Video And Poll After The Jump
CNN's Piers Morgan has joined many who are calling for gun control in America following the increasing number of mass shootings in the country.
The latest massacre took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Friday morning when 20-year old gunman Adam Lanza killed 26 people, including 20 children who were 6 and 7-years old.
Adam Lanza
Morgan debated on Friday with guests on his show, Steve Dulan of the Michigan Coalition of Responsible Gun Owners, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and gun-rights advocate John Lott, that more guns are not the answer.
The conversation got heated when Morgan asked “why on Earth” anyone would advocate for more guns, given the unspeakable carnage at Sandy Hook.
“If we could suddenly make all guns disappear, I'd have a different position,” Dulan replied, going on to explain that because firearms last “several human lifetimes with minimal maintenance,” then the only way to stop shooters is with other guns.
“This is exactly the argument that I have been hearing ever since I joined CNN," replied Morgan, noting that he joined the network the week before Gabby Giffords was shot, and since then he’s covered the mass shootings in Aurora, Colo.; outside Portland, Ore.; and at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. "The argument I keep hearing is, 'Well, if everybody else was armed, it wouldn't happen.' It's a load of total hogwash!"
Nadler, who represents parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan, backed up Morgan’s claims with some statistics. “The proof of the pudding is that in every other industrialized country in the world, other than the United States, they have reasonable gun control laws," he said. “They have 100 people a year, not 9,000 or 10,000 a year, killed by guns."
Morgan argued that Americans should look to the example set by Scotland, where handguns were banned in response to the 1996 Dunblane massacre in which 16 schoolchildren were killed.
Lott tried to argue that the murder rate in Scotland subsequently went up, but Morgan wasn’t having it.
“There are nearly 12,000 murders a year from guns in this country. When are you guys going to focus on that and stop telling me the answer is more guns. It is not the answer! How many more kids have to die before you guys say, 'We want less guns, not more.”
Lott fired back, telling Morgan “The gun-control laws that you're pushing have killed people.”
The host dismissed Lott's claim as “ a load of nonsense,” and then he really let loose: "I'm so frustrated, I'm so furious, that these kids have been blown away again with legally acquired weapons. Some boy, who's got problems takes his mother's three weapons – including this ridiculous assault rifle – and goes in a school and kills these kids, and you guys on the gun lobby still want to tell me the answer is more guns. It is madness!"
Dr. H. Wayne Carver
Morgan also criticized Connecticut chief medical examiner, Dr. H. Wayne Carver, for his handling of the press conference Saturday when he announced the manner in which the victims were killed. At times Carver laughed while talking to the media.
Connecticut officials released on Saturday the identities of the 20 children and six adults killed in the mass shooting at a suburban elementary school in Newtown.
The state's chief medical examiner also confirmed that the gunman's mother, a twenty-seventh victim, was shot dead by her son in a related incident. The gunman took his own life.
Those killed at the school were 12 girls, eight boys and six female adults. They are listed below by name, date of birth (mm/dd/yy), gender and age.
CHILDREN
Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06, female (age 6)
Daniel Barden, 9/25/05, male (age 7)
Olivia Engel, 7/18/06, female (age 6)
Josephine Gay, 12/11/05, female (age 7)
Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06, female (age 6)
Dylan Hockley, 03/08/06, male (age 6)
Madeleine F. Hsu, 07/10/06, female (age 6)
Catherine V. Hubbard, 06/08/06, female (age 6)
Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05, male (age 7)
Jesse Lewis, 06/30/06, male (age 6)
James Mattioli, 03/22/06, male (age 6)
Grace McDonnell, 11/04/05, female (age 7)
Emilie Parker, 05/12/06, female (age 6)
Jack Pinto, 05/06/06, male (age 6)
Noah Pozner, 11/20/06, male (age 6)
Caroline Previdi, 09/07/06, female (age 6)
Jessica Rekos, 05/10/06, female (age 6)
Avielle Richman, 10/17/06, female (age 6)
Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06, male (age 6)
Allison N. Wyatt, 07/03/06, female (age 6)
ADULTS
Rachel Davino, 7/17/83, female (age 29)
Dawn Hochsprung, 06/28/65, female (age 47)
Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60, female (age 52)
Lauren Russeau, 1982, female (age 29)
Mary Sherlach, 02/11/56, female (age 56)
Victoria Soto, 11/04/85, female (age 27)
Poll
Piers Morgan gun control debate
Connecticut chief medical examiner, Dr. H. Wayne Carver's press conference
Sources: L.A. Times, MSN and Mashable
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