Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for March 23, 2018

Don’t worry, Larry; Junior’s math teacher is packing.

Very touching Stephen……things are escalating from bad to worse everyday.

that’s sad. atleast larry didn’t speak we todd ed this time

as dumb as Larry is, he does happen to have a soft spot in his parent skills; I applaud Mr. Pastis

Perfect! That says it all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG3yGdQYwqg

A rare moment of pathos on PBS. Lots of it going around. Can’t appreciate the sweet without the bitter.

That’s more than just your normal crocodile tears.

American Public Schools™, ladies and gentlemen. :P :P :P

It must be hell to be a parent with school aged children these days.

Nothing funny about the subject! Ignoring it only makes it worse!

Impressive … a coherent sentence from Larry with proper grammar.

As a father of two schol-going children (though not in the US), I can empathise with Larry. Schools are witnessing increasingly scary incidents the world over. We’ve had several cases of injury and abuse, and even murder in schools in India over the last year.

Zeeba’s parents similarly worry when you lurk around his house, croc.

Oh, just eat a Tide pods.

What no stupid pun?

It’s somewhat telling that people totally ignore all the violence among poor, black communities. But a few white kids get shot? Here come all the calls for Gun Control and Protecting Our Kids!

NOW you Care™.

I read a local story yesterday where law enforcement had arrested 10 men in a Craiglist sex sting. These guys had arranged to have “relations” with children, one contacting a woman who had just given birth and would (supposedly) allow the man access to her newborn. Trust me, a lot more children are in danger than you think and not just from mentally ill people with guns.

Is Pastis advocating the emotional fantasy where we magically make all the billions of weapons in the world disappear, or is he sensibly advocating the imparting of ethics, respect, and responsibility to future generations so that weapons can be used responsibly and defensively until such time as humans can eliminate aggression from their behavioral repertoire?I suspect it’s the former since Larry is all about the primordial, emotional reactions of predators.

Thank you, Toon-Boy, for a heart-wrenching commentary that’s sadly all too accurate.

Makes me long for the good-ol’ school days when all we worried about were the fist fights in the hallways.

Notice that the school entrance has been fenced off? So everyone on this side of the fence should be fine, right? Give us a happy ending, Stephan.

I think everyone should cut out this comic and send it to their state and federal representatives.

…as our kids go to school in the dark, Congress having moved up Daylight Saving Time again.

You do know that more school kids are killed by Daylight Saving Time than by gun-toting maniacs?

It’s just less news-worthy when a kid in rural Minnesota is run over by a sleepy driver because rush hour begins in total darkness now.

Apparently, Congress is more interested in whoever lobbies for DST (Big Grill?) than in dead kids.

Brains are amazing things: many dozens of dead kids don’t matter, so long as it’s one at a time, and we call them “accidents,” while 17 kids at one time is a constitutional crisis.

According to the facts, the most dangerous part of the school day is over when the kid arrives safely at school. But we make decisions with out emotions now.

No razor wire on the fence though so things are not that bad.. yet. Perhaps trumps wall money would be better spent making walls around schools.. with guard towers..

11 kids die every day from texting & driving/distracted driving. Compare that to how many kids get shot. Yes, school violence is a significant issue, but when you look at the sheer numbers, cell phones are posing a much greater threat. More kids die in a couple of weeks than ALL this kids killed from “school shootings” in a year. Why aren’t people up in arms about that? Where are the protests to up the legal age of cell phone use and cars to 21??

Thank you Stephan.

Gun violence-wise, it’s more likely that Jr. comes home to find his father has blown his brains out.

Add to that the fact that roughly 500 children a year will use a gun to kill themselves.

School gun violence is just a drop in a very bloody bucket.

Stephan Pastis perfectly captures the fears of every parent who has sent their kids to school for the past 25 years. Well done, Steph.

This one had to have Larry in it. Pretty sure he’s the only parent in Pearls

So sad this has become a ‘new reality’.

Too, too damn true nowadays

It needed to be said

Why is Larry’s font uppercase?

All I can say is…..wow. Powerful stuff Stephan.

Very bad taste.

I admire the pun control that was needed to create today’s comic.

Even though the odds of one’s child getting shot is about the same as being in a aircraft crash (about 1 in 500 million) homeschooling is starting to look better and better.

The prayer of every parent everywhere everyday. Thanks Larry and Stephan.

actually more guns may be the answer; as long as there are ways to ensure people use them on other people like them. Then the problem may solve itself

Well done, Larry (and what’s his name). Very well done.

signed, Grandpa.

You’re missing the point: Dumb Larry is focused on shooting, yet, his son is thousands of times more likely to die by car…

Kudos, Mr. Pastis. Well said! Well said, indeed.

Even the Crocs, as dumb as they are, love their kids and don’t want them injured in a school shooting. Who would want that?

Wow! I’ve never seen so many likes and so many comments on a comic strip! Obviously, very sad and I assume to meant to be funny!

… I’ve got nothing. Other than mad respect for today’s strip.

Your still safer in school than in general.

Shooters love gun free zones! Easy Pickins

Shooters love gun free zones! Easy Pickins

Big fan of this strip since it began…this strip is NOT of the type which made me a fan. Stick to comedy, Stephan…you’re good at it. Leave the politics and social commentary to others…

Yeah. We need to institute free fire zones and fund free funerals for all the kids!

But if he doesn’t get shot, what I am I going to do for a new wallet and belt?

Best one ever.

Okay. That made me cry.

Excellent strip, Pastis. Unfortunately it’s too late. Too late because, as the lack of action after Sandy Hook has shown, the NRA and the politicians that it buys have decided that killing children is OK. You can not reason with lobby groups and politicians who have decided that the mass murdering of children in schools is an acceptable tradeoff as long as any redneck goober can shoot up an old pickup truck on his back 40 with an assault weapon. It is also too late because after decades of inaction and decades of the NRA blocking any efforts to come up with sensible gun laws, the USA is simply too polluted with guns. They could outlaw assault weapons tomorrow and there would still be millions of them out there, a result of having them legal and freely available for so many years. Decades of having a society in which guns are so readily available that you get a free one with the purchase of a happy meal are not going to be undone with mere gun control legislation. The only way to undo this mess is to actually go and take those guns that should never have been available in the first place, and destroy them. This, as we all know, is not going to happen, because you can show people images of dead and dying children all you want, you will never unwrap the tentacles of those who cherish their assault weapons, and you will never unwrap the tentacles of the NRA from the politicians they have bought and paid for.

Oh, and I am not an anti-gun nut. I own guns. I hunt with guns. But none of my guns would be considered assault weapons. The most ammunition any of them hold is five shots. None have removable magazines, so they cannot be upgraded to hold more. All of them are loaded by inserting one bullet at a time. These limitations are perfectly acceptable for a hunting rifle, because if you haven’t got your deer by the fifth shot you don’t deserve to get the deer.

Thank you for this remarkably touching cartoon.

Thank you.

Does his school have an armed resource officer, and if so is he from Coward County, or is he like Deputy Blaine Gaskill who stopped an active shooter?

More than 187,000 kids have had gun violence at their schools since Columbine. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/us-school-shootings-history/?utm_term=.008a9f780ccc

Odd, my high school never had a problem as most of you have stated here. Open campus back in the mid 70’s. Look at the student parking lot and you could count a shotgun, rifle, or both in just about every pickup truck out there. I even carried a shotgun in the Indian Blanket holster on my front sit in my ’57 Chevy Belair. A different time when we had a first rate Rifle Club, hunted before school or after, or both, and were taught how to respect a firearm as a tool and know it was the human handling it that was always the problem and not ever the firearm.

There is a reason for the second amendment, just read the Deceleration of Independence to see why. Do you really trust the officials in D.C. and your state houses to always do the right thing? Today’s budget approval should worry you some.

The comic is very good, nice work, it got people talking. I see it in another light, the only way to stop a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun. Did that not happen this week even though the girl did not make it? I have never believed in making our schools ‘Gun Free Zones’. It is not ‘gun free’ is you have an armed police officer on campus.

And just to make sure everyone here understands were I am coming from, I do uphold the First Amendment. You and I don’t have to agree, we just have to talk freely and respect each other’s right to our own opinion and know we cannot force our view on another.

Odd, my high school never had a problem as most of you have stated here. Open campus back in the mid 70’s. Look at the student parking lot and you could count a shotgun, rifle, or both in just about every pickup truck out there. I even carried a shotgun in the Indian Blanket holster on my front sit in my ’57 Chevy Belair. A different time when we had a first rate Rifle Club, hunted before school or after, or both, and were taught how to respect a firearm as a tool and know it was the human handling it that was always the problem and not ever the firearm.

There is a reason for the second amendment, just read the Deceleration of Independence to see why. Do you really trust the officials in D.C. and your state houses to always do the right thing? Today’s budget approval should worry you some.

The comic is very good, nice work, it got people talking. I see it in another light, the only way to stop a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun. Did that not happen this week even though the girl did not make it? I have never believed in making our schools ‘Gun Free Zones’. It is not ‘gun free’ is you have an armed police officer on campus.

And just to make sure everyone here understands were I am coming from, I do uphold the First Amendment. You and I don’t have to agree, we just have to talk freely and respect each other’s right to our own opinion and know we cannot force our view on another.

Thumbs up, Stephan Pastis!!!

Thank you, Stephen.

You’ve been going for the heart lately, Stephan. You have my deep gratitude and congratulation. I love your funny stuff, but these few down-deep strips are priceless.

Sorry folks but I find this offensive as we just had a shooting in a school in MD this week! Poor judgement and not funny, which is what comics are supposed to be. This was way too soon to discuss! We should protect our kids , but not glorify the crimes committed.

When did Larry start “speaking in all capital letters”? Did he suddenly get an intelligence boost?

This one is just a little too sad (and not funny at all) for my taste.

This one is just a little too sad (and not funny at all) for my taste.

Perfect.#marchforourlives

Thanks Stephen. Many don’t seem to understand how serious you were being with this one. They seem to think all comics have to be ‘ha-ha-ha’. For those who lost loved ones, be they their child or just someone they knew, it’s quite touching.

Thanks Stephen. Many don’t seem to understand how serious you were being with this one. They seem to think all comics have to be ‘ha-ha-ha’. For those who lost loved ones, be they their child or just someone they knew, it’s quite touching.

Calm the EFF down, Ammosexuals!

Not a single mention of “evil gun control”. Larry is just praying that his child comes home. Your paranoia and persecution complex is showing.

IIRC, There have been six shootings at schools which have resulted in casualties in 2018 so far. If I were Larry, I’d be worried too.

Nothing funny here. This is solely political commentary.

@Sisyphos…Not sure how you construe this as “political commentary”? It’s simply acknowledging one of the many great fears people have now. Humans are not on some plateau of evil things, it is getting worse daily. Some people choose to bury their heads in the sand [or in TV or the funny pages], thinking if they ignore a problem it will go away eventually. Or they make nonsensical statements that this sort of thing has always happened throughout history and that conditions in the world today are no different then they ever were. But a large number of thinking, feeling people recognize that human society is breaking down at an unprecedented rate. School shootings are just one aspect of it. There are things happening in our world that you just cannot set aside for a while while you read the funnies. We need to sit up and give serious attention to what is happening in the world and where it is leading.

Well said.

Powerful.

“Please” used to be “Peez” or a similar dumb croc version.

Larry (and Stephan) don’t understand statistics…

LOL!

Cartoonists have a dual role in our culture. Sometimes, they simply give us a great laugh. Other times, they are the sharpest observers and commentators of culture, more so than political cartoonists. They hit us where we live.

This is one of the sharpest commentaries on our current culture. It should be required reading for everyone.

Cartoonists have a dual role in our culture. Sometimes, they simply give us a great laugh. Other times, they are the sharpest observers and commentators of culture, more so than political cartoonists. They hit us where we live.

This is one of the sharpest commentaries on our current culture. It should be required reading for everyone.

Me talk beeter den.

I didn’t know larry had this in him

that. was. beautiful.

Oh the irony! This comic was made before the Santa Fe school shooting.

What a touching tribute… I think this is the second Pearls tribute to the victims of a school shooting. First one: https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2013/1/14

@bogy If he IS an atheist, then it kind of defeats the purpose of speaking out load to no-one in particular, doesn’t it?

This has revealed something extraordinarily nice about Larry.

He can talk regularly.

They say that’s a school entrance, but I don’t see any school.

oh my god that is a lot of comments, likes, and pins

Wow…this says a lot about the strips where he tries to stop Junior from going to school.

first time larry talked without messing his speech up, so go larry.

And here we are again in 2022…

The fourth panel of the schoolyard fence, sans parent, is … devastating.

This would be even, for lack of a better word, better if it was in front of a military camp.