Piers Morgan Criticises US Gun Laws On Last CNN Show

Piers Morgan ended his three year run on his CNN talk show Piers Morgan Live on Friday (28th March) with a plea to the US government to change "the absurd gun laws".Morgan's show was cancelled following low ratings and possibly his involvement in the phone hacking scandal, nevertheless he left the show on a somewhat controversial note.

Morgan, ever controversial, used his final show as an opportunity to comment on the social and political implications of gun laws in the US. He referenced recent tragedies in which guns were used to kill large numbers of people which prompted criticism of gun laws in the US and worldwide.

Morgan has spent a number of years in the states over the past decade and described gun violence, such as that displayed in the Connecticut Sandy Hook massacre and the Colorado Aurora Cinema, as "a disease that infects every aspect of American life". Referencing these attacks Morgan said, as The Independent reports: "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, that the absurd gun laws in this country would change, but nothing has happened".

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48-year-old Morgan continued by criticising the government for seeming to quail when faced with pressure from the NRA. He said: "The gun lobby in America, led by the NRA, has bullied this nation's politicians into cowardly silence," once more referencing the Sandy Hook massacre.

Morgan finished his plea to the "decent, hardworking thoroughly dependable people" of the US by reminding them of their responsibility in challenging the gun lobby. He emphasised how "more guns" simply means, contrary to what the gun lobby would have the public believe, "more gun violence, more death and more profits for the gun manufacturers." Morgan's last comment urged Americans to make a stand, proclaiming "it's down to you. It is your country. These are your gun laws. And the senseless slaughter will only end when enough Americans stand together and cry, 'Enough!' I look forward to that day."

Morgan is not the only famous face to have directly - or indirectly - challenged the NRA. Indeed, so much support was rallied against the gun lobby that they felt obliged in 2013 to label a number of famous faces "anti-gun," as The Huffington Post reports. Amongst a whole host of celebrities listed on the NRA website (the list has since been deleted) Meryl Streep, Madonna, Alec Baldwin, Shania Twain and Ellen Degeneres have all allegedly "officially endorsed anti-gun positions."

Meryl Streep was listed by the NRA as "anti-gun".