Cohen comments on gun history and culture in America live on BBC TV

On 17 December 2012, CMCI’s own Dr Harvey G Cohen appeared on “The Hub,” a daily program on BBC World News TV, speaking about American gun culture and history in the wake of the shocking Newtown school massacre which claimed the lives of 27, mostly very young children.  Cohen pointed out that while the 1789 U. S. Bill of Rights includes “the right to bear arms,” the definition of that term was quite different during that period, when it took at least a minute to reload after a single shot, while the perpetrator of the Newtown massacre could reload another bullet into his chamber in less than one second thanks to semi-automatic weapon technology.  He suggested that the U.S. might want to adopt not a total ban on guns, but a ban on assault weapons, which were fashioned solely to kill numerous people quickly and have little if any justified use in civilian non-military life.  Such a ban signed into law in Australia completely stopped the country’s rising incidence of mass killings after being enacted in 1996.    “The American pro-gun spokesperson
preceding me on the program suggested having educators, including college lecturers, carry concealed weapons to protect students and classrooms, but I have confidence that CMCI will never enact such an insane policy at any time in the future,” commented Cohen after his appearance on the show.  BBC World News TV is broadcast in over 100 countries worldwide and online, but cannot be seen in the UK as it is mandated for non-UK distribution.

Advertisement