The mass-shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas that left at least 59 dead, and more than 500 injured, was “an act of pure evil” as President Donald Trump put it. Yet, in spite of the deadly incident, the US government believes it is “too soon” to speak about gun laws, as does the National Rifle Association (NRA). And, like much of the world, British news anchor Piers Morgan was angry.
“What can possibly justify anyone being able to buy 42 weapons, many of which were high-powered, semi-automatic rifles. How can you justify that?” he furiously asked Dan Roberts, a pro-gun campaigner and member of the NRA from North Carolina on his show, Good Morning Britain, on Tuesday.
When Roberts defended the gun laws, saying that the gun used by manic shooter Stephen Paddock, from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel was an AR-15, one of the least powerful semi-fire rifles on the market in the US, it enraged Morgan even further:
“Then there is an even bigger problem, isn’t there? If the semi-automatic AR-15 this guy used to shoot 600 people in a few minutes is the least high powered, then the problem’s even bigger than we think.”
Roberts then made the regretful, and appalling, decision of laughing when Morgan whipped out two Kinder Surprise eggs. “Don’t laugh Dan, it’s not funny. Six hundred people got shot!” responded Morgan. He went on to explain that the Kinder Surprise eggs were banned in the US because the toys were considered hazardous to children. Morgan even posted a tweet along the same lines, writing, “Why does America view a chocolate egg as more dangerous than a semi-automatic rifle?”
When Morgan asked Roberts what the NRA was going to do about their “stupid” and “insane” gun laws after the Vegas shooting, he nonchalantly responded, “We’re not going to do much of anything, hopefully...Because I don’t believe in restricting the rights of hundreds of millions of people because of the acts of a mad man.” At one point in the video, Roberts laughed again when he was called out for being an “NRA soldier” by another guest.
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