CNN Atlanta gay Don Lemon — racist to some, gladiator-loving and non-chub chasing news guy to others — incensed his critics on Monday after forcefully arguing for gun control during live broadcasts. Twice.
Unbowed by the torrent of criticism unleashed after his morning rant (bottom video), Lemon took to Brooke Baldwin’s show on Monday afternoon and didn’t back down (top video). Lemon, a prolific Twitter user, has been quiet on the social media outlet since late Sunday. But then again, he’s been dispatched to Connecticut to cover the school shooting.
And that’s when Lemon was moved to deliver his takedown on people who want to avoid discussions of gun control measures in the wake of Friday’s horrific shooting. His response came after comments from CNN contributor Will Cain, who argued that factors other than gun control should be examined, such as mental health issues.
Lemon’s monologue lasted about a minute:
For the past three days, I have been on the verge of tears every second and most of the people here have been crying 24 hours straight. Yeah – yes, we need to address mental health, but mental health in this particular issue, let’s not get it twisted, is a secondary issue. If someone who has a mental issue did not have access to guns that should only be available in war zones, we would not be dealing with this.
Who needs an armor-piercing bullet to go hunting? Who needs an assault rifle to go hunting? You can’t even use the prey that you kill with an assault rifle if you indeed do it. No one needs an assault rifle to go out and shoot a deer. No one needs an assault rifle that’s capable of shooting 10, 20, 30 rounds off at the same time to shoot a duck, or to shoot quail. It does not make sense. Our first – the first thing that we need to do – and according to everyone that is here, even gun enthusiasts, is talk about what we’re doing with assault rifles, why should guns that should only be available in war zones, why are they available to people who are mentally healthy and people who are not mentally healthy. That’s the issue that we need to deal with.
So to say that gun violence is down does not make sense, and to me is insulting to everyone who lost a loved one here and is dealing with that. It doesn’t matter if gun violence is down, 26 children – 20 children are dead here, and six adults are dead, and the mother of a person who’s not mentally up – who’s mentally challenged in some way is – she’s dead. So to say that gun violence is down and we need to talk about mental health – yes, mental health is a secondary issue. We need to get guns and bullets and automatic weapons off the streets. They should only be available to police officers and to hunt al Qaeda and the Taliban and not hunt elementary school children.
Critics immediately blasted Lemon on Twitter. A sampling:
[email protected]donlemoncnn cracks me up: Who cares if there’s less gun violence!I have an agenda, dammit! Safety last! Left-wing agenda first!
— John Nolte(@NolteNC) December 17, 2012
CNN’s Don Lemon: ‘It Doesn’t Matter that Gun Violence is Down’ ow.ly/2tNgK9
— irritatedwoman™ (@irritatedwoman) December 17, 2012
@donlemoncnn Please report, don’t lecture. Will you question your parent company & the violent products it puts out as entertainment?
— George Brown (@georgebrownmem) December 17, 2012
Completely by accident, CNN “journalist” Don Lemon just let the left-wing media cat out of the bag during a… fb.me/2elVdBZva
— Jason Roberts (@doatactical) December 17, 2012
But Lemon’s testimony drew accolades, too.
@donlemoncnn I couldn’t agree w/you more. Your comments about feeling safe trumping ownership are spot on. about to post something similar.
— Craig Gorkiewicz (@craigfilms) December 17, 2012
Pleased with @cnn coverage of the tragedy . Multiple hosts aren’t mincing words about need for #GunControlNow @donlemoncnn
— laurashezbar (@LauraShezBar) December 17, 2012
@donlemoncnn has been on fire, insisting that gun control be central to his interviews. Go Don: I admire your guts!
— Mark Ragan (@MarkRaganCEO) December 17, 2012
Can’t we all just get a laugh out of Lemon’s vibrators?
