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‘If Only There Had Been a Good Guy With a Gun’: Paper Defends Publishing Cartoon About Chris Kyle’s Death

Feb. 14, 2013 3:16pm Madeleine Morgenstern

A Missouri newspaper is standing by one of its political cartoons about the death of slain ex-Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, shot and killed at a Texas gun range earlier this month allegedly at the hand of a fellow veteran.

Lee Judge’s Feb. 9 cartoon for the Kansas City Star showed a grave with the headstone “American Sniper” and featured the caption, “If only there had been a good guy with a gun around.” The statement is a reference to National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre’s oft-repeated quote in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” and Kyle’s book, “American Sniper.”

Newspaper Runs Chris Kyle Cartoon After Snipers Death

Lee Judge’s Feb. 9 cartoon (Image source: Kansas City Star)

The conservative website Twitchy flagged the cartoon Thursday after a claim that it ran in syndication in the Charlotte, Fla. Sun Herald on Wednesday — the day after Kyle’s funeral. It actually appears that the cartoon ran in the Biloxi, Miss. Sun Herald newspaper, though the precise print date could not immediately be verified.

The Mississippi Sun Herald did not return a request for comment from TheBlaze about whether or not the cartoon did actually run four days after its original publication date and if so, why the outlet chose to do so in such close proximity to the funeral.

Miriam Pepper, vice president of editorial at the Kansas City Star, however, defended the original cartoon, calling it “very powerful” and said it “made a very telling point.”

“Here you have a very experienced weapons expert, you know, who’s murdered by another shooter and I think we believe very strongly that the discussion around the issue of putting more armed guards in places is not going to be the answer everyone agrees with,” Pepper told TheBlaze.

Judge could not be reached directly for comment, but Pepper said she was sure he didn’t intend any disrespect.

“I’m sure he wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to the deceased. It was a very powerful cartoon and sometimes very powerful cartoons are uncomfortable,” she said.

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Comments (187)

NaughtyNala2k4
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:50pm
This is just my humble opinion, but if you look at the timeline of terrorists being killed since Obama took office you see a pattern of “tit for tat”. A major player killed, then not soon after our military have a helicopter crash, attack in Benghazi, the murder of Chris Kyle. Do you really think these are just coincidence. I don’t. I think is is a part of a hidden agenda Obama and his cronnies have in place.

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- wordsofwisdom
  Posted on February 15, 2013 at 12:12am
  People in this world are completely upside down. We are cheering bad things & putting down good things. Their is nothing good about this killing so why is their so many willing to lower them selves to find fault to further a political agenda that is bad for everyone. Completely senseless acts are seen as good. Their is something else going on here. We are not acting like normal rational people anymore. Their is no excuse for some of this behavior in any normal society. Makes think we really may be in the end times as this song foretells “The End Times” http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_10381143
  
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KEELHAULUM
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:45pm
BS he didn’t mean any disrespect to the deceased. That’s all he meant, to pass judgement about who is a good guy and who isn’t. Message received loud and clear A hole.

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- bTeri
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:59pm
  Tell that to Kyle’s wife and kids. There was no reason to exploit his death – this point has been made over and over and it is not persuasive. Gun owners know the real statistics of just how effective gun ownership can be in protecting your home — VERY EFFECTIVE.
  
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knight_who_says_nih
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:45pm
Will someone with an ability to draw counter this cartoon with one showing 500 tombstones, the Chicago skyline in the background, and the caption: “If only there had been more gun laws.”

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YallComeBack
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:15pm
Hmmm. Negative is not what came to my mind. 2 good guys were attacked by a bad guy.

another good guy with a gun would have been a good thing.

Why is this automatically a bad or insulting cartoon?

If a person assumed that there was zero good guys present (and hence the victims were bad)- I could see how that would be offensive. But I just don’t see that it must mean that.

If someone attacks me, I hope there is “a good guy with a gun around” beside me.

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Grand design
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:03pm
I think that it’s interesting that the paper and the cartoonist thought it was funny to mock a military hero, who saved countless American lives, when he was shot in the back by someone he thought he could trust! Perhaps someday when your collective butts are in a sling, all the gun owners will be having coffee in the local donut shop, letting you work things out on your own! Useful Idiots!

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jmark9
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 6:39pm
i hope that cartoon artist has to answer for that, face to face, to one of that hero’s friends or family member

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- Grand design
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 7:04pm
  He is most likely a Socialist, having never served!
  
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Texan4ever
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 6:35pm
Let’s do this: take all holier-than-thou liberal “journalists” and “cartoonists” and drop them in Egypt or Afghanistan or Pakistan without weapons to defend themselves. When they start crying for someone to help them, send them Obama and Hillary.

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The Big Mick
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 6:17pm
GhostofJeff.
You are absolutely right that it is Discogent, Unfair, and Wrong to draw dots from this Cartoon to Ron Paul.
But it would be somewhat, if not equally, Discogent to completely disassociate Paul from his comments following Kyle’s Murder.
However it is parsed and spun, Paul did say that Jesus/Gandhi Pacifism would have prevented, to a degree, in some way, this kind of thing.
That is an EXPANSION of his Stand on Unconstitutional and Unnecessary Wars.
I have yet to see in print a complete disavowal of his statements. Lots of defense, spin, “how dare you criticize”, yeah. “I was wrong, didn’t mean that and said something STUPID!”–No.
I continue to Challenge Paul, as I Challenge Glenn, to COMPLETELY and CLEARLY UNPACK WHAT they think the Proper Role of Jesus/Gandhi Pacifism is as applied to Foreign Policy and National Defense, and as it applies to RESISTENCE to TYRANNY!
C.S. Lewis points out that the surest way to Insure that there ALL no Pacifist Nations is to make Pacifism National Policy. Such states will always be Raped and Ravished by Totalitarian States.
Paul and Glenn need to SPELL IT OUT.

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KeenIncite
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 6:16pm
The only “telling point” of this cartoon is that Lee Judge is an arrogant smarta** leftist (sorry for the redundancy) of inferior moral and intellectual capacity surrounded by “people” of similarly low capacity, all of whom are unworthy of freedom.

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Jaracing2
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 6:12pm
This is so bad those libatards have no respect ,no morals, and no conscious. Someone need their knee caps tapped on if you know what i mean. Who ever made the cartoon i hope he breaks his hand in a car door. What a buch of a holes.

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Charles Curtis
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 6:01pm
Dishonorable – Discharge this comic strip creator, Discontinue the paper-magazines-publications that agree with this trashing of an American freedom fighter.

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Patriot Z
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 6:00pm
offensive or not, the cartoon does NOT make a legit point. Nobody on the pro 2nd side ever said that having a good guy with a gun solves all problems or eliminates all risk. we DO say that a good guy with a gun and the ability to defend himself and others is an obvious better solution than giving a ‘bad guy’ free reign over their victims without any opposition. how stupid do libs have to be not to see that very simple point?
bad guys do NOT register their guns or get them legally.
bad guys do not care about gun free zones except in picking viable target enviroments.
a bad guy is very likely to kill you after he gets what he wants because he does not want witnesses. The police are not able to make it to a crime until AFTER its all over with. and thats only if someone is still around to call them

if you want to understand why gun control does not work look at an average prison. everything is controlled, drugs are banned as are weapons. and it is the most dangerous corrupt, violent places on earth. and like a prison, weapons are banned not because of safety for the prisioners but for the safety of the people in charge and to maintain their ability to control the populace…with THEIR guns. any questions lib/statists?

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rationalanimal
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 5:53pm
Getting caught in arguments over the actions of others that do not violate someone’s rights is nonsense. I don’t have the right to NOT be offended by this cartoon any more than the statists on the left have a right to ‘feel safe’ by disarming me.
Rights are a moral concept that recognizes that beings of volitional consciousness (man) are to have the ability to act freely and without coercion. It doesn’t matter how many mass murders there are, how many muslims are offended by anti-Islamic movies/cartoons, how many Christians are offended by anti-Christian cartoons, etc… If any of you believe in individual rights you will ignore this MO paper but you will never attack their right to publish this cartoon because you are offended. If you do so, remember that when the left is offended by any last little thing that comes from the mouth of a conservative, they will have the power to oppress you. This cartoon is terrible and that is where it ends for me.
The 1st and 2nd amendments recognize individual rights to life and must be defended accordingly.

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jungle J
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 5:42pm
kyle was killed by a product of the enemy within…..follow the trail…only the sane can see the obvious tracks.

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Totally Domestic
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 5:36pm
That is not a “powerful cartoon” it is just a visual of thoughts that lurk in the mind of the ingrate and traitor Lee Judge.

SHAME ON ANY NEWSPAPER THAT PRINTS IT.

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- Totally Domestic
  Posted on February 14, 2013 at 5:54pm
  Just left a msj. at the Kansas City Star over Lee Judge’s traitorous cartoon.
  
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LameLiberals
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 5:35pm
Let’s make fun of Gifford’s getting shot if they can make fun of two men getting killed. Their lives are worth much more than hers – as she is worthless.

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LameLiberals
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 5:32pm
The 2 men were SHOT IN THE BACK by a man they considered a fellow solider/friend who they were helping.

If these 2 dead soldiers thought the 3rd guy was any threat at all, they would never had taken him to the range OR turned their back to him.

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neverending
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 5:04pm
No low is too low for the libs and it never ceases to amaze me that they will go to any length to prove what worthless bastards they are. Most importantly for Chris Kyle is that he was and is loved by all Americans who honor our patriots, have the deepest respect for them and thank you is just never enough to say. He will forever remain in our hearts and his family and loved ones in our prayers.

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another pucker
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 5:01pm
It just goes to show the liberal verbal vomiters have no clues as to what the spew of! Anyone with the least bit of knowledge about the etiquette of a shooting range knows that when your not shooting you holster or lay your gun down. Usually this is done when reloading or checking/replacing your target at which time no one is to have a weapon loaded in their hands. I completely assume that this murders mother, who supposed was the one who contacted Chris Kyle, might not have to Mr. Kyle exactly how crazy her son had been behaving. I believe if he had known about the 2 24 hr mental holds, the stealing of her meds, and anything else he had done, the dad threatening to sell his gun, that Mr. Kyle and Mr. Littlefield would not have turned their backs on him where he could have shot them in the back, if they would have taken him shooting to begin with. I 100% believe that if they had been given all of important info about his behavior this never would have happened! You don’t do Chris Kyle’s job and not be a careful and observant person about everything going on around you! Why would the murderer’s dad threaten to sell his gun instead of just taking it and hiding it from him?

XOXOXO

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Tracy F
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 4:52pm
The most “telling point” about this cartoon and anyone defending it is how warped we have become as a society! This young man truly was one of the good guys. He put his life on the line in battle and in civil service as a vigilant watchman of our freedoms. Obviously one of our prized freedoms as a nation, one Kyle fought for, turned deadly for him. To use another one of our prized freedoms to “assassinate” his character is repugnant and should be catagorized as such; but I ask Mr. Pepper and all those that thought he was making a clever point, ” Should we now press to have our freedom of speech severely limited as well because we believe you do irreputable damage to others with your words?” Chris Kyle, lover of our country and his fellow countrymen… rest in peace. Mr. Pepper you have disgraced yourself in trying to win the adoration of the misguided.

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The Big Mick
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 4:29pm
EVERY incident like this should be another nail in the coffin to bury the Denial of those who think THESE PEOPLE can be reasoned with, educated, convinced, that “common ground” or “coming together” or even “peaceful coexistence” is POSSIBLE with them.
How long are you going to deny that your ONLY choices are to BE ENSLAVED by these people or to KILL them?
You can clearly see the DIFFERENCE in your basic Principles, Values, World View? You clearly see that they “don’t get it”? You should know by now you can’t Outvote them? How do you think you are going to Preserve your Sacred Liberties? How?

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a1776patriot
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 4:27pm
You cannot defend against treachery, double-crossing, ambush or secret attacks. This is a despicable commentary.

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Lotus503
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 4:12pm
Lee Judge is a liberal hack…always has been. And, the Kansas City Star isn’t fit to line a dog kennel with. I know, I’m a KC native.

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Lawrence7
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 4:06pm
A liberal main-stream-media source publishing something in poor taste and offensive to the sensibilities of patriots and conservatives? Say it isn’t so …

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Conservative_T-Rex
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 4:06pm
Didn’t a few good guys with guns end up capturing this bad guy with a gun? He wasn’t a bad guy until he pulled the trigger on Kyle… therefore, it was impossible to foresee the tragedy. RIP Kyle.

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