William Shatner as "Mister Bigshot"

Shatner on Gun Control?

A frightening concept.

Two weeks ago, in a column titled "Slaughter of the goblins" I noted that "Kim ... has an interesting article". The crown jewel was a video (linked under the text noted above) which was presented as a pre-season tickler to a television show.

The video is controversial, but tantalizing in its outre-ness.

Unfortunately, it is no longer available in the link provided.

I hate broken links, or any variation thereof. So, to correct the situation I here present a bowdlerized version of the video.


Note that this is not exactly the same as the original version. Some words have been excised from the first few frames of the video, no no ill effect. What is bad is that Shatner's last line is also missing:

"Sweet Land of Liberty Valence!"

Since the video is not being touted, entirely out of context, as "Captain Kirk 'Shatner' on Gun Control" I've decided top add a few other videos from You Tube which are also touted as "... on gun control". Some of these are more interesting than others, so you may decide not to view them all.

First is John Stoessel listing the tenth of his Top Ten Myths: "The Myth of Gun Control":

Some people are strongly for gun-control. An easy example of this is Rosie McDonnell, who famously said "anyone who has a gun should go to jail".

Imagine my surprise when I discover that Rosie has since recanted that statement, sayingIt was the day after [the] Columbine [massacre]", and she was reacting "emotionally". Specifically she was not "at the top of [her game]" when she said that. Here's the video of her interview with Bill O'Reilly where she publically recanted that position. A little bit. (It's a five minute interview, in 2002 retrospect, so bear with me here. The pertinent statements are in the first 1:30 minutes.)



We have also heard a lot about the contentious May 19, 1999, interview with Tom Selleck, [8 minutes] where she is said to have 'ranted' or 'lit into him' [in an 8 minute interview].

Yes, she was rude and opinionated. Yes, she often interrupted Selleck before he could respond to her assertions. But her interview technique was not as bad as I had understood. Specifically, she did not then take the opportunity to say anything like she had been quoted before ("any who has a gun should go to jail", which incidentally I haven't yet managed to find a video.)

Don't get me wrong, I am no fan of Rosie. Still, after I dis a minimal amount of research I discovered that I was unable to substantiate the impression I had received about both her "go to thail" comment and the interview with Tom Selleck ... in which she came off as an ass, indubitably, but it was not as bad as I had expected.

Selleck, by the way, did manage to present himself as the voice of reason in the interview.