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When Amy Schumer Nailed the Problem of Easy Access to Guns
When Amy Schumer Nailed the Problem of Easy Access to Guns
The comedian has shown more wisdom than many lawmakers.
Remember that time Amy Schumer nailed the major problems with gun access back in April, months before last week's shooting that left 49 people dead at an Orlando gay club? She did so on her TV show, Inside Amy Schumer.
In the sketch (see video below), Schumer and fellow comedian Kyle Dunnigan play ebullient cohosts of a home shopping program on QVC as they try to sell a gun. "Now here is what's great about this," Schumer's chipper saleswoman enthuses, "Pretty much anyone can purchase this!" The pair take calls from a known felon and a suspected terrorist and help them understand the real-life ways they can still legally obtain guns. Near the end of the sketch, Dunnigan's character shoots himself in the foot. As he writhes around on the floor, Schumer deadpans, "It was his foot's time."
Schumer began to take on the issue of gun control in earnest last July after a fatal shooting occurred during a screening of her movie Trainwreck. In August, Schumer and her distant cousin, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, held a press conference to unveil Sen. Schumer's proposal to tighten gun control laws, which included improving the background check system and mental health care.
In an emotional speech, Amy Schumer talked about how personal this attack had felt for her, a feeling LGBT and Latino people and all sorts of Americans surely understand in the wake of last week's massacre. She went on to make clear points about commonsense gun control:
"These are not extreme ideas, and what Chuck is describing are sensible measures and restriction, and no one wants to live in a country where a felon, the mentally ill, or other dangerous people can get their hands on a gun with such ease. The time is now for American people to rally for these changes."
The Senate, however, made no changes to gun control laws at that time or in December, after the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., and voted again today to keep guns just as accessible as ever, despite the prescience of both Amy Schumer's speech and her sketch. Marvel at that prescience in the sketch below.
