Jon Stewart continues his coverage of the gun control controversy last night by first focusing on the NRA attack ad against President Obama. Hours before President Obama announced his executive actions to prevent gun violence the NRA released an ad which called Obama an “elitist” and a “hypocrite” for using armed guards to protect his children.
Stewart first questioned the reasoning of the ad, noting that President Obama and his children are not like everyone else, “And why does he get to veto bills and command an army, when we don’t?”
Stewart then questions whether the NRA is really helping their cause or the other side with these kind of extreme ads,
“I swear to you, if I didn’t know any better, and I’m not a big conspiracy guy, 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 responsible gun owners.”
However, most of Stewart’s angst was directed at the lack of a permanent director for Department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). The ATF has not had a permanent director for six years because the Senate will not confirm any of the nominees. The current acting-director has another full-time job, a scenario that Stewart seriously questions,
“You’re telling me that the guy who is the acting director of the ATF has another full-time job? That regulating alcohol, and tobacco, and firearms is his side gig? He’s just moonlighting trying to pick up some extra income?”
Stewart’s real shocker comes at the end when he investigates why the ATF does not have a permanent director. The law which grants the Senate the right to block ATF nominees was inserted into the Patriot Act by Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) who curiously accepted the NRA’s coveted “Defender of Freedom Award” that very same year.
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