Maher: Second Amendment is 'anachronistic' and being a 'proud gun owner' is 'stupid'

Bill Maher started off his first show on Friday since his hiatus with a discussion on gun control, which Maher believes is politically doomed.

Maher warned the crowd at the beginning of the segment, "You're not going to like what I have to say." He then criticized Obama's push for gun control by arguing, "He said he wants to ban assault weapons, this is already dead in Congress. This has as much survival chance as a wolf in Sarah Palin's backyard."

"I'm all for shrinking the tumor that is the National Rifle Association," he said, "but the problem in this country, to me, is that Democrats love guns too."

"So you can do all this shit, it's not going to change anything," he went on. "it's not going to change school shootings. You can change the clips, they'll just bring three guns with less clips."

Actor Martin Short argued that the country has to "start somewhere" and that "These are all positive steps." He also expressed shock at the fact that the NRA has "only" a few million members but "still wield this power."

"The NRA has power because so many Americans have guns," said author Michelle Caruso-Cabrera.

Maher also noted that Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona representative who was shot in Tucson, told Diane Sawyer recently that she still owns a Glock. "Even when you get shot, you still love guns."

Short, who is Canadian, said that gun ownership did not inevitably lead to violence, claiming that about 24 percent of Canadians own guns but that there are .05 deaths per 100,000 people in 2009. He also pushed back against Maher's argument that it was impossible to ban assault rifles in the current political climate. "All these things you think you can't do, I think they're doable." But Maher argued that people "don't need assault weapons" to carry out mass shootings anyway.

After nothing that the Third Amendment creates stipulations regarding whether the army can stay in someone's home, Maher argued, "The Second Amendment is just as anachronistic as the Third," going on to say, "People have this love of guns. That is what's so sick. That's what's so different in America." He also said that being a "proud gun owner" was "stupid."

"I'm not proud of it because it's not an accomplishment," he said.

Watch the video, via Mediaite, below.