Former CNN host Piers Morgan argued in a new column published Monday that Congress will not pass and President Donald Trump will not sign gun-control legislation in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting because the shooter was an "old white guy with guns" rather than a "Muslim terrorist."
Morgan, now a co-host of "Good Morning Britain," wrote a piece for the Daily Mail titled, "If a Muslim terrorist had committed this Vegas atrocity we'd have a slew of new laws in a heartbeat. But because it's an old white guy with guns NOTHING [sic] will happen."
The column was a response to the Las Vegas shooting on Sunday night, when gunman Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on a country music concert from his 32nd-floor room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, killing at least 59 people and injuring 527 others. According to Paddock's brother, he was an average man with no military background and was "not an avid gun guy at all."
In his piece, Morgan called for new gun-control laws and argued that if the shooter had been a Muslim, the federal government would immediately pass laws to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.
"If this shooter had been a Muslim, President Trump would have instantly branded it a terror attack, used it to justify his travel ban, and almost certainly expanded that ban," Morgan wrote. "Draconian new laws would also have been immediately introduced to stop it happening again."
"He'd have done everything in his power to show us what a big, tough guy he is when it comes to protecting Americans," Morgan continued. "But instead, it's a nutty white guy with murder on his mind for reasons we may never know. So Trump will put his fingers in his ears and pretend it never happened so he doesn't upset his [National Rifle Association] paymasters."
Morgan appeared to forget about the Orlando Pulse night club mass shooting last year, when a gunman killed 49 people and injured 58 others. The shooter was Omar Mateen, a Muslim who was motivated by a Pentagon drone strike in Iraq a month before the shooting. Mateen identified himself as an "Islamic solider" and pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before he carried out the attack. The Pulse shooting was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since the Sept. 11 attacks and was the deadliest mass shooting in the country's history until Sunday's Las Vegas massacre.
Morgan also did not mention the 2015 shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., where Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik opened fire on Farook's co-workers, killing 14 people and wounding 22 others. The investigation after the shooting uncovered that Farook and his wife pledged allegiance to ISIS on social media.
After both shootings, which occurred when former President Barack Obama was in office, Congress did not pass any new gun-control measures.
Social media was quick to remind Morgan about the two shootings that were committed by Muslims.
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/915208125858402304
Yes this explains all the successful gun control measures enacted after mass shootings by Muslims. https://t.co/uInkVWzdIa
— Chris Selley (@cselley) October 2, 2017
https://twitter.com/RobProvince/status/914964997205381121
Because I can't defend my liberty or safety with a kinder egg. https://t.co/SKQe146bfl
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/915230217911902208
Morgan criticized Obama for not acting on gun-control legislation in the aftermath of several shootings while he was in office, but did not reference any specific attacks.
"This was the same President Obama who, when he was in office, wept a lot, hugged myriad victims, made emotion-charged speeches, and kept saying he would do something about guns," Morgan wrote. "But he did precisely zilch. Obama blamed a hostile obstructive Congress but the truth is he never prioritized gun control."