Jon Stewart: NRA Is Punking Us

'Daily Show' host thinks ad is a Joaquin Phoenix-style hoax
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 17, 2013 10:31 AM CST

Jon Stewart took one look at yesterday's NRA ad calling President Obama a hypocrite over armed guards at his daughters' school, and thought, "If I didn't know any better, after seeing that ad, I would think the NRA is either an elaborate, avant garde, Joaquin Phoenix-style joke or a false flag operation run by Michael Moore in an attempt to discredit gun owners."

"All right, the conversation is started and we're off to a deplorable start," Stewart snarked on yesterday's Daily Show. From there, the host looked at why the government, especially the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, doesn't better enforce the nearly 20,000 gun laws already on the books, noting that the Senate has not confirmed a new ATF director in six years (and the interim director works part time). Even though the ATF director is not a Cabinet-level position, Wisconsin Sen. James Sensenbrenner stuck that provision into the Patriot Act in 2006—the same year he won the NRA's Defender of Freedom Award. "Coincidence!," exclaimed Stewart. (More Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X