“We shouldn’t have to plead with our government to do something after a tragedy. And yet here we are.”
In the aftermath of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Seth Meyers pointed out Wednesday night that “the only gun bills the Republicans have taken up recently would actually loosen gun laws.” He was speaking about a bill that would ease restrictions on gun silencers that is coincidentally being debated this week.
“What could possibly be the explanation for a bill like this?” he asked. As the Late Night host explained, supporters have argued that the silencers could be necessary to reduce hearing loss for gun owners. “All this time, I thought Congress and the gun lobby were ignoring our pleas for reasonable gun-safety regulations. But it turns out, they just can’t hear us.”
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With that, he pulled out a megaphone and told them, “We need reasonable gun-safety regulations!”
In the words of one Republican lawmaker who supports the bill, it is “polite” to use a silencer. “In Europe, it’s considered to be neighborly to use a suppressed weapon to dampen that sound,” Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) said this week.
“Oh, suddenly Republicans care about what Europe does?” Meyers asked. “Because in Europe it’s also considered neighborly to give everyone health care, make college free, and take naps in the middle of the day for no reason at all!”
And to those who would say trucks are just as dangerous as semi-automatic rifles, Meyers said, “Forget for a minute that there’s more truck control than gun control and you need a license to drive one, there’s always this slippery slope argument that if there’s gun control, where does it stop?”
“Guns. It will stop with guns,” he said, answering his own question. “One reasonable thing doesn’t always lead to something crazy. You can have gay marriage without people marrying their pets. ‘Health care for all? What’s next? Mammograms for sandwiches?!’”
