CNN's resident gun control advocate Piers Morgan faced off with Ted Nugent Monday, and as was expected, the bullets were flying.
By the end of the first segment, Nugent told his arrogant adversary, "You're the perfect poster boy to stand up for the things that make no sense at all to common sense people" (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary):
PIERS MORGAN, HOST: I don't understand, and I want you to tell me, in the least inflammatory way possible, why outside of hog hunting, which I get is a problem in Texas, anybody needs one of those [an AR-15]? And if the answer isn't convincing, why the least we couldn't do to those poor families who lost people to that weapon is not just remove those from the equation?
TED NUGENT: Well, a number of things. First of all, I've been monitoring your gun debates. Go ahead and take it to the bank, you will never understand. I really don't believe you'll ever grasp…
MORGAN: What don't I understand?
NUGENT: You don’t understand that it's a simple inanimate tool that tens of millions of American families own that have never caused a problem, never had an accident, and will never commit a crime. You have these aberrations that are such a minute percentage. So my prayers are as strong as anyone…
MORGAN: 100,000 Americans get hit by gunfire, Ted. It’s not a minor aberration.
NUGENT: Let me stop you there, because I’ve been hearing you say this, and you are so full of crap. Listen to me, that statistic includes bad guys shot by cops and intruders shot by homeowners. So that figure is bogus. So you have to…
MORGAN: That’s the figure, 100,000.
NUGENT: Not, it's not an accurate figure.
MORGAN: 100,000 Americans get hit by gunfire a year.
NUGENT: Those include bad guys getting shot by cops, Piers.
MORGAN: 18,000 of those kill themselves with guns.
NUGENT: Japan has a higher suicide rate and they’re not allowed to get down wind of a gun. Your turn.
MORGAN: How many people got murdered by guns in Japan in the last two or three years each year?
NUGENT: We’re not talking about guns, we’re talking about the act of murder. Do you care about murders or do you only care about murders with guns?
MORGAN: I care about all deaths.
NUGENT: I don't think you do. I think you care about guns. I think you're obsessed with guns. 99.99 percent of the gun owners of America are wonderful people that you are hanging around with here today, perfectly safe, perfectly harmless, wonderful, loving, generous, giving, caring people. Would you leave us the hell alone? Go after the nut jobs, go after the murderers, because I don't know any. We need to lock up the bad guys, and when people show dangerous, murderous intent, which everyone one of these mass murderers showed, all their neighbors, their family, their teachers, their fellow students, they all knew they were crazy. But Piers, we didn't stop them because we're worried about hurting their feelings. We have a madman problem in America where they're running around. We have a felony recidivism problem in America. Let's focus on that together and leave the rest of us alone.
MORGAN: A, I won't leave you alone because this is a debate that has to be had in America.
NUGENT: And we appreciate that because you're the perfect poster boy to stand up for the things that make no sense at all to common sense people.
