It has come to my attention via a faithful reader, that there was a shooting  tragedy in a Seattle coffee shop in the past week or so.  She suggested that I pull this cartoon and at first I agreed, but then I had another thought (which is probably NOT a good thing, as I am sleep deprived and extremely jet lagged, having just returned from foreign lands.)

Throughout cartooning history, cartoonists have walked a very fine line between commenting through satire and just being in extremely bad taste.  It’s what we do to make sense of the world around us and sometimes the “funny” is overpowered by well, powerful sentiments. (As evidenced by death threats against cartoonists.)  This cartoon was originally drawn in protest of open gun carrying policies and through the absurdity of an over caffeinated cat with a gun, show that maybe, just maybe, carrying weapons in public is just a bad idea. So, I’m going to let this cartoon stand, with deepest apologies to anyone who has ever had to deal with the aftermath of violence.  Big pandy hug.

Just a quick note to let you all know that I and the panda kindergarten have returned from our “cultural enrichment excursion” to Italy and Holland.  All rumors of Interpol involvement and international crimes against property and good taste have been vastly exaggerated.  In any case, the panda kindergarten would like to apologize (yes they WOULD…NO BACK TALK) for any unintended “mishaps” that may have occurred as a result of “cultural misunderstandings.”

Until we have time to start drawing the saga of the pandas in Italy, here is a classic offering from the Panda Chronicles to keep you amused.

What could be more Italian than espresso?

Be the Bear!

Bob T. Panda