Watch Stephen Colbert's Sobering Monologue About the Oregon Shooting

Stephen Colbert, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert | Photo Credits: CBS

Less than a month after he took over The Late Show, Stephen Colbert is still adjusting to not playing a character behind his desk. But following the recent shooting in Oregon, which left 10 dead and injured nine others, Colbert delivered a powerfully raw and honest monologue about the fatal inaction from lawmakers.

"Whether or not we hit the right notes on any given night, I think that the least that we can do is not pretend to always know what to do or say, and in the face of the killings in Oregon yesterday I don't know what to do or say, other than our hearts are broken for the people struck by this senseless tragedy," Colbert said. "And I don't know how to start a show like this, which is often about whatever happened in the last 24 hours. I can't pretend that it didn't happen; I also can't pretend to know what to do to prevent what happened yesterday and all the times it has happened before. But I think pretending is part of the problem."

"These things happen over and over again and we're naturally horrified and shocked when we hear about them, but then we change nothing, and we pretend that it won't happen again," Colbert continued. "Some say the answer is stricter gun laws; others say the answer is mental health care, that we need better treatment or just keep the guns out of the hands of the insane. Maybe it's both, I honestly don't know. But I do know that one of the definitions of insanity is changing nothing and then pretending that something will change."

Watch Colbert's full opening monologue below. What do you think of his comments?

This article, Watch Stephen Colbert's Sobering Monologue About the Oregon Shooting, originally appeared on TVGuide.com.