Jon Stewart and The Daily Show returned from a hiatus this week to drop into the thick of the debate surrounding the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and what can be done to curb violence in America.
Stewart kicked off the show with a lengthy segment on the need for a national discussion on gun control, using the NRA's Wayne LaPierre and his comments about blaming the media and video games to push for a talk more centered on guns than media consumption.
Last month, LaPierre held a press briefing to call out the "callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and sows violence against its own people." During his talk he singled out a number of video games including popular titles like Bulletstorm and Grand Theft Auto, and an unheard of flash game called Kindergarten Killers.
"Maybe we need to talk about whether our culture is adding to the soup, that has to be on the table," Stewart said during his segment, adding that news media should be included in that sort of discussion.
"We can dance around the issue all that you want," he concluded. "You can blame movies, or video games or the mentally ill or god, and we do have to put that it's a complex problem and all solutions have to be on the table, but it is time we talk about guns."
Stewart's comments come as Vice President Joe Biden prepares to meet with members of the video game industry later this week as part of his broad examination of guns and American culture in the wake of the Newtown shootings.
