CBS Touts Piers Morgan's Gun Control 'Crusade'; Morgan Boosts 'Really Draconian' Gun Bans

On 10 January 2013, CBS This Morning trumpeted Piers Morgan's "crusade against gun violence in America", and gave the CNN host four and half minutes to spout his pro-gun control views unopposed. Morgan endorsed implementing something akin to the "really draconian" firearms regulations that the U.K. implemented after the 1996 Dunblane massacre.

Despite denying that he wanted to take guns away from Americans, the British anchor repeatedly called for complete bans on "assault weapons" and handguns, along with high-capacity magazines:

PIERS MORGAN: What [gun rights supporters] try and do, is...frame anybody who wants more gun control as...attacking the Second Amendment, wanting to take all guns....That's not what this is about. I don't want to take an American's right away to defend him or herself in their home to defend their family. That's a sacred right to Americans, and I understand that and respect it.  What I do want to do is...get these assault weapons off the streets....These are killing machines. These are the nearest thing to a M-16 machine gun that you can have, and you have civilians arming themselves...with 100-bullet magazines, capable of mass murder in a minute. It's senseless....

1996 – in Dunblane in Scotland – 15, 16 five-year-old children were murdered by a gunman in their classroom. It was an exact parallel with Sandy Hook. Britain rose up in horror. It wasn't a political issue at all. That's why I'm amazed that it is here. Left and right came together, the public came together, and really draconian gun laws were brought in: a complete national ban on handguns, assault rifles, assault weapons. They were removed from the streets. Since then....Britain has, on average, between 30 and 45 – 50 gun murders a year ever since. America, in the same period every year, 11 to 12,000 people are murdered; 18,000 take their lives with guns; and 100,000 Americans are hit by gunfire every year. This is like the Wild West...