Gun Sense

No Sleep ‘Til Gun Control

I love trains. I don’t have a love affair with them the way President Joe Biden does, who commuted on Amtrak daily when he was a Senator from Delaware, but I really like trains.

It’s easier to travel on a train than on a plane, and so much better than a bus. Airports are huge hassles while to get on a train, you just show the ticket guy your ticket. Actually, you get on the train first and then you show him your ticket. It’s so easy when I have a trip to Washington, DC as I don’t have to screw with traffic or parking. It’s the same with going to New York City. And the greatest thing about going to those cities on a train is that after you arrive, you get on another train to your destination. If you work it right, you leave your house, get on a train, and you’re dropped off a few blocks from your hotel (unless your hotel is in Georgetown). It’s easy.

Amtrak has moments where it’s a pain, like the time the air conditioning went out during summer on a trip home from North Carolina while I was trying to meet my CNN deadline in the cafe car, but it’s still a great way to travel. The trains I really love are subways. I still have NYC and DC train cards with a few bucks on them. I want to live in a city with a huge train system, but I can’t afford it.

Subways get a bad rap. A lot of people have told me they’ll never get on the New York subway because it’s not safe. I’ve had people in New York City tell me to never take the subway. I was at an Irish bar in midtown Manhattan and two brothers I was in a conversation with told me that whatever I do, to “never take the subway.” They were way too late with their advice. I’ve taken the New York subway all over Manhattan, through the Bronx, and into Brooklyn. I haven’t gone through Queens yet, but I will when I go see the Mets. But I’ve taken the subway through the Bronx at night and wasn’t afraid (there’s a train system on Staten Island but it’s not connected to the other four boroughs). And yeah, you see freaks talking very loudly to themselves and there are smelly people, but you also see women alone with their babies. I’ve seen groups of kids without adults on the Washington Metro. The Metro is pretty safe, and despite the recent increase in violence, the New York subway system is usually safe. My biggest hassle with subways is that they can be confusing.

Washington’s train system can be confusing but it’s a lot easier to figure out. The Metro has six lines, 91 stations, and 117 miles of routes. New York City’s subway has 36 lines, 472 stations, and 850 miles of track. You can get lost. I had a conversation with a different guy in that same Irish bar who was NYC born and raised, and he told me he got confused with the train system. But, there are now apps for that kind of stuff. I would look on my phone while in my hotel room to see when the next train was arriving at the station around the corner.

I used to get confused with the Metro until I traveled on the Subway. I don’t have any more problems understanding Washington’s Metro.

To me, it doesn’t make sense not to take the trains if you’re in a city that has them. Do I feel safe in the stations? I’ve drawn cartoons in NYC’s underground stations.

You may need to make adjustments as circumstances change, like during the COVID pandemic, but I refuse to allow lunatics to dictate how I live my life. I refuse to live in fear. I still rode in cars after being in car accidents, I still flew in planes after 9/11, and I’ll still ride in trains despite the shooting yesterday in Brooklyn.

A friend I grew up with will never go to Washington or New York City because he refuses to go anywhere without his guns. To me, that kind of fear is worse than living with the very small chance you’re going to be attacked on a train.

Giving everyone a gun is the NRA solution to gun violence. Didn’t a mass shooting on a military base disprove that solution? And in the few instances when a “good guy with a gun” showed up to a mass shooting, the good guy doesn’t actually save any lives. The “good guy with a gun” in Sutherland, Texas in 2017 showed up AFTER the shooter had already killed 26 people when the good guy started chasing him. The shooter was done shooting. And the good guy went on a car chase after the shooter instead of tending to the wounded bleeding to death. Arriving at the scene of a mass shooting is the sick fantasy of every gun fetishist. I think the main reason for them to carry a gun isn’t for their own personal safety, but more for the day when they get to shoot somebody.

Also, how can police tell the difference between the good guy with a gun and the bad guy?

There’s a better solution than the yee-haw cure and that is….let’s get rid of guns. It’ll be hard to shoot someone with a gun if there are no guns.

We don’t have to get rid of all guns but let’s get rid of the guns that make it easier to shoot a high number of people in a short period of time. The Second Amendment gives you the right to bear arms, but it doesn’t state you have the right to own machine guns, which is basically what these assault rifles are. If nothing else, let’s put more control, requirements, and regulations into owning these weapons that are made strictly for the purpose of killing human beings.

“Gun control” is like the word “liberal” for conservatives. No pun intended, but it’s a trigger word meaning bad, much in the same way conservatives now use “groomer,” “woke,” “cancel culture,” “book,” and “personal hygiene.”

While there are people in this nation afraid of getting on a train or traveling to a large city, there are people in other nations afraid to come to our nation because of our sick fetish for guns.

Gun fetishists are afraid gun control will disrupt their entitled white-privileged gun-humping lifestyle. But their guns are disrupting people’s lives while they’re just trying to get to work.

The gun fetishists, the so-called “constitutionalists,” want us to live in fear. They want us to be afraid of getting on a train or going to a donut shop. But like I said before, I refuse to allow lunatics to dictate how I live my life.

Music note: I listened to Pearl Jam while drawing this cartoon. And I bet you thought it would be the Beastie Boys.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

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Donuts and Ammo

Cjones11012021

Gun nuts are eager to prove to everyone else what experts they are with guns and gun safety. In doing so, they often demonstrate just how ignorant they are about everything else, like how a film is made.

As soon as the tragedy on the set of the film Rust was reported, conservatives and everyone else horny for guns was all over Alec Baldwin, calling for him to be charged with murder. Not only do they not understand how filming works, but they also don’t understand how the law works.

This was a tragedy that injured writer/director Joel Suza and killed cinematographer Haylna Hutchins. This is not murder. Is it possible criminal charges are forthcoming? Yes, but for whom?

It’s the assistant director’s job to ensure a safe working environment on a film set. In this case, the assistant director, Dave Halls, handed Baldwin the gun and told him it was safe. Weapons on film sets are managed by the armorer. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer for Rust, had just prepared the guns on a cart, which is where Hall picked up the loaded gun and gave it to Baldwin. This was not a prop gun, but a real one.

There are all sorts of messed-up details in this story, such as warnings about an unsafe set, people turning down job offers because of the dangers, crew members walking off before the tragedy, and crew members engaging in target practice with the guns being used in the movie. Live bullets being put into a gun that will later be used in the movie by amateurs is a very dangerous working environment.

Perhaps the biggest question is: Why was there live ammunition on a movie set?

I’ve heard a lot of people say we should ban real working and functional guns from film sets. I’ve heard gun fuckers say this. How about we do this…and ban guns from all places of business? The Constitution gives you the right to own a gun, but it doesn’t say anything about you toting it around like it’s an extension of yourself. There’s nothing in the Constitution that allows you to carry a semi-automatic rifle into Krispy Kreme.

Republicans are after Baldwin just because they don’t like him. Baldwin spent four years doing an excellent job of portraying Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live and Trumpers are still butt-hurt over it. But as I wrote in a previous blog, your dislike for someone doesn’t convict them of murder. Your political bias is a total and complete non-factor in this issue.

Alec Baldwin didn’t intend to shoot anyone. You can argue he should have checked the gun, even after being told it was safe…but the failure to do so still doesn’t make him a killer. While these same gun humpers argue for Alec Baldwin to be charged with murder, they’re simultaneously defending Kyle Rittenhouse who shot three people, killing two, with a semi-automatic rifle he wasn’t old enough to legally own or transport across a state line, which he did intentionally to shoot at black people. Rittenhouse shot three people, killing two of them.

These same people calling for Alec Baldwin to go to prison also call a Capitol Police officer a “murderer” for shooting Ashli Babbitt, a terrorist who broke into the United States Capitol building and was storming into the office of the Speaker of the House with a violent mob of white nationalist MAGAts when she was shot, but defend George Zimmerman for shooting Trayvon Martin, a black teenager, for walking while black in a hoodie and armed with Skittles.

I think what I’m trying to say to these people, in the most eloquent terms I can think of “fuck off, you whiny hypocritical rat bastard racist babies.” Can you get guns with nipples on them?

You don’t care about the victim. You champion racist murderers and terrorists. All you care about is vengeance against people who never actually violated you. You want to string up Dr. Anthony Fauci because his efforts to save this nation contradict Donald Trump’s lies. But you don’t have anything so you make shit up, like torturing beagles and gain-of-function in bats. You don’t like that racist parents can be criminally charged for threatening school boards over vaccine/facemask mandates and teaching critical race theory which isn’t being taught, so you go after the Attorney General for doing his job. And again, you have to make shit up. You scream that these parents are just “concerned” and expressing their views, but you leave out the parts about intimidation and death threats. Now, you’re after Alec Baldwin because you see an opportunity.

Being as vile and inhumane as possible isn’t just a part of being a Republican anymore. It’s the point. This is revenge for you, not justice.

Alec Baldwin will suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome from this for the rest of his life. If there are criminal charges for negligence, then so be it. But he’s not going to prison or the gallows because he impersonated Donald Trump and made him look ridiculous. If we’re going to send people to prison for making Donald Trump look like a moron then let’s send Donald Trump because nobody made him look stupid more than he did it to himself.

As for making Trump supporters look like racist morons, well that’s on them too. I mean, nobody forced Ted Cruz to defend Nazis yesterday.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are ZERO copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. A new shipment will arrive in early November. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

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Boebert To Boulder

Cjones03252021

We’ve had two mass shootings in the span of a week. Last week, a shooter killed eight in Asian massage parlors in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Yesterday, another shooter killed ten in in a large supermarket in Boulder, Colorado. One of those killed was a cop.

Boulder enacted an assault weapon ban in 2018. What’s an assault weapon? It’s the type of gun someone would use to kill ten people in a supermarket. Ten days ago, a court blocked the ban.

The Colorado State Shooting Association, one of the plaintiffs that sued Boulder over the assault weapons ban, issued a statement saying, “There will be a time for the debate on gun laws. There will be a time for the discussion on motives. There will be a time for a conversation on how this could have been prevented. But today is not the time.”

To the Colorado State Shooting Association, and to everyone else who’s ever said, “Now is not the time,” I have to give a big “fuck you.” Fuck you and fuck your “now is not the time.” If there’s a mass shooting every week, then there will never be a time to debate gun laws. Stop using this as an excuse to abdicate your responsibility. Today is the time. Tomorrow will be the time. Next week will be the time. And every day before this shooting was the time to discuss gun safety…yet, you didn’t want to do it.

Here’s a question for the Colorado State Shooting Association: Was the shooter a member of your shooting association? I mean, from your name alone, it sounds like he would have qualified because he was a shooter.

There is one way to stop these weekly mass shootings and that is to get rid of assault weapons. And before you cry, “That won’t work,” let me point out, it’s worked everywhere in the world that it’s been tried. But you may be right in that it won’t work here because we have a gun fetish. There is no other nation in this world where its citizens want to fuck their guns as much as we do. We are a nation that is more comfortable with having children shot in schools than the idea of registering a gun.

For an example of American gun fetish, look at Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert. She’s just two cracked egg shells shy from being Marjorie Taylor Green in the Qanon fucknut division. While she doesn’t represent Boulder, geographically, her district covers half the state.

Boebert, like a lot of Republicans, is a deranged lunatic. She has close ties to the extremist militia group the Three Percenters, a group that’s 100 percent Nazi. They were involved in the terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol.

She did an interview on a Qanon radio show (that’s a thing?) and said she was “very familiar” with the group and, “Everything I’ve heard of Q, I hope that this is real because it only means America is getting stronger and better.” She hopes that Democrats are eating babies with their pizza? Still, probably better than pineapple.

She repeated a conspiracy theory pushed by the conspiracy fucknut newspaper, The Epoch Times, that there were documents declassified by Trump that would soon spark massive resignations in the House and Senate, and Republicans would retake both chambers (this is the good part) BEFORE 2022. Also, Hillary Clinton will soon be arrested for something or other. Maybe that baby pizza thing.

During the white nationalist attack on the Capitol, Boebert tweeted details about the police response and attempted to help terrorists find the location of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This would be like your guard dog showing burglars where you keep your safe and giving them the combination. She voted against certifying the election based on the lie it was stolen from Trump and has been accused of helping instigate the attack…probably because she helped instigate the attack.

During the Conservative Political Action Conference a few weeks ago, she enlisted other members of the House to vote for her due to the coronavirus…but she was actually at CPAC helping to spread Qanon and Trump conspiracy bullshit.

When she’s not aiding racist anti-government terrorists to attack our nation, she enjoys zooming with her guns.

Boebert is a gun nut. She claims she has to carry a gun at all times, even when speaking on the House floor, because someone was beaten to death outside the restaurant she owns in Colorado (where every customer gets to shoot their entrée before consuming it). The fact is, someone was in an altercation several blocks from her restaurant, and after running away, collapsed in front of her place from what an autopsy determined was methamphetamine intoxication.

By the way, her restaurant is Shooters Grill in the town of Rifle. I swear to God and on all my guitars, I did not make that up. One of the Yelp reviews says, “Hey y’all, if diarrhea is your favorite way to expel calories, you’ve found your shortcut to weight loss right here!” Do they have country fried steak? I was going to post the link to the restaurant but Google says it’s not safe….just like the restaurant.

Boebert is a big fan of not just carrying a gun, but posing with it. She made a video of herself (since Republicans like using this word, we’ll use it for them) PARADING while smirking with a gun strapped to her hip. She has made a huge issue of averting metal detectors in the Capitol and has become a right-wing fucknut hero over her gun brandishing.

Boebert claims if she’s prohibited from carrying a gun into a House Natural Resources Committee hearing (which I’m assuming she’s on), then the chairman of the committee, Raul Grijalva, must pay for her personal protection, as in hiring security guards to follow her around. These people who are afraid to even do a Zoom call without a gun accuse others of being cowards for wearing face masks. “Afraid to leave the house are ya’?” while they have Glocks hidden in their ass cracks.

She said, “The chairman is trying to take responsibility for my personal safety while stripping away my Second Amendment rights.” I have read the Second Amendment multiple times and I haven’t found the part where it states you can carry a gun into any room or building you want to. The greatest danger you’re going to face in the United States Capitol is if a far-right racist terrorist group attacks it. Maybe she’s afraid that if that happens, someone will tweet out her location. Quick! Grab the ass Glock!

There is a regulation that exempts members from a federal law banning firearms on the Capitol grounds. But, weapons are still prohibited on the House floor. This has not stopped a gun fucker like Boebert from being a pistol-packing mama on the House floor.

During a Zoom meeting of the committee she’s on, Boebert made sure to use her gun fetish as her background (while I struggle for my apartment not to look like a warehouse during my Zoom meetings or keep my bed from appearing). Boebert had several guns right behind her head. When the committee resumes meeting in person again, she intends to bring her guns with her unless a Democrat pays for her security detail.

Representative Jared Huffman said, “Here’s the reality — if somebody wants to have a shrine to their gun fetish as a Zoom backdrop in their private life, they can do that, but this is our hearing room. At some point we will get past the COVID epidemic and we’ll all start showing up in person and our safety and our ability to conduct business civilly without feeling threatened is a relevant consideration, unfortunately.”

And her fellow House members should feel threatened by her. Why? Because she is a security threat. She’s packing a gun, supporters terrorist groups, and let me remind you…helped terrorists attack Congress. So yeah….members of Congress should be very aware of how dangerous she is.

Members of Congress deserve to feel safe and not live in fear of being shot by a raving lunatic while on the House floor or in committee meetings. Also, you should feel safe not to get blasted by an automatic weapon by a maniac while you’re going to school, the movies, or shopping. All three of those have been the scene of a mass shooting in Colorado.

I have three newspapers in Colorado who subscribe to my cartoon service. They are The Colorado Reporter in Denver, the Colorado Springs Independent, and Boulder Weekly. I hope all my friends in Boulder are safe and my thoughts are with them.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: I have SEVEN copies of my book in stock, which I’m selling for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

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Neo-Nazi Gun Rally

cjones01202020

Yesterday, I wrote on Twitter: Dear gun fetishists. Please keep your and your racist and Nazi friends’ asses out of my state next week. Thanks.

I got replies to that. I was surprised at how many and the type of replies I got. And no, I didn’t respond to any of them.

Thousands of protesters are expected to the state capitol grounds in Richmond on Monday to protest proposed restrictions on gun purchases by the Virginia Legislature. The governor, Ralph Northam, has declared a state of emergency and announced a temporary ban on weapons on the grounds of the State Capitol ahead of the rally.

Yes, these people are upset at gun restrictions in Virginia, yet a ban on guns on the grounds of the State Capitol is only temporary. In case you’re a Republican, “temporary” means not forever. Also, why are you upset about this when you’re never angry about there being a ban on guns at NRA conventions? Think about it.

The reason for the state of emergency is that authorities have identified credible “threats of violence,” including from out-of-state militia groups and hate groups that are planning to start shit. The governor said the authorities had also found extremist rhetoric online similar to what had been seen in 2017 before the Charlottesville tiki-torch march conducted by hate groups in 2017 over removing Confederate statues, that left one girl dead.

Also, Monday is Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, which is a federal holiday, so don’t tell me there’s not a racist aspect to this. It’s like trying to tell me you’re not a racist while you’re wearing a sheet.

I think there’s something to these threats online because even I, little ole me, pipsqueak cartoonist who’s not major on the national scene, got some very cryptic replies to my tweet last night and this morning. And I’m not just talking about all the F-You comments.

I got the black-friend defense. I got the Hitler-banned-guns defense (I love that they fail to capture the irony in lying about the Holocaust to support their gun fetish while saying they’re not bigots). I got the I’m-Rubber-You’re-Glue defense, as in, “I’m not the Nazi. You’re the Nazi,” which is heavily used among the MAGAt crowd (I’m not the puppet. You’re the puppet).

And finally, I got the We’re-Going-To-Find-Where-You-Live reply. Yes, because somebody did not like my tweet. Earlier today, I even saw comments on a right-wing friend’s page that the governor has a “surprise” coming to him.

While these people are screaming at me for lumping gun fucknuts in with racists, white nationalists, and Nazis converging on my state’s capital on Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, the FBI…wait for it…just arrested three neo-Nazis, who’ve been planning for a race war, who had just obtained a bunch of guns and were planning…try not to be shocked…on traveling to Virginia for Monday’s gun rally.

So, to all the gun nuts who yelled at me yesterday, “We’re not the racists,” let me steal from Andrew Gillum in that it’s not me who thinks you’re racist. The racists think you’re racist. Do you know why they think you’re racist? Because you’re racist.

Here’s the thing, when you’re marching with Nazis, you’re marching with Nazis. And, when Nazis get together, nothing good can come from it. So no, we don’t want you here in Virginia. We’re good. Thanks.

See, here in Virginia, we’re turning blue and we don’t want any more mass shootings in our state. I understand dead school children is a price you’re willing to pay for the right to dry hump an Uzi, but don’t use our children.

Governor Ralph Northam is right to declare a state of emergency over gun nuts descending down upon our state. Our nation’s gun nuts are a state of emergency, just like our president (sic) is a national emergency.

Support the cartoonist.

You can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print). I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

New Book: Tales From The Trumpster Fire

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What Kind Of Flood?

cjones09272019

Honestly, when “breaking news” about Texas was announced on my TV Thursday, I half expected it to be another mass shooting.

While flooding is terrible, especially for Houston which is still recovering from a flood two years ago, it was kinda refreshing that breaking news out of Texas wasn’t about a mass shooting. This is where we are, folks.

If there’s one place in this nation where a large percentage of the population treats their guns like their babies, and even values them over the lives of children, it’s Texas.

Support the cartoonist.

As I noted in a previous cartoon, these are perilous times for political cartoonists. But you can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print).I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

Watch me draw.

A Real Tacky Cartoon

cjones09112019

Right-wing gun toters who love to call liberals “snowflakes” have a new issue to cry about. Walmart has kinda-sorta banned people from openly carrying guns in their stores. If you’re not a Walmart shopper, first off, good for you. But you may be asking right now, “Walmart allowed gun fetish whackos to skulk around their stores carrying guns?” Apparently, yes.

When you see someone who’s not a cop, walking around with a gun on their hip, they’re not telling you they’re about self-protection. They’re trying to convince the world around them, and themselves, they’re a badass and they’re not taking shit from anybody. If you see someone with an AK-47 strapped to their body, they’re telling you they have a very small penis. No matter the size of the gun, they’re all paranoid and delusional.

Talk to one of these gun worshippers on the internet and you’ll discover they’re convinced they’ll not only survive an active-shooter situation, but they’ll save the day, be the hero, and Hollywood will make a new series of Rambo movies about them. What they fail to understand is that these situations happen fast, they’ve never been in one before, and there’s no way for the police to tell them apart from the active shooter. And why should the cops be able to tell the difference? These people walking around with guns to “protect” themselves are probably hanging out on the same hate forums as the guys writing these pro-Trump, anti-immigration manifestos. You know they’re all voting for the same candidates and watching the same networks.

Now they get to be angry and butthurt with Walmart, which puts them in awkward situations. It’s not like they’re going to start shopping at Target (no pun intended) and ordering spiced lattes at Starbucks.

It goes further than just “asking” their customers not to creep around their stores with Uzis. Walmart will no longer sell handgun ammunition for the short-barrel rifle ammunition used for hunting rifles as well as military-style weapons (assault weapons). They will also stop selling handguns in Alaska, the last state where their stores sold them. If you carry a concealed weapon, Walmart will not ask you to refrain from doing so. And, how could they tell anyway? For all they know, you’re happy to see them.

On top of all that, Walmart is asking Congress to enact gun safety measures. Kroger (in case you don’t know, it is a grocery chain) has followed Walmart’s lead and are also “asking” customers not to open carry in their stores.

Fox News fucknut and blonde #37 Tomi Lahren was outraged. She said Walmart “just shot itself in the foot.” She’s probably mostly upset because she just released a brand new made-in-China “athleisure” line designed to be worn with firearms. Other conservatives were also howling.

It’s funny these conservatives are all about freedom and against government meddling in businesses but are outraged when one decides for itself what’s best for its employees and customers. They cheer when Hobby Lobby uses its owner’s religion to deny health insurance, but get upset at another business for restricting guns.

The thing is, Walmart has more recent experience with guns in their stores than Tomi Lahren could even imagine she has (which is not a fair example because just what the holy hell is she experienced in?). Last July, a former employee shot and killed two workers in one of their stores. Last month, a white nationalist Trump supporter killed 22 people in one of their El Paso stores.

There are a lot of legitimate reasons not to shop at Walmart (like political donations, low salaries, unfair hiring practices, cheap and crappy imported goods, killing small towns and businesses, only three open checkout lanes, creepy people, etc), but I support them on this decision. I also support their right to continue to sell guns for hunting. Most gun-control proponents aren’t against hunting rifles and shotguns. So if that’s the case, then why give Walmart a hassle over selling them? They stopped selling pistols (except in Alaska until yesterday) and assault weapons years ago.

I don’t expect this to hurt Walmart in the slightest with their customers. Walmart is like crack to people who shop there. They can’t quit it. Walmart’s greatest concern is Amazon.

Yesterday, Walmart’s owners showed they’re willing to confront their base. They showed they have bigger balls than Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump, and the entire Republican Party. Perhaps they should all walk around with enormous assault rifles to overcompensate.

Support the cartoonist.

As I noted in a previous cartoon, these are perilous times for political cartoonists. But you can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print).I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

Watch me draw.

F’ed Up

cjones09092019

America’s latest mass shooting killed 7 and injured 22.

A 36-year-old man, fired from his job hours earlier on Saturday, led police on a high-speed chase where he fired an AR-15 style assault rifle indiscriminately at motorists and officers. Police initially tried to pull the suspect over for failing to use a turn signal, which turned into a chase that created 15 crime scenes along the highway between Midland and Odessa which included car dealerships and shopping mall. The man hijacked a postal van before he was finally shot and killed in the parking lot of a movie theater.

Those killed raned in age from 15 to 57, including the driver of the postal van. One of the injured was a 17-month-old toddler who is recovering from shrapnel in her chest. This occurred one day before 10 new laws loosening gun restrictions took effect in Texas. Some of the new laws are that renters can’t prohibit guns from being stored or carried onto their properties and schools can’t enforce gun safety rules for staff and visitors.

The governor argued that the new laws were enacted “for the purpose of making the community safer.” The National Rifle Association praised the governor and state legislature for “protecting your Second Amendment rights.” There have been five mass shootings in Texas over the past three years. Apparently, the state with the most guns doesn’t have enough guns yet to make it safe (and the majority of gun owners are white men). Texas has the most lax gun laws in the nation and they haven’t made the connection yet as to why they also lead the country in mass shootings.

Donald Trump said Saturday’s shooting could have been worse and that background checks wouldn’t have stopped Saturday’s shooting spree. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he was “heartbroken” and “tired of the dying of the people of the state of Texas,” and then he cried about the threat to gun rights.

And then, conservatives and gun owners finally found something about a mass shooting to get upset about. Beto O’Rourke dropped an F-bomb.

O’Rourke told CNN’s Dana Bash. “The rhetoric that we’ve used — the thoughts and prayers that you just referred to — it has done nothing to stop the epidemic of gun violence to protect our kids, our families, our fellow Americans in public places — at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, where 22 were killed, in Sutherland Springs — in a church. One or two a day all over this country; 100 killed daily in the United States of America. We’re averaging about 300 mass shootings a year. No other country comes close.” And then he said, “So yes, this is fucked up.” He used the word again while campaigning in Virginia.

Immediately, Fox News ran a segment on CNN’s failure to bleep out the F-bomb. Conservatives took to social media, pausing from defending guns, to express outrage at Beto’s profanity.

Beto later tweeted, “Profanity is not the f-bomb. What is profane is a 17 month-old baby being shot in the face.”

Beto’s language isn’t the outrage.

If you’re still defending private ownership of assault weapons, that’s fucked up.

If you’re more upset over talk about gun control than deaths from mass shootings, that’s fucked up.

If you value guns over the lives of children, that’s fucked up.

If you’re a member of the National Rifle Association, that’s fucked up.

If you’re OK that we have to have metal detectors at school entrances and we have to send our children to class in bulletproof backpacks, that’s fucked up.

If you’re more upset over Beto saying “fuck” than you are about murder victims, that’s fucked up.

If you think it’s more upsetting for children to hear the F word on TV than to have to endure coverage of another mass shooting, that’s fucked up.

If you think a mass shooter being shot by a “good guy with a gun” after he kills 26 and injures 20 (Sutherland Springs, Texas, 2017) is proof the “good guy with a gun” argument works, that’s fucked up.

Quite frankly, you “Second Amendment” people’s priorities are fucked up.

The shooters neighbor said, “Although I feel bad about the situation, I feel at ease knowing that he was killed. That tells me the threat has been removed and my family is safe again.”

Here’s the thing. His family isn’t safe again (especially in Texas), and THAT’S FUCKED UP.

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As I noted in a previous cartoon, these are perilous times for political cartoonists. But you can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print).I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.

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How Did You Spend Your Summer?

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Here’s your cartoon for CNN’s weekly newsletter, Provoke/Persuade. Please sign up to get these in your inbox every Sunday for the rest of your life.

For this week’s newsletter, CNN Opinion turned it over to their readers to share how they spent their summer. My editors asked me to come up with something on the topic. This was my very first idea but we weren’t sure if we should go with it as the subject has some overlap with a cartoon I drew for them two weeks ago. Now, I think it’s more than appropriate because events are overlapping.

Yesterday, there was another mass shooting. Another mass shooting in Texas. A gunman killed seven and wounded 22.

A colleague of mine published a cartoon on gun violence a few hours before the El Paso shooting. A lot of readers praised him for his timing. The same thing is happening to me today. But, c’mon. This is America. If you draw a cartoon about gun violence, you have a pretty good (no pun intended) shot of that cartoon landing on the same day as a mass shooting. We’re not psychics. Gun violence is as common in this country as Donald Trump saying something idiotic or racist. There is too much gun violence in this country. Why?

Because it’s too easy to get a gun. Because there are too many guns. Because there are too many people valuing their “gun rights” over lives.

Beto O’Rourke said, “This is fucked up.” I don’t have anything to add to that.

Support the cartoonist.

As I noted in a previous cartoon, these are perilous times for political cartoonists. But you can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print).I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

Watch me draw.

The Do-Nothings

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Former Broward County sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson was arrested and charged yesterday with 11 charges of neglect of a child, culpable negligence and perjury. Why? Because he sat outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in relative safety while a 19-year-old gunman killed 17 and injured 17 others.

An investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Peterson didn’t investigate the source of gunshots, retreated during the shooting while victims were still under attack, and directed other law enforcement officers to remain 500 feet away from the building. If he was a Republican, he would have cited bone spurs for his inaction.

While Peterson hung around outside busy not doing anything, over 70 shots were fired by the killer. How many of those shots found a human target? While the shooter is the murderer and responsible for the deaths and injuries, Peterson, who was hired to protect the school, could have probably saved a few lives.

The people who don’t do anything to protect children from mass shootings are culpable in their deaths. That includes Republicans in Congress. That includes the Republican president, who said in an interview with Piers Morgan that people need the AR-15 assault rifle for “entertainment.” As Morgan compared gun deaths in Britain, 35 a year, to the 150 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2019 (so far), Trump compared U.S. gun deaths to stabbings in England. Trump said, “In London, you have stabbings all over. I read an article where everyone is being stabbed.” I’m sure the headline read, “EVERYONE IS BEING STABBED.” The truth is, annual stabbing deaths in England are fewer than 300 a year, much less than gun deaths in the U.S. Trump argued guns in England could stop stabbings.

Trump has a point. We’re too busy in the U.S. shooting each other to bother with stabbings. Nobody goes to a school and stabs 17 people, or to a church or rock concert and stabs 50. In case you haven’t noticed yet, Donald Trump is an idiot.

The thing is, nobody “needs” an AR-15. You don’t need it for protection. You don’t need it to compensate for your small penis. You don’t even need it for entertainment. There’s a difference between “need” and “want.”

Fred Guttenberg lost his daughter Jaime in Parkland. He said Peterson deserves the misery coming his way and that he should “rot in Hell.”

Peterson didn’t do the job he swore to do, which was to protect and serve. Trump and Congress are also not doing their jobs. They’re not protecting the citizens of this nation from gun deaths. Their inaction makes them culpable for every single person killed by a gun.

For that, they should all rot in Hell. That would be very entertaining.

Be Complicit

What kind of person would want to be part of something that disparages, slanders, and disrespects Dear Leader and his sycophantic followers? Hopefully, you. 
Making a contribution supports my work and keeps the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. My income is from newspapers that subscribe to my work and small contributors. George Soros hasn’t sent me a million dollar check in weeks. Making a contribution of any amount, or buying a print for $40.00, makes you part of this specific resistance, and a member of Team Claytoonz (we’re still working on the name). You are complicit, an accomplice, and in cahoots (and whatever gangster terms we can think of) with this political satire pointing out that the stupid emperor has no clothes. Contributions can be made through PayPal, checks, and wads of cash exchanged in back alleys.
Whether you can help support, can’t, or just choose not to, please continue to enjoy and keep reading my work. Thank you!!! 

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

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Crisis Actors

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Last week I talked about how one of the joys of being liberal is that you don’t have to make stuff up to justify your beliefs.

Your run-of-the-mill Republican will inflate or decrease numbers or leave out pertinent information when making their case. Your average troglodyte conservative will make up the most horrible stuff, like Alex Jones when he claimed the Newtown shooting was a hoax.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the scene of the latest school shooting, are organizing and taking on gun control and politicians who accept money from the NRA. Other students from around the nation are joining them. All these students are either victims, potential victims, or future victims. The reason they’re scaring the living hell out of Republicans is that they’re right.

They’re also future voters who aren’t going to forget Marco Rubio refusing to stop taking money from the NRA, or his refusal to acknowledge an AR-15 is an instrument of war. It’s like he can’t call an assault rifle by its name. They also won’t forget going to the White House where Donald Trump’s proposal to end more gun violence is to introduce more guns into schools, and the fact he needed crib notes to appear empathetic.

Some Republicans are starting to bash these students. The most harmless horrible comment I read was about the students not being old enough for their brains to be fully formed. That sort of crap makes me wonder about the conservative critic’s brains, and if he even has any. Just because you were inarticulate as a child doesn’t mean these kids are too.

Other conservatives are saying these kids can’t be this organized without any help. Crazy David Clarke, the sheriff from Milwaukee, has claimed George Soros is funding and organizing these movements. Clarke doesn’t have any proof, but these people don’t need proof to post a comment on Twitter. Look at Donald Trump.

Attacking one of the survivors of Parkland, conservative Dinesh D’Souza tweeted, “This woman seems coached and also a bit deranged. Trump’s should ignore these media-manufactured theatrics. Genuine grief I can empathize with. But grief organized for the cameras—politically orchestrated grief—strikes me as phony & inauthentic.” D’Souza later apologized for the tweets, but I wonder why he ever thought, even briefly, such comments were a good idea.

Alex Jones has posted several videos on his InfoWars YouTube channel accusing David Hogg, a senior from Stoneman Douglas, of forgetting his lines during a TV interview. According to an article by Brianna Sacks of Buzzfeed, Its had nearly 10,000 views and another calling the shooting a “giant false flag” has nearly 200,000 views (the article is one of the sources where I got the info for this column).

The biggest conspiracy theory floating around out there being shared by your crazy uncle is that the students speaking out are “crisis actors” taking advantage of the shooting to push a liberal gun control agenda. Right-wing sites, such as The Gateway Pundit, are eating this up. Russian trolls are also pushing the narrative. You’ve probably already seen some of their work on Facebook. Russian troll farms don’t sleep.

The irony here is that the conservatives arguing the kids are coached and manipulated are being manipulated by right-wing sites and Russians.

I gave a primer the other day for voting which was, Putin’s choice for president is the worst choice for us. I’m going to give you another primer about political opinions.

If you have to make shit up to advance your agenda, you’re wrong. If you can’t rely exclusively on facts, you’re wrong. If you have to slander victims of a mass shooting, you’re a deplorable human being who should just go ahead and defect to Russia now.

I won’t miss you.

Here’s the video. 

Update: Facebook removed the video for “bullying” and “harassing.” What the hell? I’m clay Jones, not Alex Jones. I have appealed.

I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print (please specify which print you want or I won’t mail one). All donations will receive my eternal gratitude