by John Boch
The BBC London called me Sunday afternoon as I was taking a respite from teaching one of GSL Defense Training’s Essential Carry classes in Burlington, Iowa. Mr. Wright was teaching the judicious use of deadly force and I had snuck off to relax when the phone rings. Call it Divine intervention that I took the call as 99% of the time, I don’t take calls on class days except immediate before class starts.
It was the BBC London. They were asking me to appear live on BBC Radio’s “5 live Hit List” program a short while later.
Here’s a description of the “Hit List” show from the BBC website. And no, it’s not that kind of “hit list”:
Emma Barnett presents 5 live’s rundown of the top 40 news, politics, sport and showbiz stories of the week that are making the biggest impact across social media and online. The chart is compiled by COSMOS (Collaborative Online Social Media Observatory), a group of computer and social scientists from some of Britain’s leading Universities.
Think of it as “Inside Edition” on the radio.
Their most effective carrot to get me to duck out from teaching part of my “Introduction to Defensive Shooting” lecture and leaving it in the hands of one of my fellow instructors? It was an opportunity to serve as a rebuttal for America’s least favorite Brit, Piers Morgan. He was vomiting all sorts of half-truths about gun ownership in America as he is one to do and I had a chance to deliver an unedited rebuttal. LIVE.
It’s always a good day when you can verbally slap around such an obnoxious gun-hating bloke.
It went off pretty well.
You can hear the show by clicking here. It will be available for about about four more weeks from today. Pro-tip: Skip to 2:21:00 for the “Number 1” story about the mass murder in Charleston, South Carolina and my response. Skip to 2:27:00 if you want to skip hearing Piers Morgan’s voice.
Transcription:
Piers Morgan was on the phone with Emma in a pre-recorded interview, spewing all sorts of half-truths and deception about gun rights prior to the interview, casting America as a terribly unsafe place…
Emma: Well listening to that was John Boch. John is the Executive Director of Guns Save Lives (sic), a civil rights organization which strongly believes in the right to defend one’s self through the use of firearms.
JB: Good evening.
Emma: What is your response then to people like Piers Morgan and those who encourage America to strengthen gun laws urgently?
JB: Well, we’re obviously opposed to that because we know that gun control laws are racist, classist and sexist and we don’t support those things. The murders in America are down 50% in the last twenty years and gun ownership in America has skyrocketed, particularly since Barack Obama took office. I attribute the fact that more Americans now own guns to the lessening rate of crime in America, including homicides. Piers Morgan loves living in American because it’s safe. The great majority of America is very safe—
Emma: But John, he just said he has a young family and he is worried that next time it will be him. He doesn’t sound like it’s very safe and the statistics don’t lie. You might say certain things are down, but the ownership being up, and the number people being hit by gunfire – over 100,000 people a year. It’s shocking, isn’t it?
JB: Many of those people hit by gunfire are criminals being shot by criminals. Look at Chicago. The great majority of the victims of this violence are criminals themselves – engaging in criminal enterprises. By and large though, the great majority of America is a very safe place to live and that’s why Piers Morgan has his family in America because it’s a safe place to live. And he has the benefit of knowing that he can use self-defense to protect his family from violent attack – something – a right that he does not enjoy if he was living in Great Britain.
Emma: He lives in American because because he had a job there and now he’s his child in school… The point is that he doesn’t bear arms. That would not be something he would do. It wasn’t something he did in Britain. …How would you feel if your child was killed in a mass shooting?
JB: I’d be terribly saddened by it, of course, but those things are terribly unlikely and very rare in the great scheme of things. Those people who died in Charleston, South Carolina… The church has forgiven the young man who did it. Frankly, those people who died are just nine more reasons that gun free zones don’t work. Because criminals are criminals and they ignore the law.
We’ll be writing about Piers Morgan’s fatally flawed assertions later in the day as time allows.
John, you knocked that out of the park so far it crossed the “pond”and hit Big Ben!
John, your response was professional and on point. Good job!
Your handling of that last (loaded) question was superb.
Nicely done, John. Bravo!
You had a great lecture from when I took the class, but it was a good sacrifice to talk live on the BBC!
John did a great job! I was lucky enough to be able to listen in to the interview. In the short time that John had to prepare, he had pages of notes ready to go since he had no clue what questions were going to be asked.
There are some that would dismiss GSL and the work that we do since we are just some “small, local, Illinois, gun nut group” However, we have gotten international coverage on many levels for different reasons. And until recently, all done by volunteers!
So thank John, Bear, Tammy, Larry, and the rest of the BOD for what you do. It’s a group effort.
Yes thank you—– this is who we are —– this is what we do.—– this is why iam a member.—– this is why you should join us if you haven’t already. It’s exciting to be on a winning TEAM
Is it time to play the Benny Hill theme song and have Piers Morgan face super imposed on the short bald guy ?