In the wake of the deadly Orlando terrorist attack, radio icon Howard Stern spent part of his Wednesday program berating those calling for gun control as the way to prevent further carnage in the future.
“I’m so upset about Orlando and what went down,” Stern said, “but I can’t believe these people would come out afterward and their answer to Orlando is to take away guns from the public. It’s f***ing mindblowing to me.”
Howard Stern in New York March 24.Stern then illustrated his point with an analogy equating the public to sheep, the terrorists to wolves and the military and police as sheepdogs. And even as Stern humorously imitated a generally passive, sheep-like populace with bleating noises — baaaa — his analogy was chilling at a deeper level.
“Now, let’s say I walked up literally to a sheep herd, and they know that every night the wolves pick off a couple of them,” Stern said. “What if I went up to the sheep and I said, ‘You wanna have a shot at the wolves? I’m gonna give you a pistol. You can actually even the playing field with these wolves whose fangs are out — you could shoot them and save your family.’”
Stern then took on the role of the passive sheep: “Well, baaaa. We’re not gonna do that. We don’t want to fight baaaack. He didn’t hurt uuuus. He only hurt the family down the streeet. And the shepherd will protect us, the sheepdogs are out there, they’ll protect us.”
Stern’s hypothetical reply? “Well, the sheepdogs are protecting you, but some of them can’t be with you all day. There’s not a sheepdog for every citizen, and a wolf is still eating one of you every night.”
Against that backdrop, Stern continued the analogy with the sheep insisting on their guns being taken away as a way to protect themselves:
Now, why would the sheep — baaaa — say, “Oh, we’ve got an answer to all the terrorism, all these bad wolves that are coming after us. We’ll hand in all our guns. We’re gonna hand ‘em in. Baaaa. You know who’ll protect us? The government. Or the police. Baaaa.”
Stern then declared — now out of sheep mode — “That’s a baaaad f***ing idea.”
“I don’t like violence — I don’t like any of this stuff — but I consider myself a sheep, and I want the police to protect me. I support the police. And I want the government to protect me,” he explained. “But guess what? Most of your politicians … all have private security. … So they’re OK. Those are sheep that are very well protected. You on the other hand, you’re a sitting duck.”
“If you’re a sitting duck,” he asked, “do you want a fighting chance or not?”
“I’m not for taking away people’s rights. I’m not,” Stern continued. “I think the answer doesn’t lie in taking any kind of ability of the sheep to protect themselves from the wolves. I really don’t. I wish it was that simple.”
“In France they’ve done it very effectively,” he added, “the population is not armed — but unfortunately the wolves are.”Check out the full segment below. (Content warning: Strong language):