Jon Stewart Brandishes Plastic Rifle, Takes On NRA

The Daily Show returned to the air this week after a break for the holidays, and Jon Stewart jumped right in to the current debate on gun control by brandishing a plastic rifle and yelling that “It is the time to talk about guns.”

The comedic host kicked off last night’s episode with a segment called “Scapegoat Hunter,” in which he called out the National Rifle Association for blaming the recent rise in gun-related crimes to — well, anything but guns.

The Daily Show aired a montage of typical anti-gun control advocates presenting their views on various media outlets. When the montage ended, Stewart was brandishing a gun. Stewart’s gun was plastic, so he should avoid the police attention David Gregory is getting.

“I’m not sure what happened,” said Stewart of the gun in his hands, “I blacked out in the middle of that, and woke up with an AK in my hand…I don’t know…or whatever this is. I’m sure I’ll get letters about what this really is, which is plastic, is what it really is.”

While holding the plastic gun in his hands, the host raged against the NRA, saying, “We can blame movies, or video games, or the mentally ill, or God. And it’s a complex problem, and all solutions have to be on the table.” He finally bellowed, “But it is time we talk about guns.”

Stewart noted, after showing footage of Alex Jones yelling at Piers Morgan, that a “significant problem is that so many people are bracing for an imaginary future instead of focusing on a very troubling present.”

“Their paranoid fear of a possible dystopic future prevents us from addressing our actual dystopic present,” he said of extreme gun advocates.

“We can’t even begin to address 30,000 gun deaths that are actually, in reality, happening in this country every year – because a few of us must remain vigilant against the rise of Imaginary Hitler.”

What do you think of Stewart’s opinion of the NRA?