Today marks the return of Jon Stewart‘s Apple TV+ series The Problem With Jon Stewart, and in a clip from the newest episode, the host fully eviscerates a politician whose cherry-picked logic about gun rights doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
In a newly-released clip from the show, Stewart interviews Oklahoma Republican State Senator Nathan Dahm, who is responsible for filing a bill in the state which protects residents’ Second Amendment rights by nullifying red-flag laws, which allow gun violence restraining orders to be filed. The bill’s other clauses include a provision that disallows gun control education and advocacy in the state.
By Dahm’s logic, allowing more guns into the country will result in a safer nation, which Stewart is quick to question.
“Just for clarity’s sake, I’m not against the Second Amendment,” Stewart tells Dahm in the clip, but he adds, “You’re saying more guns makes us more safe?”
“Yes,” Dahm answers.
“So when we got 400 million guns in the country, we had an increase and gun deaths went up. So when exactly does this curve hit that takes it down? Would a billion guns do it?” Stewart asks.
“I believe that it’s the individual that is the problem,” Dahm eventually says.
“So your solution to that is, ‘Give them more guns?'” Stewart asks incredulously.
“I’m saying that because people are the problem, we’ve got to look at the problems those people are facing, and how do we address it?” Dahm says.
Stewart doesn’t back down, challenging his guest by asking, “But you’ve removed the ability of the state to do that. If you don’t have background checks and you don’t have registration and permitting, how do you know who has a problem in terms of the people who you’re giving a gun to? What you’re doing is, you’re bringing chaos to order.”
Later, Stewart brings up the fact that Dahm also wants to prohibit drag shows for children, citing the need to protect minors from seeing them. “The government does have a responsibility to protect children,” Dahm says.
“What’s the leading cause of death amongst children in this country?” Stewart asks Dahm. “And I’m gonna give you a hint, it’s not drag show readings to children. So what is it?”
“I’m presuming you’re gonna say it’s firearms,” Dahm smiles.
“No, I’m not gonna say it like it’s an opinion,” Stewart says, unsmiling. “That’s what it is, it’s firearms. More than cancer, more than car accidents. And what you’re telling me is, you don’t mind infringing on free speech to protect children from the amorphous thing that you think of, but when it comes to children that have died, you don’t give a flying fuck to stop that, because that shall not be infringed. That is hypocrisy at its highest order.”
The full interview is available to watch now on Apple TV+. Scroll up to see a clip from Stewart’s conversation in the video above.
New episodes of The Problem With Jon Stewart air on Fridays.