Legendary crooner Willie Nelson made a largely unnoticed visit with Piers Morgan and spoke about guns on November 26th, 2012. This was prior to the interviews Morgan conducted with Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America [Part 2] and Alex Jones, exchanges which both went viral and sparked a White House petition to deport Morgan as well as a renewed debate on gun control in the mass media.
Since Nelson has appeared regularly on the Alex Jones show after publicly casting doubt on the official government version regarding 9/11, it may be surprising that the nearly 80-year-old Texan agreed with CNN's Morgan that guns "are for military". Nelson has admirably spoken out on several political issues including taxes, drug legalization, corporate control of the food supply, wars, and 9/11. However, on the gun issue, Nelson is way off target. It's beyond ironic that Nelson can realize the government isn't trustworthy on many issues yet he wants that very same government, which he contends was involved in the mass murders of 9/11, to have a monopoly on firepower! In reality, the purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to protect our right to bear arms, which is a natural right and defense against tyranny. Guns aren't just for "hunting" and are certainly not only for the military.
Asked by Piers Morgan about President Obama and voting, Nelson said "I'm glad he got reelected, he's got a lot of things in his favor, the things that he has ran on. The women all believe in the things that hes talking about. Uh, the blacks, and the hispanics, and the women. And if you got those three things on your side you're gonna win."
Morgan then asks "You grew up around guns. What do you make of the gun debate in America?"
Nelson replies "Well you know I've hunted all my life and uh when I was young I had a bb gun... I had shotguns and rifles and all those things and I went dear hunting, bear hunting, and I have no problems at all with that. Uh, but ya know I don't know what I would do with a gun that would shoot a hundred times."
Morgan adds "I find it just staggering that you could just walk into stores in America, buy high powered assault weapons and on the internet get 6, 7000 rounds of ammuniation. You can blow up a movie theatre if you want to."
Nelson then shamefully calls for more gun regulation, opining "I dont- you know I don't agree with that. I think it should be more regulated I think. A lot of guns, there's no need for civlians to own those. Those are for military."
In December 2011, Nelson wrote "Occupy the food system" on Huffington Post, complaining about two government behemoths, U.S. Departments of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Justice. His column read in part, "Thanks to the Occupy Wall Street movement, there's a deeper understanding about the power that corporations wield over the great majority of us. It's not just in the financial sector, but in all facets of our lives..." Nelson added "Corporate control of our food system has led to the loss of millions of family farmers, destruction of our soil, pollution of our water and health epidemics of obesity and diabetes. We simply can't afford it. Our food system belongs in the hands of many family farmers, not under the control of a handful of corporations."
Wikipedia notes Nelson's trouble with the IRS:
"In 1990, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized most of Nelson's assets, claiming that he owed US$32,000,000. It was later discovered that his accountants, Price Waterhouse, had not been paying Nelson's taxes for years. In addition to the unpaid taxes, Nelson's situation was worsened by the weak investments he had made during the early 1980s.[66] His lawyer, Jay Goldberg, negotiated the sum to be lowered to US$16,000,000. Later, Nelson's attorney renegotiated a settlement with the IRS in which he paid US$6,000,000, although Nelson did not comply with the agreement.[67] Nelson released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories? as a double album, with all profits destined for the IRS. Many of his assets were auctioned and purchased by friends, who donated or rented his possessions to him for a nominal fee. He sued Price Waterhouse, contending that they put his money in illegal tax shelters.[68] The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount and Nelson cleared his debts by 1993.[66][69]"
Nelson is on the advisory board of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) and was arrested in November 2010 at an internal border checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, TX for possession of marijuana.
On February 4, 2008, Nelson spoke out on the Alex Jones show, contending that the Twin Towers Were Imploded On 9/11: "I saw those towers fall and I've seen an implosion in Las Vegas - there's too much similarities between the two, and I saw a building fall that didn't get hit by nothing... How naive are we - what do they think we'll go for? ... I saw one fall and it was just so symmetrical, I said wait a minute I just saw that last week at the casino in Las Vegas and you see these implosions all the time and the next one fell and I said hell there's another one - and they're trying to tell me that an airplane did it and I can't go along with that..." Nelson's remarks were widely reported, including on FOX News. He later discussed the issue on CNN with Larry King.
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