIAMS: One of the Parkland survivors called out Senator Marco Rubio for taking campaign money from the NRA.
CAMERON KASKY (Parkland student): Senator Rubio, can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA in the future?
WILLIAMS: And even that didn`t change anything.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): That people buy into my agenda, and I do support the Second Amendment.
WILLIAMS: But in New Zealand, another mass shooting in 2019, 51 people killed in two mosques once again prompted legal change outside the U.S., a ban on military-style semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles.
This week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern explained how they did it.
JACINDA ARDERN (New Zealand prime minister): Now, we have legitimate needs for guns in our country for things like pest control and to protect our biodiversity, but you don`t need a military-style semi-automatic weapon to do that, and so we got rid of them.
[Cuts back to live]
WILLIAMS: Australia saw gun deaths plummet after its new laws came into effect. And here in the U.K., there are so few guns on the streets that even the police don`t generally carry firearms. And ladies, while in the U.S. this year, there`s been more than one mass shooting a day on average, in other wealthy countries, they are extremely rare.
DANA JACOBSON: Unbelievable.
GAYLE KING: I know, I know.
JACOBSON: Staggering.
KING: Yes. Thank you, Holly. People are looking at us going "What is wrong with the United States of America?" You know, we are four percent of the population, but 42 percent of mass shootings.
JACOBSON: Go ahead.
MILLER: And so much is being said out there, in social media. This one really caught my eye: "Let`s take a moment to honor the sacrifice of our brave school children who lay down their lives to protect our right to bear arms." People are fighting mad about what has taken place. And you know, the question is, will lawmakers hear their cries?
KING: And I say again, when we talk about the right to bear arms that was written at a time when people had muskets, they did not have -- we have a very pesky fly in the studio -- they did not have the assault rifles that were killing innocent people, innocent children.
