Cartoonists Respond to Mass School Shootings

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When news of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting reverberated across the country on December 14, 2012, every office, living room, and classroom was silent. The shooter, Adam Lanza, had just killed twenty-eight people, twenty of them being kids no older than ten years old (Vogel). Since this tragic event, other shootings have occurred across the nation. Massive debates and demands of congressional action over gun violence and gun control sparked over the appropriate solution. Despite pleas from President Obama to enact change, gun advocates such as the National Rifle Association (NRA) have been able to continuously deter many government officials from pursuing anti-gun laws. Cartoonists Mike Luckovich, Dave Granlund, and Rob Rogers, have used several techniques to illustrate their views on the problem of security in schools as well as the NRA's involvement in obstructing the safety of children across the country.

Luckovich's cartoon depicts three children sitting in their respective desks while holding different items. Using the technique of labeling, one child with two guns is labeled "NRA", another child with wads of money and is named "Gun Makers", while the last child is named "Congress" with bags of "Campaign Cash" (Luckovich). Several days before this cartoon was published, President Obama proposed "sweeping gun law proposals…[that] brought a range of reactions" (Malloy). Congressmen are often swayed to vote certain ways depending on who offers a large sum of money for campaign efforts. Luckovich insinuates in the cartoon that the money in the "Campaign Cash" bag came from the "Gun Makers", symbolizing the buying out of greedy congressmen votes against any gun restricting laws and causing the large range in respo...

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...16 Jan. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

Mason, Melanie. "NRA-backed Task Force Unveils Sweeping School Safety Proposal." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 02 Apr. 2013. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.

Rogers, Rob. "Guns For Kids" 7 May 2013. Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Newspaper source. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

Vogel, Steve, Sari Horwitz, and David A. Fahrenthold. "Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting Leaves 28 Dead, Law Enforcement Sources Say." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 15 Dec. 2012. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

Watts, Catherine E. Shoichet. Amanda, Wolf Blitzer, Jason Hanna, and Karan Olson. "Nevada School Shooting: Teacher Killed, Two Students Wounded." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

Wing, Nick. "We've Had So Many Mass Shootings In The U.S., We've Had To Redefine The Term." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Sept. 2013. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

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