What Kind of Movies Are Your Children Seeing?

Today is the 50th anniversary of the horrific mass shooting that took place on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin on August 1, 1966. The perpetrator, Charles Whitman, killed 17 and wounded more than 30 others. Today is also the first day of the so-called Campus Carry law (S.B. 11) in the state of Texas, which will allow licensed holders to carry concealed handguns at public universities.

The issue of gun violence in the United States has long predated the tragedy at the University of Texas. The cartoon above, which expresses a concern over how weapons are depicted in the new art form of the cinema, was originally published in 1927. Its author, incidentally, was Norman Woodlieff, a musician and founding member of the North Carolina Ramblers.