In America, the discussion around gun control
always seems to go around in circles,
ending in the same place.
Here to try and help explain more on this
is my good friend Neal Brennan, everybody.
(cheering and applause)
Neal, uh...
I'm not gonna lie, I'm struggling with this, man.
Can you help me figure out guns in America?
Look, dude, at this point,
this issue is a lot like John Travolta's Botox face:
there's no movement.
Everyone's going with the same old arguments.
The left wants changes, the right doesn't.
But you know who had a unique view on this?
Bill O'Reilly.
He wrote a blog post on billoreilly.com
which, based on his sexual history,
-I assumed was a porn site. -Wait, it's not...
-it's not porn? -No, it's, like, news and stuff.
-Oh. -Um...
But here's what he said about the Vegas shooting.
(reading)
Yo, that (bleep) crazy.
I agree, but you got to appreciate that honesty.
That'd be like Six Flags saying, "Yeah, you might die
on a roller coaster, but do you want to meet Bugs Bunny or not?"
Well, like, I... But my thing is I just don't understand why,
when guns are clearly a problem,
people still don't want to talk about guns.
Dude, you're thinking about it wrong.
They're not arguing about guns, they're arguing about freedom.
Guns are just the symbol.
You ever get in a fight with your girlfriend and you're like,
"Babe, what's the big deal? I just dropped socks
next to the bed," and she's like,
"It's not about socks, it's about your need
"for a mother figure and I don't want to feel
like I'm (bleep) my son"?
(cheering, applause)
Too personal?
Maybe. A little bit. Okay, okay, so-so what you're saying
is guns are actually just a symbol of freedom.
Yeah. Everything in America is about symbols.
That why the Colin Kaepernick kneeling thing got so crazy.
For a lot of people, he wasn't protesting
against police violence, he was protesting
the national anthem, and that's the symbol for everything--
the troops, bald eagles,
mattress sales, Tom Hanks,
type 2 diabetes-- you know, America.
Okay, so... so, if guns are that powerful a symbol,
then no one will ever get gun control.
That's where you're wrong.
The only way to fight a symbol is with a symbol.
And what's the only symbol as powerful as guns?
My... m-my face?
Rhymes with "face," starts with an "R..."
-Oh, race? -That's correct.
-Oh, blackness. -That... Yes, blackness--
I don't know if you've picked up on this--
heavily symbolic in this country.
Well, but what-what do black people symbolize in America?
How about you start?
I-I don't know, um...
for some people, black people symbolize physical strength.
-Mm-hmm. -Uh, a threat to white dominance.
-Mm-hmm. -Uh, big penises.
That's what I thought, then we went to the gym together.
That was a cold... It was a cold day.
-And I've seen your sex tape. Uh... -That's not a real thing.
That's not a real... It's not the point.
Okay, here-here's what I'm saying: how are black people
powerful enough as a symbol to fix the gun issue?
It's happened before. Back in 1967, a heavily-armed group
of Black Panthers marched into-into the California
state capitol and, wouldn't you know it, within 12 weeks,
the state of California, under Governor Ronald Reagan,
passed a new gun control law called the Mulford Act.
Damn-- less than three months. They might as well
have called it the "These (bleep) Got Guns Act."
Agreed. And that's the point.
If we want gun control, here's what we do.
NFL players, listen to me.
This Sunday, ins...
instead of taking a knee...
stand during the national anthem
and, above your head,
hold an AR-15.
(cheering, applause)
We'll have new gun control legislation by halftime.
Neal Brennan, everybody.