CNN television host Piers Morgan is a reliable and persistent advocate for more gun control laws. And as a consequence, he’s come under heavy fire from conservatives -- and been involved in his fair share of controversial exchanges on national television, too. No surprises there. But apparently this shocking story of a young boy and his two friends (all of whom were expelled from school for the alleged “crime” of playing with toy guns on their own property), is a bridge too far -- even for Mr. Morgan (via the Washington Times):
Internationally known anti-gun CNN television host Piers Morgan actually came out in strong defense of two Virginia teenage boys who were booted from school Tuesday for playing with toy guns in their front yard while waiting for the morning school bus.
“I’ve had quite a strong view of gun control,” he said at the tail end of an interview with the two boys, Khalid Caraballo and Aidan Clark, and two of their parents, Solangel Caraballo and Tim Clark, on Tuesday evening’s broadcast.
“But in this case,” Mr. Morgan said, “I think the school’s gone a bit far. This is a toy gun. When I was a chap, I used to play with toy guns.”
He then said that toy guns couldn’t “hurt anybody” and that the school had gone overboard by suspending the two teens.
“I think the school should reverse this,” Mr. Morgan said, “and I think you should go back to school and try and bash some common sense into this.”
The two teens are in the seventh grade. Khalid said he was in his front yard at the time he was playing with his Airsoft toy gun, which fires tiny, spring-loaded plastic pellets. His friend Aidan had joined him in the play, and while both boys admitted to Mr. Morgan they were wrong, they also explained the reason they were wrong was because their parents told them not to play with the guns.
One would hope even the most hysterical, gung-ho supporter of radical gun control laws would find this ruling absurd and unfair, no? These poor kids were playing on private property (their own, I might add), and yet somehow a Virginia school district still ruled that it was reasonable and just to expel them. Insane. Never mind that the ruling will probably negatively impact the rest of their lives; after all, how many colleges do you think would be willing to accept (or companies willing to hire) kids expelled from school for illegally possessing “firearms” in their youth? That blemish on their record certainly won't help. Of course, this is what concerns their parents most -- who are now begging the school district to reverse their decision.
Obviously Piers Morgan and pro-gun rights Americans don’t agree here simply because of politics. They agree here because the ruling by the school district was utterly stupid. How this could even happen in Virginia is beyond me. But the silver lining, I suppose, is that at least Piers Morgan and members of the NRA can now finally agree on something. Never thought I’d live to see the day. So, here's to hoping they can work together somehow and get these kids reinstated. It'd be worth it.