Jon Stewart Breaks Down the Open Carry Texas Versus NRA Mini-Feud

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There was something of a kerfuffle among pro-gun rights groups this week, so Jon Stewart spent last night's episode of The Daily Show sorting it all out.

First, pro-gun activists tried bringing their firearms into a Chili's and Sonic and were promptly turned away. Even the National Rifle Association – "the open-carry Death Star itself," as Stewart called it – thought maybe bringing loaded guns in to a Chili's wasn't the best idea, saying in a statement that it "showed a lack of consideration and manners." 

"Wait, what?" Stewart asked of the NRA's condemnation. "That sounded vaguely reasonable."

Once Open Carry Texas threatened to withdraw its support, though, the NRA quickly changed its tune, labeling its previous statement a "mistake," throwing its support behind OCT. 

"Wow. Everyone's scared of gun nuts, even other gun nuts," Stewart quipped.

But, Stewart asked, what of the people at the Chili's restaurant, witness to the OCT demonstration? How do they feel about other customers walking in with assault rifles?

"You, as an open carry guy, may know you're a good guy with a gun. But members of the National Everybody Else Association may have no idea. That's kind of why the police where uniforms," Stewart said.

Those not carrying firearms, naturally, feel alarmed and threatened. Even pro-gun individuals acknowledge this, Stewart pointed out. "And so we have arrived at our destination, where the NRA has put us in some what of a quandary, a conundrum, a pickle," he said. Because, according to Stewart, the rights of open carry advocates clash with the principle of "Stand Your Ground."

"We are at the intersection of open carry road and stand your ground place ... According to the NRA's basic principles, you have a right to carry a weapon that may cause a reasonable person to believe they are in danger of great bodily injury, and they have a right, if they feel that way, to respond with deadly force. It's a perpetual violence machine."

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.