BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today offered a “21-gun salute” to Piers Morgan, who acknowledged that his gun control extremism is at least partially responsible for his devastating ratings and the looming cancellation of his evening program on CNN.

“We’re offering a 21-gun salute to Piers Morgan for admitting that his push for gun control killed his ratings and his show,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb.

Morgan, in an interview with the New York Times about his impending departure, acknowledged, “Look, I am a British guy debating American cultural issues, including guns, which has been very polarizing, and there is no doubt that there are many in the audience who are tired of me banging on about it.”

Gottlieb said this was not simply a case of Morgan, a British citizen, being the proverbial “fish out of water.”

“He’s been more like a bull in a china shop when it comes to having a rational, reasonable discussion about firearms civil rights in the United States,” said Gottlieb, who had appeared last October on Morgan’s program for a feisty, combative debate. “The guy just can’t control his nasty temperament toward the right to keep and bear arms. Maybe he holds a grudge about Lexington and Concord.

“He made a habit of demonizing and insulting American gun owners, including me when I appeared on his show, and dismissing our Second Amendment,” he continued. “When you are a guest in another country, you really shouldn’t spit on their constitutional rights or their traditions, but he seemed to go out of his way to do exactly that.

“One doesn’t endear himself to people by sneering at them, or their freedoms,” Gottlieb said. “Mr. Morgan is finally following our suggestion that he pull up stakes at CNN. If he subsequently decides to head back to Great Britain, he should take the short cut.”