You have to hand it to Piers Morgan for inviting an rational, informed Constitutional conservative onto his program last night. Author and Breitbart Editor-at-Large Ben Shapiro came ready with the facts and prepared for Morgan's ad hominem and insults.
Within the first 15 seconds of the interview, it was clear that Shapiro wasn't going to let Morgan pin him in the corner as a "bad guy" who stands against victims of massacres like Sandy Hook for merely supporting his Constitutional rights.
Morgan opened with a question asking Ben, "Why am I off the rails [on the gun issue]?" referring to a tweet Ben has sent previously that said, "Piers Morgan...has been off the rails for days in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook."
Unfazed, Shapiro responded:
"Honestly, Piers, you've kind of been a bully on this issue. Because what you do — I've seen it repeatedly on your show — what you tend to do is you tend to demonize people who differ from you politically by standing on the graves of the children of Sandy Hook, saying they don’t seem to care enough about the dead kids. If they cared more about the dead kids they would agree with you on policy."
Outraged, exposed, and disarmed of his #1 tactic, Piers was left with nothing to say other than, "How dare you."
Shapiro didn't back down from that stance, telling Piers he had seen him do it repeatedly.
Shapiro laid his groundwork for the debate that was about to unfold by handing the CNN host a copy of the Constitution. And as Piers tried his typical arguments on Shapiro, the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution was the number one platform on which Ben would base his stance on guns.
One of the smartest plays to have when you enter a hostile conversation is to understand the opposing view on the subject your arguing, which is how Piers Morgan's "desire to stop the killings" was exposed as nothing other than demagoguery.
Ben challenged Morgan to explain why he just wanted to ban "assault" rifles when the guns most responsible for gun-related deaths are hand guns.
"Why don't you care about handguns in Chicago?" he asked Piers.
Morgan stated that he supports the rights of Americans to "defend themselves with a handgun or a pistol."
Shapiro pointed out that is not the purpose of American's rights to own guns. It's not simply self-protection or hunting, but to resist government tyranny.
"The basis for the Second Amendment is not really about self defense, and it's not about hunting," Shapiro said. "It's about resistance to government tyranny. That’s what the Founders said, and that’s what the right believes in this country."
"Which tyranny are you fearing, yourself?" Piers asked in a failing attempt to mock Ben.
"I fear the possibility of a tyranny rising in the country in the next fifty to a hundred years. Let me tell you something, Piers. The fact that my grandparents and great grandparents in Europe didn't fear that is why they're now ashes in Europe. So this kind of leftist revisionist history where there's never any fear of democracy going usurpatious or tyrannical, is just that. It’s fictitious," Shapiro sharply responded.
With subsequently no response to such a powerful statement, Piers emptily accused Shapiro of wanting to "do nothing" about mass shootings. Clearly not the case, as Ben responded by articulating his thoughts on what could be done to deter these types of mass shootings from occurring.
In a bizarre attempt to isolate Shapiro, Morgan revealed a letter urging support for an assault weapons ban co-signed by Ronald Reagan.
"One of the great right-wing presidents of our time agreed with me," Piers pompously stated before, again, asking Shapiro to justify "why an American needs an assault weapon?"
Apparently unaware that, unlike most on the left, people on right don't all stand on one blanket platform on every single issue, Shapiro informed Piers that he doesn't have to agree with Reagan on every single issue, and reiterated his point on the purpose of the 2nd Amendment and government tyranny.
Clearly frustrated this is when Piers went, as Ben described days earlier, "off the rails."
Piers accused conservatives of being the ones "deliberately" trying to make the gun control issue a "left wing attack on the American Constitution and the 2nd Amendment. That's exactly what you try to do — you come in, and you brandish your little book as if I don't know what's in there."
Yes, Piers Morgan did refer to the United States Constitution as "your little book" while trying to win a debate about one of it's most important Amendments.
And despite Shapiro's clear answer earlier in the debate, Piers continued to ask for an answer as to why Americans should be allowed to purchase these guns.
"Do you genuinely believe your own government is going to turn on you in a way that you require an AR-15 to challenge them? You really believe that will happen in modern-day America? Is that what you think?" Piers mockingly questioned.
"They may not turn on me. They may not turn on my children. But the fact is this, history is replete with democracies going tyrannical," Shapiro explained. "It has happened. It happened in France in the 19th century. It happened in Spain in the last century. It happened in Germany. It happened in Italy. It happened in Japan."
"Do you understand how absurd you sound?" Piers asked, again trying to belittle the point Shapiro was making.
Ben called Piers out for his bullying tactics, again.
"Here’s where you go into the bullying....For weeks now, you have been saying that anybody who disagrees with your position is absurd, idiotic, and doesn’t care about the dead kids in Sandy Hook. And then when I say that’s a bullying tactic, you turn around and say that I’m bullying you."
Great job, Ben.
If you're finding yourself in situations where people are questioning, attacking or merely confused over what's going on in the current gun debate, I urge you to watch the entire 13 minute interview.
Make sure to tweet Ben and tell him thanks for defending "our little book."
