Louisville Courier-Journal cartoonist Marc Murphy welcomed the National Rifle Association to town ahead of its national convention with a cartoon depicting a cemetery of purported gun-violence victims.
The cartoon, which appeared along with a feature story on the NRA’s political influence in the Kentucky legislature, features a picture of a billboard with the group’s marketing ploy – that it will host “acres of guns” – next to a cemetery with the caption “acres.”
Using violence as a political talking point is par for the course for Mr. Murphy, who previously drew a cartoon featuring a young girl in a pink dress hanging by a cross splattered with bullet holes, along with a young boy in the not-too-distant background similarly hanging lifelessly. The horizontal beam of each cross is scrawled with “2nd Amendment.”
He shared the latter cartoon on social media on Sunday ahead of the NRA’s meeting, with the caption: “Welcome to Louisville, NRA. Enjoy your stay.”
Another theme the artist consistently employs is accusing Republicans of racial bigotry through the symbol of the Ku Klux Klan hood.
One cartoon features a red hood in the style of a “Make America Great Again” Donald Trump hat, while another depicts former Vice President Dick Cheney wearing a Christmas sweater patterned with KKK hoods.
The NRA is holding its 145th annual meeting at the Kentucky Exposition Center from May 19 to 22.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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