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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Politics
Clark Mindock

Piers Morgan says he is praying for America to 'wake the f**k up' to its gun problem

Piers Morgan has some pretty tough words for America and its president following the latest mass shooting in Texas.

As investigators continue to explore possible motives that led a gunman to enter a small church in rural Texas with a rifle and kill at least 26 people, Morgan has already assigned blame: Lax gun laws in the US. Noting that the UK and Australia had turned gun violence rates around by passing tough as nails legislation, Morgan said he hopes America will wake up to its bloody status quo.

“For God’s sake, America, wake the f**k up to the ghastly, deadly, unending, worsening reality of your sickening gun-crazed society and DO SOMETHING,” Morgan wrote in a column for the Daily Mail.

Morgan mocked President Donald Trump for his reaction to the shooting, in which he claimed that the shooting was not a “gun situation”, but instead a circumstance with roots in mental illness. Mr Trump, reacting to the events, had also praised a man who shot the Sutherland Springs, Texas shooter, saying it was a good thing that someone was there with a gun to stop the carnage from becoming “much worse”.

“Much worse? The shooter had already shot pretty much everyone in the church and had walked back outside when he was finally confronted,” Morgan wrote. “His dirty, snivelling, cowardly work was done. It was too late to stop.”

At least 26 people were killed, and at least 20 more injured, after a gunman in Texas entered the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs Sunday and opened fire. The shooter entered the building roughly 20 minutes after morning prayer service was scheduled to start at 11 a.m.

The shooting left virtually nobody inside the small white house of worship unscathed, officials have said. Among the dead are an 18-month-old, a five-year-old, the 14-year-old daughter of the pastor, and a 77-year old.

It was later determined that the shooter had purchased an assault-style rifle in April 2016, and had apparently lied on his background check forms. He had a history of domestic violence that may have barred him from purchasing a firearm. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has expressed confusion as to how the assailant was able to get the weapons given his history.

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