The February 14, 2018, Parkland school shooting in Florida killed 17 people and renewed national debate over gun access and school safety. Lawmakers faced immediate pressure to act on background checks and assault weapons while the NRA and congressional allies resisted new restrictions. The cartoon frames the event as another grim normalization, placing active shooter lockdown alongside traditional childhood milestones to underscore how repeated mass shootings have altered expectations for American schools.
The December 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, left 20 children and six adults dead, prompting immediate national calls for stricter gun laws. Lawmakers and advocates pushed to renew the assault weapons ban that had expired in 2004. The piece argues that the gun lobby's influence leaves the country under siege from easy access to firearms.
In this 2011 cartoon, members of Congress dressed as cafeteria workers squeeze tomato paste onto pizza while an USDA official is tossed into a trash bin labeled nutrition guidelines. The food industry lobby stands by approvingly as a student thanks the lawmakers for being cooler than the previous lunch lady. The image captures congressional action that year to block stricter USDA rules on sodium, potatoes and what counts as a vegetable in school meals. Lawmakers effectively preserved the status of pizza and french fries on cafeteria menus by redefining tomato paste servings.
