‘You Don’t Give a Flying F**k’: Jon Stewart Clashes with Second Amendment ‘Purist’ GOP Senator on Gun Control, Drag Shows

Sparks flew between Jon Stewart and State Sen. Nathan Dahm (R-OK) in a debate on gun control where the comedian accused the Republican of not giving a “flying fuck” about protecting children.

The debate, filmed for The Problem with Jon Stewart, was solely on curbing gun violence, but it strayed into a number of different topics, from “fatherless homes” to restricting children from attending drag shows.

The comedian host dubbed Dahm of being a “Second Amendment purist” and bringing “chaos to order” by opposing background checks and registrations for firearms. Dahm argued the focus should be on individuals, especially ones from “fatherless” or broken homes, citing school shooters as often falling into one category or the other.

Stewart laid into Dahm for his hardline position.

“You don’t want anything that could help law enforcement or society determine whether or not a person is a good guy with a gun or a bad guy with a gun,” he said. “The registry would allow you to have much more effective background checks so I don’t understand why you won’t just admit that you are making it harder for police to manage the streets by allowing all of these guns to go out without permits, without checks, and without background stuff? Why can’t you just stand by that?”

“Because that’s not what I’m doing. I’m defending the individual’s right to keep and bear arms,” Dahm said.

Stewart pivoted the conversation to two other topics in order to drive his point home: voting rights and drag shows.

Stewart argued registering to vote is part of the “responsibility” of the right to vote.

“So you have to register for a right. Is that an infrignemnt?” Stewart asked.

“Does the right to voting say shall not be ingringed?” Dahm said.

“Oh, so this is just a semantic argument?” Stewart said.

“No, it’s not,” Dahm shot back.

Stewart pivoted to yet another topic, citing the fact that Dahm, like many other Republicans, wants to restrict drag performers from putting on explicit shows for children.

“Are you infringing on that performer’s free speech?” Stewart asked.

“They can continue to exercise their free speech, just not in front of a child,” Dahm said.

“Why?” Stewart asked.

“Because the government does have a responsibility to protect —” Dahm said before being cut off.

“I’m sorry?” Stewart said, pushing his ear forward, waiting to hear the word “children.”

Stewart laid into Dahm during their final exchange, telling him he doesn’t “give a flying fuck” about protecting children:

Stewart: “What is the leading cause of death among children in this country? And I’m going to give you a hint, it’s not drag show readings to children.”

Dahm: “Correct, yes.”

Stewart: “So what is it?”

Dahm: “I’m presuming you’re going to say it’s firearms.”

Stewart: “No, I’m not going to say it like it’s an opinion. That’s what it is. It’s firearms. More than cancer, more than car accidents, and what you’re telling me is you don’t mind infringing free speech to protect children from this amorphous thing that you think of, but when it comes to children that have died, you don’t give a flying fuck to stop that because that shall not be infringed. That is hypocrisy at its highest order.”

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