Piers Morgan, CNN's departing talk show host, could not miss
one last opportunity to take a swipe at U.S. gun laws Friday before signing
off after three years on air.
Morgan devoted the final minutes of Piers Morgan Live to the
issue that he said has been a consistent and often controversial part of the
programme.
The British-born presenter cited gun violence statistics and
expressed dismay that mass shootings including those in Newtown, Connecticut,
and Aurora, Colorado, haven't led to stricter gun control laws.
One final blow: Piers Morgan riled against
America's weak gun control laws in his final show and excoriated the NRA
for bullying lawmakers into silence
Piers' peeps: Morgan shared this photos with his staffers on Twitter before his final show
Morgan delivered his impassioned 3-minute address after
devoting most of the programme Friday to the coverage of the search for the missing Malaysian
plane.
'After three years, two months, 11 days and over 1,000
shows, I am departing to spend more time with my cricket bat,' quipped the
48-year-old English expat.
Morgan spent a few moments thanking his staff and his
viewers - 'even those who implacably disagreed with me, or just found my funny
accent annoying' - before launching into a tirade against America's gun violence
epidemic.
CNN's ousted presenter insisted that guns belong on a
battlefield in the hands of professional soldiers 'fighting for democracy and
freedom' - not in the hands of civilians.
Morgan cited hair-raising figures of gun violence, which
claims on average 35 lives every day, in
addition to another 50 who kill themselves with firearms.
‘I assumed
that after 70 people were shot in a movie theatre, and then, just a few
months later, 20 first-graders were murdered with
an assault rifle in an elementary school, the absurd gun laws in this
country
would change,’ he said. ‘But nothing has happened
In his parting shot at the National Gun Association, Morgan
accused the powerful gun lobby of bullying U.S. lawmakers into 'cowardly'
silence.
Ousted: CNN announced Morgan's departure last month, bringing to a close his show's three-year run marked by lackluster ratings
‘My point is simple: more guns doesn’t mean less crime as
the NRA repeatedly says,’ Morgan continued. ‘It means more gun violence, death
and profits for the gun manufacturers.
‘And to those who claim my gun control campaigning has been
“anti-American”, the reverse is true. I am so pro-American that I want more of
you to stay alive.’
Quoting Winston Churchill, Morgan said that he has given the
issue of gun control 'a tremendous whack,' even as his many detractors called
him out for being too loud and rude when debating the subject.
Morgan concluded his final show by urging Americans to stand
together and cry 'enough!'
CNN announced last month that it was pulling the plug on Piers Morgan Live after three years due to lakcluster ratings.DM
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