On Thursday, CNN's Richard Quest had a heated discussion with Gun Owners of America head Eric Pratt. Pratt punctured the establishment press-held myth that gun-controlling countries in Europe are meccas of safety. Quest didn't handle it well.
Quest opened by pretending to avoid debating gun control, given that the two men's positions are irreconcilable.
He asked Pratt what he would specifically do to stop school shootings. Pratt's answer: allow teachers and administrators who wish to arm themselves to do so. He pointed to Israel, where that solution has worked, and to the dangers in having so many schools publicly declare their defenselessness by virtue-signaling their status as "gun-free zones."
Four minutes in, Quest went to gun control:
Transcript (Full interview is here; HT Townhall):
RICHARD QUEST, CNN: Why not add an element of greater control over the access to guns? What is so wrong, besides the Second Amendment — we'll put that to one side for one second (Well, we won't. — Ed.) — but what as a matter of principle is so wrong with experimenting with that?
ERIC PRATT, GOA: Richard, experimenting? We have had a several-decade experiment with this, and it's failing.
This killer, the authorities tell us, bought his gun legally. That tells me he passed a background check. The Las Vegas shooter and the Texas shooter passed background checks. The bar in Orlando shooter passed (a) background check. Both Fort Hood shooters, the Aurora theater shooter, the Navy yard shooter, you just go on and on and on through the list, Richard. They all passed background checks.
And if they couldn't, like the Sandy Hook shooter up in Connecticut, he killed his first victim, stole her guns, and then took those guns onto the school campus — which was a gun-free zone, he disobeyed that law, said "No guns allowed."
And that's the problem, Richard. These killers are targeting areas where guns are not allowed, and that's what we need to stop.
Quest wouldn't let go, and Pratt got noticeably impatient:
Transcript:
PRATT: Richard, in Europe there are countries — The United States is not even in the top 10. They have higher murder rates and death rates per mass shooting that we do —
QUEST: No, not in Europe they don't, sir. I need to just correct you on that. Not in Europe. There is no country in Europe that is — in fact, I've got the —
PRATT: France. France.
QUEST: No, France is not.
PRATT: Richard, you're way off base. Look, Richard. We disagree, and you're entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
The facts are on Pratt's side:
Here's the big question: In the U.S., with non-school gun-free zones relatively rare compared to other countries, and with a more heavily armed populace, how can the wannabe gun-grabbers and most of the educational establishment defend leaving millions of schoolchildren disproportionately defenseless?
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
