Disney Channel Edits Out Gun From 1938 Mickey Mouse Cartoon

United States --(Ammoland.com)- Almost every morning the Disney Channel runs shortened versions of their “golden oldies” between some of their modern day cartoons as a way to fill time until the next scheduled show begins.

One morning recently my kids were watching the Disney Channel when they featured an old Mickey Mouse classic called ‘Mickey’s Parrot‘ which was originally released back on September 09, 1938.

In this episode, a parrot belonging to an escaped killer wanders into Mickey’s basement. Mickey hears it talking and thinks that the parrot is the killer who is on the loose who he just heard about on the radio. Mickey then goes and grabs his double barreled shotgun off of the wall and prepares to defend himself.

Well, wouldn’t you know it… in the version they presented on the Disney Channel the other day, they had digitally removed the shotgun and replaced it with a broom. Yes, Mickey grabbed a broom off of the gun rack, shouldered it, and prepared to defend himself with his handy, dandy tactical… broom.

Really, Disney? Really? Do you think we have come to the point as a society that we can’t even allow guns to be seen by children for fear that it will cause them to become crazed, blood thirsty psychopaths? Do you really think guns are so evil that the mere sight of one will cause blood to run in the streets? Give me a break!

Disney cartoons from that era have featured firearms literally more times than I can count. They’ve depicted firearms in terms of being a legitimate means of self defense, as a means to take game animals, and they have shown firearms as the indispensable tool that they are for every cowboy and cowgirl of the old west. Several generations have now been brought up with Disney cartoons that have depicted firearms as an integral part of their plot, and now you are telling me that we as a society can no longer handle it?…

That our children must be completely isolated from the mere sight of a cartoon gun? Ridiculous!

No one outside of Disney can definitively say why they would choose this extremely misguided approach to self censorship, but I find it very disturbing. Did they choose to do this because they are anti-gun? Did they do it because they actually believe that kids seeing firearms would be detrimental? Perhaps they are just so afraid of the loony liberal soccer mom’s that might email them about it that they felt it was just the easiest path to take. I dont know the answer to the question of “why” they are doing this, but my response to them is the same no matter what… SHAME ON YOU, DISNEY! SHAME ON YOU!

If Disney is actually concerned about child safety with regards to firearms, then I would suggest they team up with the NRA and devote some significant airtime to letting Eddie Eagle educate children about what to do if they find a gun. Not allowing children to be exposed to even the sight of a gun is not the answer. In fact, that’s what gets kids killed.

The responsible thing to do is to talk to kids about guns. Tell them about the dangers, and educate them about how to be safe. Disney has a captive audience to say the least, and they should be doing everything they can to educate children (and parents) in our nation about gun safety. Disney should be doing their part to give children the knowledge that they need to keep them safe if they do ever happen to find a gun. Spreading the message of “Stop. Don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult.” is the path they should be taking. If Disney actually wants to make a difference when it comes to the safety of children, then they should be providing the millions of children that watch their network with useful information about firearms that will actually prevent accidents.

Disney sticking their heads in the sand and hoping that kids never see what a gun looks like is not the answer. Talking openly and honestly about gun safety is what will actually help children. How great would it be if an entire generation that is going to grow up watching the Disney Channel could be exposed to such valuable information about gun safety?

What Disney is currently doing is misguided and extremely dangerous. They are not helping to keep kids safe, and they are being extremely counterproductive towards preventing gun accidents in America.

Eric at the Gunmart Blog – Eric is a gun blogger, firearms enthusiast, and sorry excuse for a hunter. He is also an AmmoLand Shoting Sports News Columnist. Leave him some comments on this article before you go. You can also follow Eric on Facebook, Twitter and at his blog, Gunmart. Visit: GunmartBlog.com

I haven’t read any of the newer comics in years.

The Renegades series was actually really good in some respects even though the animation style was that hot. I watched all of it. I was surprised at the writing of it and how actually people were killed off.

At least it did get some kind of end since it probably won’t be allowed to live in another season.

Out of all the Renegades, Tunnel Rat was probably my favorite one. I also liked how Zartan was redone as well as the Crimson Twins.

20 years ago, I picked up a handful of old cartoon VHS tapes in the discount bin at the local mom &pop video store for my then 3 year old son. These were a bunch of cartoons from the 40s including Porky Pig, Little LuLu, etc...

I popped in the first video, Porky Pig, where in the first cartoon, Porky was a lone fireman with his firetruck and he’s called to a house fire. He arrives and the fire is going pretty good, so Porky grabs his hose and runs into the house. The flames are animated with arms and legs and these little evil grins and they start toying with Porky as they are dancing around the house and Porky is chasing them with his fire hose. At one point the flames are racing through a hallway where there are pictures on the wall. The first picture is a picture of a pig and a chicken on a farm. As the flame rushes by, the picture turns into a picture of bacon and eggs on a plate. Got it, right? The flames are cooking whatever is in the picture, bread turns to toast, a turkey changes to a thanksgiving turkey cooked on a platter, etc...

Well, the last picture is a picture of a little blonde haired, blue-eyed angel cherub with his big cute cheeky smile and his little bow and arrow. As the flames race by, the picture turns into a little surprised black kid (wide eyes and large lips, etc) and he had devil horns and a pitch fork! I about fell out of my chair! I wasn’t quite ready for THAT one...

I got very curious and sat down to watch a bunch of the old cartoons and there were quite a few examples of scenes that would never see the light of day in today’s PC world. Another was Little Lulu smoking a cigarette and hallucinating with all these evil giant cigarette people dancing in circles around her taunting her and shoving more and more cigarettes in her mouth. Pretty crazy stuff.

I recall seeing that episode of Porky Pig on TV when I was a small boy, say circa 1970 (I've got an eidetic memory for certain things...it's a curse, I tells ye). My favorite cartoons as a kid were the WWII propaganda ones. ALL the characters had guns, of course. A standard gag was the good old "bayonet-to-the-butt". There were several cartoons that featured Hitler as a main character (Bugs Bunny's "Gremlins from the Kremlin" being the best-known). Adolf always got killed or K.O.ed by the end in the most violent ways imaginable, as was only right. I used to laugh my butt off. Emperor Hirohito and Tojo made some appearances too, nicely sterotyped with giant buck teeth, coke-bottle glasses and garish orange complexions. They also were usually done to death quite violently with cartoon weapons of war. It was good TV.

I haven't seen any of those cartoons for forty years. As I often observe, this used to be such a cool country.

How long has it been since the Biathlon was shown in the US ?

It’s still an Olympic sport. An exciting one, at that.

Not since 1978, when they disallowed the use of centerfire target rifles to allow the girls and Euroweenies to play, abandoning all previous rules, records and examples set by those who had competed in the sport all the way back to its origins as the *Nordic patrol rifle* event.

Klas Lestander during the 1960 Olympic biathlon competition, the first in which the event was known by that name.

I haven't seen any of those cartoons for forty years. As I often observe, this used to be such a cool country.

At least they still exist, even if in butchered form. There are DVDs available of some of them as originally produced.

On TV, however, some characters have disappeared entirely.

“The Renegades series was actually really good in some respects even though the animation style was that hot. I watched all of it. I was surprised at the writing of it and how actually people were killed off.”

My sister who just started jr college this year also was surprised about the Renegades’ animation, and did not sense any lib, anti-military stuff in the series.

The younger Dr. Mindbender was a close 2nd to Tunnel Rat as my faves. I agree on Zartan because he was in the 2nd episode and wondered back then how he got his cowl. Good catch up later in the series.

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