Uncategorized

The Gun Debate: A Wasted Opportunity

PIERS MORGAN, ALEX JONES AND THE “KOOKIFICATION” OF LIBERTARIAN THOUGHT By Megan Jones || In the weeks since last month’s tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the noise on both sides of the gun control debate has become deafening. One of the loudest figures on the anti-gun side…

PIERS MORGAN, ALEX JONES AND THE “KOOKIFICATION” OF LIBERTARIAN THOUGHT

Megan Jones

By Megan Jones || In the weeks since last month’s tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the noise on both sides of the gun control debate has become deafening. One of the loudest figures on the anti-gun side of the argument is CNN’s Piers Morgan, who strongly favors stricter gun control and a more progressive interpretation of the Second Amendment.

On December 18th – four days after the school massacre in Connecticut – Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, was a guest on Morgan’s television show, Piers Morgan Tonight. During the interview, Morgan repeatedly talked over his guest and hurled insults ranging from “unbelievably stupid” to “you shame your country,” finally claiming that Pratt’s goal is to put guns in the hands of more “mentally unstable” people.

Considering that Piers Morgan Tonight has been plagued with terrible ratings and low viewing numbers – even for CNN – Morgan is usually ignored by most intelligent people, and subsequently his rants go largely unnoticed. With tensions high throughout the country after the Sandy Hook shooting, though, the video of Morgan’s attack on Pratt went viral on social media. In response to Morgan’s rabid behavior toward Pratt – and as a general commentary on the host’s vocal anti-gun rhetoric – pro-Second Amendment talk radio personality Alex Jones created a petition on the White House website to have Morgan, a British citizen, immediately deported for his, “hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution by targeting the Second Amendment.”

Taking to Twitter in response to the petition, Morgan attempted to invoke his First Amendment rights, apparently forgetting he’s a foreign national, not an American citizen to whom the United States Constitution applies.

Jones’ petition rapidly garnered tens of thousands of signatures, easily meeting the White House’s minimum requirement to receive an official response (25,000 signatures in 30 days). After initially making light of the call for his deportation, Morgan eventually invited his nemesis to be a guest on his show.

Alex Jones is known for his animated, ranting commentary, and while he’s considered by some to be a nutty conspiracy theorist, he has gained some mainstream traction. Even the go-to conservative website The Drudge Report regularly links to articles published on Jones’ Infowars. In addition to his web presence, Jones’ syndicated talk-radio show is broadcast on more than 140 stations nationally (according to Jones), meaning his wide-reaching influence cannot not be ignored.

Anyway, fans and critics alike were unsure what to expect when Jones’ appeared on Morgan’s show. He didn’t disappoint, though … that is, if you like watching an extremely uncomfortable tirade being hurled at a smug British know-it-all. Jones seemed to be an almost cartoon-esque madman, shouting that, “1776 will commence again” if the government tries to take away guns from American citizens.

Clearly Morgan must have resolved to be on his best behavior. Instead of employing his typically annoying interview style of talking over and incessantly interrupting his guests, he instead allowed Jones to ramble and rant essentially unchecked. Jones was given more than enough rope to hang himself – and hang himself he did.

The saddest part of the situation is that Jones is absolutely correct in his view on the Second Amendment – and had a real opportunity to educate people on those views. Unfortunately he squandered that opportunity by carrying on about suicide pills, the New World Order, and the American government’s role in the 9/11 attacks. Jones made plenty of good points, but his crazed delivery combined with some of the screwball things he said far outweighed the positives of his appearance.

Some of the crazier highlights from the interview:

  • “You’re a hatchet man of the new world order. You’re a hatchet man! And I want to say this right here. You think you’re a tough guy? Have me back with a boxing ring in here. I’ll wear red white and blue, and you wear your jolly roger.”
  • “You have hoards of people burning down cities and beating old women’s brains out out everyday. They arrest people in England if they defend themselves, that’s on record. My God, you have a total police state.”
  • “I want to get people off pills that the insert says will make you commit suicide and kill people!  I want to blame the real culprit! Suicide pills! Murder pills!”

Some of the good points Jones made during the interview:

  • “The Second Amendment isn’t there for duck hunting. It’s there to protect us from tyrannical government and street thugs.”
  • “…I have FBI crime statistics that come out of a year late, 2011, 20-plus percent crime drop in the last nine years, real violent crime because more guns means less crime. Britain took the guns 15, 16 years ago. Tripling of your overall violent crime.

Of course social media exploded immediately following the interview. And while most of what’s been reported is negative towards Jones, there are also some supporters standing up for him.

In the wake of the “debate,” Morgan turned to Politico to share his thoughts on the now viral program – saying that Jones was “the best advertisement for gun control you could wish for.” Morgan also commented on the influence Jones potentially has on the followers of his radio show and websites, saying that “through vitriol and rhetoric he is able to spur heavy gun sales and ammunition sales. He works off of fear.”

That last statement is interesting because it would seem that fear is also Morgan’s greatest tool in his tireless mission to end legal gun ownership in this country.

Jones’ website, Infowars, was busy doing damage control Tuesday, posting numerous articles attempting to put a positive spin on the shock jock’s television performance. Considering that a quick Google search of “Piers Morgan Alex Jones” populates pages and pages of negative links about Alex Jones, it appears Jones’ opponents are winning.

It is a shame that Jones made himself seem like such a kook, because he had a chance to share the truth about the link between gun control and increased violent crime. He also squandered an opportunity to use a mainstream media program to explain the libertarian viewpoint of the importance of the Second Amendment and what it means for the freedom of all citizens of this country. In mainstream circles, Jones will long be thought of as the hysterical libertarian who went crazy on Piers Morgan Tonight. Such a wasted opportunity and such a setback for the liberty movement.

***

Megan Jones is a wife, mother, small business owner and libertarian. She lives with her family in coastal Florida.

Related posts

Uncategorized

Murdaugh Retrial Hearing: Interview With Bill Young

Will Folks
State House

Conservative South Carolina Lawmakers Lead Fight Against CRT

Mark Powell
Murdaughs

‘Murdaugh Murders’ Saga: Trial Could Last Into March

Will Folks

57 comments

Nolff January 9, 2013 at 9:46 am

Both of those guys are jerks. That’s how they got famous.

They should just agree to disagree, but they can’t.
That’s why they should enter the thunder-dome.

Reply
? January 9, 2013 at 10:00 am

Ha! Great comment.

Reply
BigT January 9, 2013 at 9:56 am

This is weak and cliche reporting…The Gun Control Debate is just a ploy for Liberals to raise money…

People are scared to DEATH of Obama…we’d NEVER concede our Constitutional Rights to him, especially while there is so much distrust, contempt and suspicion in the federal gov’t…

If The Ambassador in Benghazi would have been given some machine guus, maybe Obama would not be lying like $#!* to cover his sorry @$$….

Liberals exploit murder for fundraising…and their stupid followers file in behind them…

That’s all that is happening now. There will be little, if any, change…Espcially w/ a GOP House..

Americans have ALWAYS known that they better have basic defense vs tyrants…and that is more true now than ever…

Reply
bogart January 9, 2013 at 10:36 am

Idiot.

Reply
Isotope Soap January 9, 2013 at 10:42 am

People are scared to DEATH of Obama…we’d NEVER concede our Constitutional Rights to him, especially while there is so much distrust, contempt and suspicion in the federal gov’t…”

This reminds me of something:

From BBC News: “…McVeigh claimed to have been a target of bullying at school and that he took refuge in a fantasy world where he imagined retaliating against those bullies. At the end of his life he would state his belief that the United States government is the ultimate bully…”

Reply
ceilidh10 January 9, 2013 at 12:56 pm

Big T, why don’t you sit on a bidet and squirt some hot molten acid up your anus, and maybe you might begin to feel some of the pain suffered by the parents of these dead kids in Connecticut. People like you are a threat to my democracy.

Reply
Smirks January 9, 2013 at 10:00 am

A battle of wits with two witless morons? Comedic gold, if you ask me. Alex Jones pretty much got tricked into being used as the conspiracy nut tool he is by Piers to try and frame gun nuts as frothing at the mouth lunatics.

Alex Jones, the BigT of talk radio.

Reply
Smirks January 9, 2013 at 10:02 am

…try to frame people who are pro gun rights as gun nuts who frothing at the mouth lunatics, rather.

Reply
BigT January 9, 2013 at 10:13 am

Alex Jones would HATE me as much as he hates you and Obama…

But it’s a nuance you, like most, are too stupid to pick up on…

Jones is just optimization of the EXTREME desire for anybody who is anti-Obama to speak out…

But he is Much more like FITS…anti-everything, except FITS seems to actully LIKE a lot of democrats when it comes down to it….

Reply
Kooklover January 9, 2013 at 10:00 am

The reason libertarians look like kooks is because they are kooks.

Reply
DeAndre Cole January 9, 2013 at 10:27 am

You’re out of your kookloving mind.

Reply
Tan Vampire January 9, 2013 at 10:08 am

The 2nd Amendment, Batman Shooting & High Fructose Corn Syrup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvIK4cmzeRY

Reply
Kooklover January 9, 2013 at 10:08 am

Any day the libertarian movement is exposed for the whacked out lunatic fringe movement it is, is a good day for the Country.

Reply
Matt January 9, 2013 at 10:08 am

You libertarians are just as bad as communists. Peirs Morgan is clearly a verbose, ratings obsessed, moron, but your blind acceptance one-size-fits-all solutions for all problems is as moronic as the hard left marxists who still cling to the notions of a proletariat uprising despite the whole history of the 20th century.

Reply
shifty henry January 9, 2013 at 10:13 am

….. read and initialed @8:13am

Reply
DeAndre Cole January 9, 2013 at 10:26 am

He called the Union Jack a Jolly Roger, what’s up with that?

Reply
CUvinny January 9, 2013 at 10:27 am

“Taking to Twitter in response to the petition, Morgan attempted to invoke his First Amendment rights, apparently forgetting he’s a foreign national, not an American citizen to whom the United States Constitution applies.”

Quit making shit up.

Using this logic forign nationals would not have the same rights to due process that citizens have. This is false and why we keep the terrorist locked up (illegally imo) out of the country.

Reply
BigT January 9, 2013 at 10:39 am

You want to JAIL Americans for not Voting for a Hitler-Tyrant…but you want to let Terroists loose to kill children, for rejecting your Sharia Law…

What a GREAT Obama-Bot you are….you’re EXAXCTLY why I have a gun..Step your Filthy NAZI @$$ on my property…and I’ll prove the Value of the 2nd Amendment real quick like…

Reply
CUvinny January 9, 2013 at 10:45 am

lol

Reply
Megan Jones January 9, 2013 at 12:02 pm

CUvinny, there is legal precedent for deportation of non-citizens for subversion against the Constitution and the Supreme Court has upheld that foreigners are not necessarily protected by the First Amendment.

Denial of due process is not a fair comparison, but I agree with you that it is wrong that the US denies this to supposed terrorists. I don’t know how anyone can even be determined to be a terrorist without a fair trial whereby the judicial process proves that person to be a terrorist. Same goes for Obama’s targeted drone killings in Pakistan and Afghanistan (and other places). Essentially the administration is just guessing that the targets are terrorists, because there’s no due process to actually prove it.

Reply
dirtbogger January 9, 2013 at 1:43 pm

Awesome comment Miss Jones!

Reply
BigT January 9, 2013 at 10:28 am

One of the FIRST things I usually have to teach wanna-be writers is brevity…

If you are good w/ wit and words, you can get your point across, more emphatically, using fewer words…

Sadly: poor writers gage their level of accomplishment by length…and all too often, it is regurgitation of already much-covered (and boring) material..they substitute character-count for quality and intelligent content.

FITS does it at times. He is not real bad about it (he has even gotten better)…but fat copy is a TRUE sign of a lack of experience and ability to think…It also shows a lack of consideration for the reader…

Reply
Saluda Rapids January 9, 2013 at 10:43 am

Professor, regarding your education of writers:

Do you teach them proper spelling and grammar as well? Do you teach them how to hate? Do you teach them how to listen to Rush first and then spew his venom as if it’s their own? Is one of your classes called @$$#@ 101? Do you teach them how to hate their country? Do you encourage them to be traitors? Do you provide them with mind altering drugs? Do you teach them biased reporting? Do you teach them to think like knuckle dragging morons? Do you ask them to vote like the mindless lemmings of the SC GOP? Do you teach Invoke Hitler References 201? How about a graduate class in Don’t Worry About Constantly Being Banned from Discussion Forums? How about an elective in the dangers of constantly supporting losing candidates?

If so, you are building your own master race of writers, there, Big(o)T.

That concise enough of for you?

Reply
Bard Dough January 9, 2013 at 10:48 am

When can I sign up for your next class, sir?

Reply
BigT January 9, 2013 at 10:50 am

SR: You must think I’m a liberal…

Reply
LD January 9, 2013 at 11:02 am

Typical SC resident and/or voter, anything over three words gets them confused.

Reply
Bard Dough January 9, 2013 at 11:04 am

No, he thinks you’re an idiot, Biggie.

Reply
BigT January 9, 2013 at 11:10 am

Because I’ve explained something most of you could not even begin to comprehend???

Reply
Isotope Soap January 9, 2013 at 11:33 am

Yep, you boggle our minds…

Reply
Saluda Rapids January 9, 2013 at 12:04 pm

Bard Dough nailed it. I don’t think you’re a liberal. Read what I wrote and look in the mirror…that’s you.

You are proving my point by spending the morning with your Hitler fetish.

Reply
bogart January 9, 2013 at 10:34 am

Just knowing Jones has a weapon is scary,and in his case I’m sure he lives in a house full of assualt weapons.

Reply
SenseLikeChaps January 10, 2013 at 4:12 pm

I asked a few friends who had seen him around Austin over the years about him. The raving is just an act, away from the microphone he is a totally different person, kinda quiet and not very interested in talking about black helicopters or whatever. Just entertainment.

Reply
National Blunt Object Assn. January 9, 2013 at 10:39 am

I’m now convinced that Alex is working for the other side.

Send $1 to the nboa.org and let s get ahead of this thing before they come for our hammers too.

Don’t tread on me.

Reply
BigT January 9, 2013 at 10:41 am

Alex Jones has the right to say anything he wants…

Why is it you and Obama will go to the mat for Muslim Jihadists…but you want to take Alex Jones’ First Amemdment Right because he uses it to defend our 2nd Amendment Rights…

Liberals = NAZIs…

Reply
Jan January 9, 2013 at 6:08 pm

Who is trying to take away his First Amendment rights. I think most people who disagree with you are very happy he exercised his free speech rights.

Reply
Jan January 9, 2013 at 6:12 pm

Oh and big t, Nazis went after Communists, Labor Unions, Gays, and Jews, and accused racial minorities of being inferior, lazy, and shiftless. Sound like anyone you know?

Reply
BigT January 10, 2013 at 6:29 am

The Socialist NAZI Party was by definition a Union, Hitler, it is speculated, may have been Gay and like the Muslims (who Obama loves) he hated Jews. Hitler, like liberals also hated anyone not like him….and wanted to take their rights, like Obama…

Liberals = Lies, Fables and Myths….

Reply
Isotope Soap January 10, 2013 at 10:21 am

BigT, let’s see if this is the craziest shit you say today.

Reply
Isotope Soap January 10, 2013 at 10:24 am

Hitler hated homosexuals, you stupid idiot. Kinda like you?

Reply
dirtbogger January 9, 2013 at 10:44 am

Alex Jones is not the spokes person for the Liberty movement, as much as the Gooberment would like for him to be. His purpose is to be seen as a raving loon. But yes 9-11 was a false flag, and the physics behind the freefall collapse of wtc 1,2,& 7 is as obvious as a Herpes outbreak.

Reply
CUvinny January 9, 2013 at 10:47 am

Really? The Ron Paulbots seem to claim him (gold nuts and truthers have a lot of overlap I bet). They even thought the interview was a good impression of Jones.

Reply
dirtbogger January 9, 2013 at 11:22 am

sadly when people start waking up to how the world really works AJ is there to fill that void with lots of disinfo, and crazy rants mixed in with some truth(which is a forgin concept to corperate media).

Reply
Robert January 9, 2013 at 11:51 am

Alex Jones is a psycho. And if you hitch up to his wagon, you are on a failed team.

Jones, and more like him, will be the death of guns, not others.

Reply
lollie January 9, 2013 at 12:07 pm

Why wasn’t the Obama Administration so concerned about assault rifles when they supplied the Narcoterrorists of Mexico with thousands of military grade machine guns, grenades, and body armor?

Reply
lollie January 9, 2013 at 12:10 pm

BTW last movie I saw involving the disarming of citizens by their government was Shindler’s List…

Reply
xx chromosome January 9, 2013 at 12:54 pm

Lollie – well said!

Reply
Lawn Sharts January 9, 2013 at 2:28 pm

whoa, whoa there, Lollie. let’s not interject reason into this discussion.

fairly-written, Mrs. Jones – Alex Jones (no relation, I hope)does more to threaten lawful ownership of firearms than he does to help. thinking people realize Piers Morgan for what he is, and his ratings reflect as-much.

Reply
sorry megan, you really don't get it January 9, 2013 at 2:05 pm

LOL!!! you think alex jones on piers morgan show was an “opportunity for the liberty movement????” WOW! alex jones AND piers morgan are BOTH “hatchet men for the new world order.” one plays one side of the media : mainstream cnn bullshit disnformation agent and the other plays in the fake “patriot”/conspiracy theorist fringe(whose real aims are keeping people locked down in fear of the “new world order” by exagerrating their power in the minds of people- by establishing fear as the paradigm of the public’s conception of the ruling elite’s power- thats how they maintain their power: through your ignorance and fear- why do you think fdr said said “the only thing we have to fear…” he understood the concept quite well). the proof they are both stooges playing on the EXACT SAME tEAM, leading whoever is stupid enough to listen to either of them and believe either one is sincere or interested in anything other than their ratings and ad rates and feeding their insanely overblown egos- THAT proof is simply they both are allowed to go on CNN and spout their directed propaganda to a national audience. they are both as fake as the controlled 2 party system, the bought political process, and they are both as fake as the intentional lies of the media entertainment complex that they both belong to and represent and serve faithfully.

Reply
Orangeblood January 9, 2013 at 2:32 pm

Megan Jones: Pretty, smart and libertarian.

I guess two out of three isn’t bad.

Reply
SubZeroIA January 9, 2013 at 6:30 pm

Any one who claims that the First Amendment does not protect foreign nationals LIVING in the United States is not “smart” in my very educated opinion.
You see, the Constitution did not stop with the Second Amendment or the Tenth or the Eleventh.
The Fourteenth Amendment, which has its root in the Holy Biblical Commandment “One law thou shalt have, for the native and sojourner alike, enjoins: “Nor shall any state deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This marvelous sentence extends the whole bill of rights to every natural person present in the physical land of the United States.
And before anyone starts ranting and raving: I am staunchly against guns and against the death penalty and against abortion and euthanasia and against suicide and against any form of taking of a human life under any guise or excuse.

Reply
The Runs January 10, 2013 at 12:57 pm

“…my very educated opinion”

Oh, by all means carry on…

Reply
Orangeblood January 10, 2013 at 4:36 pm

CZIA, if you’re staunchly against guns because they have the ability to kill, one could assume you are also staunchly against knives, baseball bats, hammers, cars, pillows, all drugs, alcohol, human hands, bath tubs, large bodies of water, chain saws, etc., etc., etc.

Is it possible your “very educated” fear of inanimate objects is misdirected?

Reply
Peacemaker 45 January 9, 2013 at 9:27 pm

Time to lock and load people. Keep your powder dry.

Reply
SubZeroIQ January 10, 2013 at 5:00 pm

Orangeblood:
Human hands can play Chopin, carve the bust of Neffertiti, or perform restorative surgery. Hammers are among the first tools invented by humans and even humanoids. All your items have utility and beauty.
Guns, specially the super-vicious assault ones, have no purpose other than to kill. I think even if used to hunt, they would put so much lead in the quarry as to make it inedible.
I have no fear of inanimate objects, only of human beings who were never taught right from wrong. And I am dismayed at how many of those are around.

Reply
Philo January 10, 2013 at 11:09 pm

Meh. It’s just another political commentary, boring and substanceless.

Reply
Joe Friday January 11, 2013 at 11:29 am

Require gun owners pay the true price of gun ownership.

Despite occassional tragedies like Newtown and Columbine, cheap and easily obtainable handguns are the real problem. The more regulation, the more these guns are driven into the gray market.

Guns and ammo should be taxed like cigarettes. The dollars these taxes generate should go to gun safety programs, law enforcment, prisons and mental health treatment. Any crime committed with a gun should carry a heavier sentence.

Combine that with the continued decriminalization of recreational drug use.

All of these steps would actually reduce gun related crime and violence, without stepping on anyone’s constitutional rights.

But is that what the Obama adminstration wants? Nope. It just wants to appear concerned.

Gun owners, relax. You will continue to be able to kill defenseless animals for pleasure, and the occassional toddler will still be able to shoot himself with his dumb ass cousin’s pistol left lying on the kitchen table.

Reply
noseitall January 13, 2013 at 9:27 am

Why would the same socialist, communist-leaning Obama administration…

… that purchased billions of bullets for the government…

… that sold automatic assault weapons to Mexican drug cartels…

… whose presidency, Congress, Supreme Court and government offices are all guarded by men with guns…

… that is bringing thousands of battle-hardened troops home…

… that disdains and attempts to override our Constitutional rights…

… that has begun using armed drone aircraft on its own citizens…

… that routinely intercepts messages of law-abiding citizens…

… that just granted lifetime armed protection for Obama…

… that exempts itself from the laws it passes for the citizens…

… possibly want to disarm the public at this time?

Think it through.

Reply

Leave a Comment