Jon Stewart slams the NRA for killing an elephant-saving, terrorist-thwarting ivory law

Jon Stewart slams the NRA for killing an elephant-saving, terrorist-thwarting ivory law
(Image credit: The Daily Show)

Jon Stewart started out Wednesday night's Daily Show applauding the big carbon-emission deal between China and the U.S. on Tuesday, announced after he taped his light-hearted recap of the APEC summit. But while it's great that China is agreeing to cap greenhouse gasses, he said, the country is shamefully the top buyer of illegal African ivory and a major reason poachers killed 100,000 of the majestic creatures from 2010 to 2012, pushing them toward extinction.

The No. 2 retail market for elephant ivory is the U.S., though, despite the fact that it banned ivory imports in 1989. President Obama proposed regulations to close the big loophole, including banning the sale of ivory inside the U.S., and since ivory is a major funder of terrorist groups (and also a major killer of the GOP's mascot animal), Republicans were on board. "We have just witnessed something rarer in nature than the African elephant," Stewart said: "Bipartisan commitment to an issue." But there is one big roadblock: The National Rifle Association.

"Oh, NRA — is there anything that you won't try to kill that keeps other things from being killed?" Stewart lamented. NRA opposition, of course, prompted GOP laws to protect ivory in the U.S. "See, this is why we can't have nice things," he said dourly, "like elephants." --Peter Weber

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.