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Piers Morgan calls the GOA Executive Director’s claim an “absolute lie.” Is it?
TheEndRun.com
January 10, 2013
Last night, Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America appeared on Piers Morgan Tonight for a debate with the host. Morgan is a British "citizen" ("subject"?) who has recently been using his platform on CNN to promote the idea that the U.S. Constitution is "inherently flawed" and to advocate stricter, more British-style gun control policies in the U.S. This was Pratt's second appearance on the show in the past month, having previously appeared in the wake of the Sandy Hook event.
At one point in the exchange (around 11:18 in this video), Morgan says that he "actually dug out the official figures... the homicide figures from guns in England and Wales by comparison to the United States of America going back to 2003," and proceeds to read off numbers showing that the U.S. has a much higher gun murder rate. Morgan then claims that the lower numbers in England and Wales are "the result" of the "responsible action" taken in "respon[se]" to the 1996 school shooting in Dunblane, Scottland -- namely a "handgun and assault weapon ban."
To begin with, More Guns, Less Crime author John Lott has recently explained that this is a misleading representation of the statistics: Yes, the gun murder rate is relatively low in England and Wales, but it was already low before the ban, and the stats do not show a decrease in murders committed with guns (nor overall murders) since the ban was instituted, as Morgan implies. "There is a difference between levels and changes," he notes. Meanwhile, even The Telegraph reported in 2009 that gun crime had "almost doubled in the last decade."
But let's look at the discussion that ensued after Morgan's remarks. (Despite the fact that Morgan had just spoken for 1 minute and 39 seconds straight, he interrupts Pratt after only 18 seconds.)
PRATT: Well first of all, according to your investigator of your constabulary, the data that you’re using for the murder rate in England is a sham. There’s a monumental misreporting of what constitutes murder. If three people are murdered, it’s likely to be counted as one event. And...
MORGAN: What an absolute, absolute LIE! That is an ABSOLUTE–
PRATT: Well, that’s what you say when you don’t know what you’re talking about.
MORGAN: No, you see, Mr. Pratt. No, Mr Pratt. Let me tell you, it doesn’t take very long...
PRATT: But I was just looking at a 2000 report. And these are your own government’s data.
MORGAN: Mr. Pratt, it doesn’t take very long to count 50 gun murders
As it turns out, what Pratt said does not appear to have been a "lie" at all, let alone an "absolute, absolute LIE!" Quite the opposite.
TheEndRun.com
January 10, 2013
Last night, Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America appeared on Piers Morgan Tonight for a debate with the host. Morgan is a British "citizen" ("subject"?) who has recently been using his platform on CNN to promote the idea that the U.S. Constitution is "inherently flawed" and to advocate stricter, more British-style gun control policies in the U.S. This was Pratt's second appearance on the show in the past month, having previously appeared in the wake of the Sandy Hook event.
At one point in the exchange (around 11:18 in this video), Morgan says that he "actually dug out the official figures... the homicide figures from guns in England and Wales by comparison to the United States of America going back to 2003," and proceeds to read off numbers showing that the U.S. has a much higher gun murder rate. Morgan then claims that the lower numbers in England and Wales are "the result" of the "responsible action" taken in "respon[se]" to the 1996 school shooting in Dunblane, Scottland -- namely a "handgun and assault weapon ban."
To begin with, More Guns, Less Crime author John Lott has recently explained that this is a misleading representation of the statistics: Yes, the gun murder rate is relatively low in England and Wales, but it was already low before the ban, and the stats do not show a decrease in murders committed with guns (nor overall murders) since the ban was instituted, as Morgan implies. "There is a difference between levels and changes," he notes. Meanwhile, even The Telegraph reported in 2009 that gun crime had "almost doubled in the last decade."
But let's look at the discussion that ensued after Morgan's remarks. (Despite the fact that Morgan had just spoken for 1 minute and 39 seconds straight, he interrupts Pratt after only 18 seconds.)
PRATT: Well first of all, according to your investigator of your constabulary, the data that you’re using for the murder rate in England is a sham. There’s a monumental misreporting of what constitutes murder. If three people are murdered, it’s likely to be counted as one event. And...
MORGAN: What an absolute, absolute LIE! That is an ABSOLUTE–
PRATT: Well, that’s what you say when you don’t know what you’re talking about.
MORGAN: No, you see, Mr. Pratt. No, Mr Pratt. Let me tell you, it doesn’t take very long...
PRATT: But I was just looking at a 2000 report. And these are your own government’s data.
MORGAN: Mr. Pratt, it doesn’t take very long to count 50 gun murders
As it turns out, what Pratt said does not appear to have been a "lie" at all, let alone an "absolute, absolute LIE!" Quite the opposite.
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