Friday Changed Everything': MSNBC's Scarborough Goes on Epic Rant, Says He's Changing His 'Libertarian' Stance on Gun Control

In a Monday morning monologue following the tragedy in Newtown, CT, MSNBC host and former GOP congressman Joe Scarborough said he's having a change of heart regarding certain aspects of gun control.

"For me, just like for you, there is no escaping the horrors visited upon those students and teachers at Sandy Hook," he began, after noting that his own son has Asberger's Syndrome just like has been reported about the shooter, Adam Lanza.

"But every American must know, form this day forward, nothing can ever be the same again," he added. "...Let Newtown be the hour after which, in the words of the New Testament, we did all we could do to make all things do. Politicians can no longer be allowed to defend the status quo." And he made no qualms that he was talking about gun control, bringing up other recent shootings, "combat-style weapons," and "twisted readings of our Bill of Rights."

He did say that "no single action can solve the problem that can save our children," but he still let it be known where a lot of the blame lies:

“You know me: I am a conservative Republican who received the NRA’s highest ratings over four terms in Congress. I saw this debate over guns as a powerful symbolic struggle between individual rights and government control. ... But the symbols of that ideological struggle they've been shattered by the harvest zone from violent, mind-numbing video games and gruesome Hollywood movies that dangerously desensitize those who struggle with mental health challenges. And then add in military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines to that equation and tragedy can never be too far behind. ... You know there is now easy ideological way forward. If it were only that simple as to blame Hollywood, or the NRA, or insufficient funding for mental health, then our task would be completed in no time. But I come to you this morning with a heavy heart and no easy answers. Still, I’ve spent the past few days grasping for solutions and struggling for answers — while daring to question my own long-held belief on these subjects.”

Then, after explaining that he once held and defended the "libertarian" view on guns, he's changing:

I knew that day that the ideologies of my past career were no longer relevant to the future that I want, that I demand for my children. Friday changed everything. It must change everything. We all must begin anew and demand that Washington’s old way of doing business is no longer acceptable. Entertainment moguls don’t have an absolute right to glorify murder while spreading mayhem in young minds across America. And our Bill of Rights does not guarantee gun manufacturers the absolute right to sell military-style, high-caliber, semi-automatic combat assault rifles with high-capacity magazines to whoever the hell they want. It is time for Congress to put children before deadly dogmas.

"For the sake of my four children and yours, I choose live and I choose change. It's time to turn over the tables inside the temple," he concluded.

You can listen to him explain it all, below:

(H/T: Mediaite)