On Monday’s America Live (12/3/12) the topic was Bob Costas’ now-infamous “anti-gun rant,” as host Megyn Kelly put it. Lars Larson, syndicated radio host, was introduced as a “proud gun owner” by Megyn Kelly, and then was asked his thoughts. He spent the rest of the segment comparing gun owners to victims of racism.

Larson rambled, 

Bob Costas, based on the standards of our society today and the standards of our industry, the one you and I work in, deserves to be fired for these remarks. He’s done the equivalent of suggesting that 300 million Americans be stripped of a right so important that the founders of our country put it in the Constitution.

So what he’s suggesting is we’d all be better off if somehow we can take that right away… If he had suggested stripping civil rights from any other group, large or small in this country - for instance Megyn, if today you said black Americans shouldn’t be allowed to vote, you’d probably be disciplined or fired tomorrow or later on this afternoon. Costas has done this, it’s an outrageous thing for him to do, and he’s absolutely wrong that guns do not enhance safety. And if you don’t believe me, ask the FBI. Their estimate is 750,000 times a year, 2,000 times a day, law-abiding citizens pull out a pistol and stop themselves from becoming a victim of crime. Costas didn’t know what he was talking about on the subject, he suggested stripping my civil rights and those of millions of other Americans, and that’s a firable offense.

Kirsten Powers argued,

...First of all, he shouldn’t be fired for expressing an opinion… I never heard a rant. I just heard a person giving his opinion, which I think is perfectly acceptable… Bob Costas has been around a long time. He’s very respected… I grew up with guns, I grew up in Alaska, my father was a gun collector, I shot guns growing up. The idea that you want to have some sort of reasonable limitations and controls on guns is not taking away anybody’s civil rights. And he’s correct that if a gun hadn’t been involved… the odds are higher that he would be alive.

Larson said, “When you say he shouldn’t be fired for casting an opinion? Ask Don Imus about that, he was fired for saying something incredibly stupid.”

And Kelly jumped in, “Well Hank Williams, remember Hank Williams made those comments? And he got fired from the NFL.” (She later corrected it to say he had been fired by ESPN.)

Powers asked, “Are we really comparing wanting gun laws to saying racist things?”

Yes, they were.