History Recap / TheSimpsonsS9E5TheCartridgeFamily

* PunBasedTitle: The title is a pun on ''Series/ThePatridgeFamily''.

* BrickJoke: When Homer defends having a gun to Marge and Lisa, he says that without ite NRA criticizes Homer for his reckless gun usage, Krusty claims keeping the King of , the King of England could walk into their house and push them around. Later on, when thEngland out of your face is one of the only three uses for a gun (the others being family protection and hunting).

* BrickJoke: When Homer defends having a gun to Marge and Lisa, he says that without it, the King of England could walk into their house and push them around. Later on, when the NRA criticizes Homer for his reckless gun usage, Krusty claims keeping the King of England out of your face is one of the only three uses for a gun (the others being family protection and hunting).

** The NRA are appalled at Homer when they see him shoot a beer can and his television and expel him on the spit. When they leave, he shoots out the lights instead of turning them off.

* CallBack: Among the many incidents from Homer's background check are fighting UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E13TwoBadNeighbors "Two Bad Neighbors"]] and being institutionalized in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E1StarkRavingDad "Stark Raving Dad"]].

* CallBack: Among the many incidents from Homer's background check are fighting UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush in "Two Bad Neighbors" and being institutionalized in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E1StarkRavingDad "Stark Raving Dad"]].

** The NRA are appalled at Homer when they see him shoot a beer can and his television and expel him immediately. When they leave, he shoots out the lights instead of turning them off.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: The writers tried to give both sides of the gun rights debate reasonable arguments. WordOfGod says that if there is any message in the episode, it is that irresponsible idiots like Homer shouldn't own guns.

** Homer stores his gun in the crisper inside the refrigerator, where Bart finds it and plays "William Tells" with Milhouse (with Milhouse holding the apple ''in his mouth'').

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The soccer riot was never resolved in this episode, and was only there as a cheap set up for Homer wanting to buy a handgun.

** The NRA are appalled at Homer when they see him shoot a beer can and his television and expel him immediately.

* {{Bowdlerization}} and [[BannedInChina Banned in the UK]]: The heavy references to guns and scenes glamorizing and playing gun misuse for laughs got this episode banned on most UK channels. The few times the episode did air on UK TV had to have scenes of gun misuse and scenes of guns shown in a glamorizing light edited (specifically, the ending where Marge goes to throw the gun away in the motel trash, but catches herself in the reflection and keeps it, as it makes her look sexy). The episode does appear on the PAL VHS release "The Simpsons: Too Hot for TV" and the complete season 9 DVD set.
* CallBack: Among the many incidents from Homer's background check are fighting GeorgeHWBush in "Two Bad Neighbors" and being institutionalized in "Stark Raving Dad".

* RecklessGunUsage: In the gun store, Home ''points it at the clerk and pulls the trigger five times'' (without bullets, thankfully). If this wasn't Springfield he would have been banned from the store immediately.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: When Lisa told Homer the Second Amendment was just a relic, Homer conter-argued that it keeps them safe from the King of England. Later in the episode, when the [=NRA=] learned how irresponsible Homer was with his gun, Krusty started berating him by claiming that guns should be used for "family protection, hunting dangerous or delicious animals, and keeping the King of England out of your face."

* EveryoneHasStandards: Springfield's NRA members (which include a bitter, emotionally abusive old woman[[note]]Principal Skinner's mom[[/note]], a Mafia henchman[[note]]Louie[[/note]], a surly bartender[[note]]Moe[[/note]], a DepravedKidsShowHost[[note]]Krusty the Clown[[/note]], a single mother who robbed her lazy husband's convertible to get him to pay his child support to her[[note]]Ruth Powers[[/note]], and a gun-crazy redneck[[note]]Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel[[/note]]) are shocked at how recklessly Homer uses his gun.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Springfield's NRA members are shocked at how recklessly Homer uses his gun.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: The writers tried to give both sides of the gun rights debate reasonable arguments. WordOfGod says that if there is any message in the episode, it is that a man like Homer should not own a gun.

* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: When Lisa told Homer the Second Amendment was just a relic, Homer conter-argued that it keeps them safe from the King of England. Later in the episode, when the [=NRA=] learned how irresponsible Homer was with his gun, Krusty started berating him by claiming that guns should be used for "family protection, hunting dangerous or delicious animals, and keeping the King of England out of your face."

!! Tropes:

* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: When Lisa told Homer the Second Amendment was just a relic, Homer conter-argued that it keeps them safe from the King of England. Later in the episode, when the [=NRA=] learned how irresponsible Homer was with his gun, one of them berated him and said what guns were for. One of the stated uses was protection against the King of England.

* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: When Lisa told Homer the Second Amendment was just a relic, Homer conter-argued that it keeps them safe from the King of England. Later in the episode, when the [=NRA=] learned how irresponsible Homer was with his gun, one of them berated him and said what guns were for. One of the stated uses was protection against the King of England.
* WhatAnIdiot: Homer gave in to Snake's demands despite knowing Snake's gun wasn't loaded.