Bill Maher On Leno: 'NRA Should Just Change Their Name To 'Assassin's Lobby' (VIDEO)

Bill Maher was the guest on Tuesday night's "Tonight Show," and the comedic pundit shared some strong words for the National Rifle Association. During the interview, Jay Leno asked for Maher's take on the recent shooting spree in Arizona, prompting him to go off on the pro-gun organization.

Based on his assumption that the NRA will defend their stance on guns in the wake of the tragedy in Tucson, Maher said he was "so tired of the second amendment" and suggested a controversial name change:

"The NRA should just change their name to the 'Assassin's Lobby,'" Maher said before receiving stunned silence and later applause from the audience.

He also suggested that gun owners change their view of firearms, from a hobby or form of defense to a vice or guilty pleasure:

"If you love guns, just admit it -- like it's a vice," Maher said. "It's like alcohol or drugs or sex addiction or gambling... It's not good for you or anyone else, but you like it."

Maher continued to say that "no one needs a gun that shoots 31 rounds" like the one used by Jared Lee Loughner in Arizona, before breaking the tension with a silly dig at Sarah Palin's shooting ability.

WATCH:

Comments

[johnny g locker]

01:34 AM on 01/25/2011

Here's the deal Bill.

Gun control has always been about disarming blacks. It started after the civil war and picked up speed again in the late 60's because of the Black Panther Self Defense Party. Gun control is a racist agenda which is rather ironic as the Liberals and Democrats ostensibly are looking out for the minorities.

Here is another fact you never mention. Blacks are 13% of the population and commit over 50% of the gun homicides in this country. More children drown in swimming pools every year than by guns.

[Giraffesarmyfriends]

04:45 AM on 02/12/2011

Shh... they don't wanna hear that. Bill Maher resembles a degenerating Jared Laughner type

[carnitine]

03:02 AM on 01/19/2011

With this statement and his insanity on vaccines..i wonder if he should be committed

[Avere Fede]

01:53 AM on 01/19/2011

HP, come one, you ARE joking, right? You qualify this angry, hateful little man as "BIG news" and feel he warrants his own section?

[Canadacarol]

03:15 AM on 01/31/2011

Not angry and hateful but realistic,brilliant and insightful. Thank goodness someone can wade through all the crap and identify the crazy direction the country is headed. The audience loved it, so I guess you need a sense of humor to handle the truth, which is stranger than fiction.

[bluerskies]

12:52 AM on 01/19/2011

I'm through with watching Leno after his disgraceful pandering the night he allowed Bill Maher to vent his spleen. I defended him after the whole Conan fiasco but never again. What a couple of asses. While the rest of the country is attempting to bring a civil tone to conversations and to behave (finally!) as adults, Leno brings on this perpetual adolescent and allows him to indulge in his little (and everything about Maher is little) temper tantrum!

[recless]

01:53 AM on 01/19/2011

How's about you put your emotions down and think about what Maher said?

[carnitine]

03:04 AM on 01/19/2011

Maher is an instigator. He does it for ratings and comedy. If Maher really believes that about the NRA, that view is just as nuts as his view on vaccines.

[WmBlackstone]

12:32 PM on 01/16/2011

The 2nd Amendment to the U.S. constitution was intended specifically to provide arms for a legally ordained state militia under control of the state Governor to defend against a foreign enemy invasion. Period. This was in response to Congress not wanting to re-create nor fund a permanent standing army for defense. Any other interpretation of the 2nd Amendment is sophistry and ignorance.

[Giraffesarmyfriends]

04:46 AM on 02/12/2011

I guess we'll have to take your word for it.

[chucknchar]

11:06 AM on 01/16/2011

Life's challenge is living side by side with folks who use the other side of their brain and live in some parallel universe. Guns at town hall meetings, in bars, in churches and this is exercising their second amendments rights.

[esquilax]

03:09 AM on 01/16/2011

That the observation is bitingly accurate can be clearly seen in the desperate comments by the gun-deluded here, defending the indefensible.

Where there was greatness, all one can say is, what a sorry country....

[Dennis Yuen]

12:49 AM on 01/16/2011

It's kind of simple, really. If one assumes that people like the gunman in the Arizona shooting or the guy from Virginia Tech were mentally unstable or insane, my guess is they probably would have found other ways (less devastating ways) to vent their frustrations or anger if guns were not available. That's the main issue, isn't it? Availability?

[mlaiuppa]

09:16 PM on 01/15/2011

There are certain guns and ammunition that are used for hunting by real hunters. (I'm not counting canned hunts because that's not real hunting.) I'm talking about real hunters. I have no problem with real hunters, those that eat what they kill, kill for subsistence, care about the environment, are responsible hunters and make sure the game they kill does not suffer. I have no problem with their 2nd amendment rights.

But you don't hunt deer or elk with a 9mm Glock with an extended clip. I can think of only one use for such a weapon and that is to kill people. As many people as possible. There is no reason for any law abiding person to own such a weapon and such ammunition.

There is no reason for a law abiding person to carry a concealed weapon. If you have a reason to carry a weapon, then you carry it out in the open where everyone can see it. How can it deter if it can't be seen?

No responsible hunter would object to getting a license to buy another rifle, waiting for it or registering it. What's wrong with getting a license, a waiting period, background checks or registration? Afraid of what it might uncover? If you need to have a gun immediately, maybe you shouldn't have a gun. We need licenses for all sorts of things. We register everything else we own, why not guns?

If you're that paranoid, maybe you shouldn't have a gun.

[CatSpam]

12:41 AM on 01/16/2011

The second amendment was never about hunting. This dodge has been brought up millions of times before. As for waiting periods, this is just a roadblock to try to deter law-abiding citizens access to arms; there are no data that support any deterrent effect these waiting periods have had on crime. And, for your information, when you purchase a gun, a background check IS performed.

Pretty much every hunter or gun owner I know objects strenuously to getting a license for a weapon, so you're wrong there also.

The Glock 19 is probably the single most popular handgun in America (I say "probably" because Glock does not release its sales information). It is a superb self-defense gun. As with any other tool, it can be misused. The deterrence that concealed carry laws provide is that criminals will know that at any time, the person you are about to commit a crime on may be armed. In Texas, where I live, many thousands of people have concealed handgun licenses and they are becoming more popular day by day. And people who possess these CHLs are much less likely than others to use their weapons for illegal purposes.

People on the left (of course the majority on this blog) seem to want desperately to give up one of the rights guaranteed to them by the constitution. I don't. You shouldn't either.

[mlaiuppa]

12:51 AM on 01/17/2011

To quote Geoffrey Rush, It's official then.

[jwb2013]

06:44 PM on 01/15/2011

All I can say is, there is a great awakening going on...and it doesn't involve violence and the sense of separation. Those who see are awake...those that don't aren't. Plain and simple...guns have no place in a SANE person's hand. You don't like that? Then wake up.

[CatSpam]

12:49 AM on 01/16/2011

It'll go back to sleep again. And very soon, too.

[PhilliesWS08]

05:23 PM on 01/15/2011

It just angers me that this nut, Jared Loughner, could not hack a math class, get kicked out of community college (for mental issues) and could not get into the U.S. Army (of all branches of service) BUT was able to buy this assault weapon no problem! Now a 9 year old girl who could have had a successful life, a successful judge, and others are now dead because of his actions and not to mention the Congresswoman and other people injured..... He needs the toughest sentence even if it results in capital punishment......

[Giraffesarmyfriends]

04:47 AM on 02/12/2011

He had an assault weapon or a handgun?

[HeyTheist]

03:45 PM on 01/15/2011

Arizona permits citizens over 21, who are legally qualified (not previously found insane or convicted of a felony), to carry a concealed weapon. So, where were all the gun owners that day? Giffords doesn't appear to be anti-gun (http://www.votesmart.org/npat.php?can_id=28507#826), so I owuld assume her supporters would be of the same mind.

With AZ's lax gun laws (supported by the NRA for protection reasons) I would have expected the shooter to be riddled with bullets from all the responsible gun owners in AZ. Instead, 6 people are dead and 13 others wounded due to the lax gun laws. Wake up gun nuts, gun laws protect people.

[Victoria-nola]

04:02 PM on 01/15/2011

One guy told the story that he was concealed carrying that day, and was in the grocery store, heard what was happening, and ran outside with his gun drawn. He saw someone with a gun, and started to shoot, but something stopped him. Turns out what he was seeing was the guy who had disarmed the shooter. So if he'd shot, he would have killed a hero.

I might have gotten this story a little wrong but the basic message is the one he himself wanted to convey. And my own message is: More shooters on the scene do not necessarily make a safer scene.

[LFK]

02:47 PM on 01/15/2011

Bill lost a long time fan last night. My loss for sure, but his ignorant comments disgusted me to the pint where I turned the channel.

Bye Bill. I hope that you and the rest of the anti-firearms folks do not succeed in limiting our liberty any more than it is already limited. Criminals do not concern themselves with following the law.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

03:05 PM on 01/15/2011

Your a fan?

[Victoria-nola]

04:03 PM on 01/15/2011

Most likely only for the instrumental purposes of withdrawing his fanship.

[Tim Barton]

09:25 PM on 01/15/2011

I don't think Bill cares, because his point is valid. The childish whining about the 2nd Amendment, the Constitution, all of that has never served any purpose. I don't take as strong a stance as Maher does, but his point was a good one. I really can't see why people such as yourself are bothered by this. And he has no intention, even if he could, to limit your liberty. That is another sickening old chestnut I personally cannot stomach any further.

[Giraffesarmyfriends]

04:50 AM on 02/12/2011

Bill doesn't care because he is rich for apparently no reason.

[joyf1]

12:45 PM on 01/15/2011

Good show last night, Bill.

[ljkcan]

06:28 PM on 01/15/2011

It was good and I enjoyed his perspetive on my country Canada. Although I disagree I don't think our countries have moved apart over the years. Okay during the Bush years they did but we have always held our own.

I don't get the 2nd amendment it was drawn up in a constiutution that was before the American revoloution in those times you more than likely needed a arms but who the heck needs an weapon like that young man had. Even worse how many people with mental health issues are falling through the cracks with weapons.

[joyf1]

07:55 PM on 01/15/2011

One little point to make here: The Constitution was after the Revolutionary War. The Articles of Confederation was before the war. I live right across from Vancouver Island, BC. Lots of Canadians have a home where I live as well as visit. You people are civilized and respect and admire Canadians. I fanned you a while back.

[Bumble Bee]

06:54 AM on 01/15/2011

Bill Maher has no credibility with me. He had the audacity to portray Republicans as more extremist than Muslims. He said, "I think now maybe the Muslims have more moderates than the Republicans." and "These people [Republicans] are hysterical. Hysterical is really the only word I can think of for it."

[RajSTL]

01:01 PM on 01/15/2011

He is a social comedian. Comedians do exaggerate at times to make their point. If you understand him completely may be you will appreciate him more.

[CatSpam]

12:45 AM on 01/16/2011

He wasn't very funny then, was he, I mean, for a comedian?

[BPCentrisAmerican]

03:08 PM on 01/15/2011

The anti-abortion Christian right, the birhers and the tea-party are extremest, what else would you call this people?