Jon Stewart Rips Fox News Over NFL Chiefs Javon Belcher Shooting (VIDEO)

Impact

Comedy Central's Jon Stewart opened The Daily Show on Monday with the controversy surrounding the murder-suicide of NFL Chiefs linebacker Javon Belcher and the capriciousness of pro-gun commentators who consistently insist that it is inappropriate to discuss gun control in the wake of gun murders.

Stewart took glee in pointing out the obvious logical fallacies in such arguments, particularly mocking Fox News host Laura Ingraham and her cabal of co-hosts and lackies.

Focusing especially on the reaction to Bob Costas' on-air statement that "If Jovan Belcher didn't possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today," Stewart compared that statement to Fox News' criticism of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's calls for gun control in the wake of the Aurora tragedy. Virtually every commentator at Fox News agreed that halftime was the wrong time to talk about gun control.

Stewart questioned why Bob Costas wasn't allowed to talk about gun control, while Ingraham is able to bring up the subject whenever she wants. Stewart also made fun of the Fox hosts demanding "a waiting period on gun … conversations."

Were Bob Costas' remarks this distasteful? Um, hardly. Actually, by far the most offensive thing I've read or heard about the Belcher incident came from, you guessed it, a Fox News editorial:

"Even if no weapon existed, the strength differential is so large that Belcher could have easily killed Perkins in any number of ways. The same is true, sadly, about suicide. There are so many ways that Belcher could have killed himself, including crashing his car at a high rate of speed into a wall or even another car as he drove to Arrowhead Stadium."

Christ.

You want to talk about inappropriate? At the same time right-wingers were lambasting Bob Costas for trying to start an honest discussion on gun control, they were busy politicizing the same story.

I don’t mind the rush to war over gun control nearly as much as I mind the hypocrisy.

The elephant in the room: Fox News has no interest in an actual discussion on the issues. Claiming that it's too soon to talk about the political ramifications of a breaking story is disingenuous at best and insulting at worst. Laura Ingraham and the other narcissistic Fox hosts want to tell you that you’re only allowed to talk about issues when and where they decide, to their advantage. It's not true, and you shouldn’t believe them.

According to Costas, 70% or more of footballers carry handguns.

Take the jump and see the clip from Comedy Central below: