Gun Control Argument With Guardian Journalist Gets Heated

7 November 2017, 10:16

Richard Wolffe had a perfect response to the author of "More Guns, Less Crime" when he suggested just that.

Three of the five worst mass shootings in US history have taken place in the last 17 months. In the last 35 days 58 people were gunned down at a music concert in Las Vegas and then, on Sunday, 26 were killed in a Texas church.

Guardian US columnist Richard Wolffe was debating gun control with John R Lott Jr, author of The War on Guns; More Guns, Less Crime, on Ian Collin's LBC show.

Discussion became heated when Lott Jr made exactly that point - the proliferation of guns reduces crime. He cited an armed citizen pursuing the Texas shooter, as well as saying that a gunshot wound inflicted by the citizen was what killed the shooter.

He concluded: "I wish there was somebody in the church that had a gun."

Richard Wolffe told Lott Jr: "You're entitled to your own set of opinions, not your own set of facts.

"According to the local sheriff, the gunman ended his own life by his own gun. It's a nice fabrication, it might help his argument, but it isn't actually based on what law enforcement is saying.

"In any case, 26 people had already lost their lives.

"This is in a state with some of the most relaxed gun laws in the country, remember this is a shooter who was denied a state gun license, but it was perfectly legal under Texas state law for him to still buy a gun."

Watch the discussion at the top of this page.