SNL Cheerfully Explains That Guns Are Here to Stay

For a show that so often deals with politics, SNL rarely gets political. That makes the darkness of last night’s fake commercial about guns all the more jaw-dropping. This show has been around for 41 seasons because it tends to play it safe on any issue that could actually stir up real trouble. But here we are, with the show dropping the gauntlet on a subject most people don’t want to talk about at all.

The conceit of the faux ad is simple: firearms bring us together and make the world a better place! This is “proven” in scenes where a father gifts his newborn child with a gun, a young couple bonds over a casual game of spin the gun, and so on. The whole thing is cheery and warm and nostalgic, culminating in a very direct and very creepy tagline: “Guns. They’re here to stay.”

It’s not subtle, but it’s certainly effective satire. It also feels like the kind of concept that may have been pushed through by guest host Amy Schumer, an active advocate for gun control in real life. In fact, seeing Schumer lugging around an automated weapon is one of the weirder things you’ll see this week. The things you’ll do in the name of comedy…