Police Commissioner Ray Kelly made his first appearance on The Daily Show last night for a serious conversation about guns, stop-and-frisk, the fallibility of the NYPD, and his interest in a mayoral run. But first Jon Stewart taunted him by bringing out a Big Gulp to start things off. In the first part, which you can see below, Kelly discusses eliminating assault weapons, Governor Andrew Cuomo's gun control bill, and universal background checks.
Then in the extended section, Stewart asked Kelly whether stop-and-frisk "straddles the line of constitutionality." Kelly defended the practice as "one done in every law enforcement jurisdiction in America." Stewart asked what the criteria for it is: "If someone is acting in a situation or way that rises to reasonable suspicion, that they have, they are, or they are about to commit a crime," Kelly answered, to which Stewart replied, "So in New York, that's a good 80% of us."
Kelly also discussed the lowered murder rate, getting sued ("I get sued every day, literally every day"), proactive policing strategies, oversight on the NYPD, and the mood of the city ("Do you know how hard it is for me now...it's so difficult for me now to buy drugs in the park," Stewart noted). To end the interview, Stewart asked if Kelly was thinking of running for mayor. "So, that's a yes?" Stewart asked after Kelly dodged the question by praising Bloomberg. "You know what's nice about you? You smile, but there's a look in your eye like, 'Eh, you shouldn't ask that.'"
