Appearing as a guest on Saturday's CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow, CNN's Fareed Zakaria complained that Americans are willing to "invade two countries, spend hundreds of billions of dollars" to fight terrorism from "some threatening 'other'" who "looks, feels, sounds different," but "we won't ask for gun registration, we won't ask for background checks, we won't ask for simple, common sense stuff" in response to thousands of gun deaths.
He also suggested that suicide is a bigger problem in the U.S. than other countries because of the availability of guns, even though a number of advanced nations with strict gun laws -- like France and Japan -- have higher rates of suicide than the U.S.
Host Poppy Harlow raised the issue:
Finally, mass shootings. We've seen yet another in this country, an occurrence that is far, far too frequent. You've written about this. ... And you compared it to the U.S. reaction when we know something is terrorism. When we label something terrorism, we will not spare any cost -- billions upon billions of dollars, lives lost, wars fought -- but when it comes to mass shootings in this country, you argue, you see a lot of hand-wringing, political bickering, ultimately what?
Without explaining why the thousands killed in the 9/11 attacks should be excluded from the count, Zakaria began by downplaying the threat of terrorism in the U.S. Zakaria:
Well, if you look at the statistics I point to, you know, since 9/11, the number who've been killed, Americans who've been killed in acts that could be described as international terrorism, I think it was about 50, let's say it's gone up to about 75. This is in all the years since 9/11. In that much time, 150,000 Americans have been killed by guns in gun homicides and a much larger number in gun suicides.
Ignoring the fact that the U.S. spends billions of dollars a year on a criminal justice system that acts to curtail the amount of all types of crime in the country, he added: "And we do nothing. If anything, gun laws have become easier. It has become easier to access guns."
After bringing up the battle over whether people on the no-fly list should be barred from buying guns, without delving into the arguments against such a restriction, Zakaria insinuated that the desire to fight wars to combat terrorism is fueled more by the fact that those who commit terrorism come from an exotic culture that is seen as "the other." Zakaria:
So there's some sort of weird mismatch here where, when we think it's some threatening "other," particularly if it's other who looks, feels, sounds different, we're willing to do all kinds of things. We'll invade two countries, spend hundreds of billions of dollars, deprive ourselves of our own liberties with, you know, things like the Patriot Act, but we won't ask for gun registration, we won't ask for background checks, we won't ask for simple, common sense stuff.
Harlow reiterated Zakaria's suggestion that Americans are more tolerant of violence that comes from people who seem like themselves as she injected: "If it's one of us."
Zakaria then suggested that suicide is not so much of a problem in other countries as he concluded:
We are now at a point where, as you know, we have had more mass shootings than there are days in this year. And, again, as I point out, that doesn't count the number of suicides. We have this extraordinary number of suicides. Now, people try to kill themselves all over the world. We succeed because, again, we have this easy availability of guns.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Saturday, December 5, CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow:
7:40 p.m.
POPPY HARLOW: Finally, mass shootings. We've seen yet another in this country, an occurrence that is far, far too frequent. You've written about this. I spent part of the past week in San Bernardino, Calfiornia. And you compared it to the U.S. reaction when we know something is terrorism. When we label something terrorism, we will not spare any cost -- billions upon billions of dollars, lives lost, wars fought -- but when it comes to mass shootings in this country, you argue, you see a lot of hand-wringing, political bickering, ultimately what?FAREED ZAKARIA: Well, if you look at the statistics I point to, you know, since 9/11, the number who've been killed, Americans who've been killed in acts that could be described as international terrorism, I think it was about 50, let's say it's gone up to about 75. This is in all the years since 9/11. In that much time, 150,000 Americans have been killed by guns in gun homicides and a much larger number in gun suicides. And we do nothing. If anything, gun laws have become easier. It has become easier to access guns.
President Obama pointed out something even I was struck by. He pointed out that potential terrorists who are on no-fly lists, those same people can go into any gun store in America and buy whatever guns, you know, whatever semi-automatic weapons they want, and the government can't do anything about it.
So there's some sort of weird mismatch here where, when we think it's some threatening "other," particularly if it's other who looks, feels, sounds different, we're willing to do all kinds of things. We'll invade two countries, spend hundreds of billions of dollars, deprive ourselves of our own liberties with, you know, things like the Patriot Act, but we won't ask for gun registration, we won't ask for background checks, we won't ask for simple, common sense stuff.
HARLOW: If it's one of us.
ZAKARIA: And if there's some sense in which, I don't know, sometimes I just think we've gotten used to this where we think it's like traffic accidents. But it isn't. There are very simple, sensible procedures we can take, and, look, we have so much evidence from around the world that this stuff works. Australia used to have mass shootings. They put in place gun laws. They have not had a single mass shooting since then.
HARLOW: What did you think when you read the BBC headline, "just another day in America."
ZAKARIA: Sad, but true. We are now at a point where, as you know, we have had more mass shootings than there are days in this year. And, again, as I point out, that doesn't count the number of suicides. We have this extraordinary number of suicides. Now, people try to kill themselves all over the world. We succeed because, again, we have this easy availability of guns.
