A Nation In Love With Guns
This article is pending translation.
It was uneasy and extremely uncomfortable watching Alex Jones, the American man who has created a petition to deport Piers Morgan from the USA, go up against Morgan himself in a ‘debate’ (I must use the word loosely) about whether the USA should bring in stricter gun laws.
Jones appeared “unhinged”, as many media-types have branded him, due to his emphatic and unrelenting torrid of, what he believes, facts under an obvious bravado of arrogance and denial. Jones managed to enforce the loud and ignorant stereotype of Americans as he refused to let Morgan have a word in edgeways, his unfounded rant accumulating in, what all school children know to be, the lowest form of argument and annoyance as he proceeded to imitate Morgan’s British accent for the further duration of the interview. Morgan, in a rare display of restraint, for once appeared the more respectable person in the room. It truly has to be watched to be believed - so here are the links to part one and part two.
I am certainly no fan of Piers Morgan. It is difficult to comprehend that a man, who enjoys a close relationship with the Murdoch empire, having worked for The Sun, News Of The World and The Daily Mirror, and consequently coming under close scrutiny during the recent hacking scandal, can have any liberal morals at all.
However, he has proved that some sort of British sensibility has remained despite crossing the Atlantic, and expresses a view against America’s terrible lack of gun control, which I’m sure many people here share. For once I am pleased he has, excuse the ironic pun, stuck to his guns and refused to let his view waver as American public opinion turns against him. It is necessary to have an influential voice speaking out against this harrowing lack of awareness about the consequences of allowing most of a huge population have a gun. It is truly worrying that such a large proportion of one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world does not have the sensibility to understand the basic fact; more guns result in more gun crime.
Your anti-gun law lobbyist makes a claim (one that Goldie Lookin’ Chain had parodied years ago) that guns don’t kill people, people do. Of course this is true to some extent; those behind most mass shootings are mentally ill with a malicious purpose. But what they fail to understand is that not having strict gun laws is what put the gun in that mentally ill person’s hand, and in the case of the recent Newtown shootings, which sparked the whole debate, taught that person how to shoot that gun. The prospect that a schoolboy can so easily get his hands on a semiautomatic rifle is completely and utterly baffling. That is not a gun needed for self-defence or to protect a home; that is a gun designed with the intent to kill mercilessly.
The figures Piers Morgan so desperately tried to put towards Alex Jones, but failed so miserably to do so due to Jones’ almost religious attitude towards his fifty, yes fifty, guns, was that in the past year the USA had many more murders due to firearms than Britain. According to The Guardian’s figures, which you can see here, the USA had 9,146 deaths due to firearms. According to Morgan, the United Kingdom had just 35. Even when you take into account the population difference, those figures are still very revealing. Over the past few decades, the USA has been scarred by its history of mass shootings, each one begging the question whether the country will finally see the light and make stricter laws as tragedy creates clarity. Each time the answer is no. Through the revealing attitude of Alex Jones, it is easy to see why this nation so deeply in love with their guns will not change in the near future. The rest of us can only look on in despair and hope.
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3 Comments – Post a comment
SirChrouchAlot
Commented 4 months ago - 11th January 2013 - 09:33am
ok?
769
Commented 4 months ago - 11th January 2013 - 11:24am
great article - nice one!
End0fDarkness
Commented 4 months ago - 11th January 2013 - 13:26pm
Good article. I agree, I really dislike it when people just try to shout over another person and assume that this wins the 'debate'.
I think the 'right to bear arms' idea relies on the idea that everyone has a gun and everyone is willing to shoot. In a school where all staff are armed, know how to shoot and are willing, then a crazed gunman may not get very far. But, most people just don't like the thought of cang a gun, never mind use one.
It's good to hear that Piers Morgan was being more respectable during the videos, I agree, I don't particularly like the man's attitude or morals either.
On a complete side note, one of the things I was thinking about was the 'British sensibility'. I agree, this is one of our stereotypes, but when I see British people driving quad bikes in Tesco park at 9pm or drug addicts asking people if they can spare a pound, I start to think that that trait isn't so much 'British'. Although thankfully, those type of people aren't what all of us are, as I'm guessing that not all Americans are gun nuts