Ever get confused about whether you are watching Parks and Recreation or Newhart? This cheat sheet should help you out:

 

Quaint small town:

Parks and Recreation: Pawnee, IN

Newhart: An unnamed town in Vermont, but believed to be Norwich

 

Celebrated comedian lead:

Parks and Recreation: Amy Poehler

Newhart: Bob Newhart

 

Competent “straight man”:

Parks and Recreation: Ben Wyatt

Newhart: Dick Loudon

 

Competent “straight man” who disappears by the third season:

Parks and Recreation: Mark Bredanawicz

Newhart: Kirk Devane

 

Female who is difficult to work with:

Parks and Recreation: April Ludgate 

Newhart: Stephanie Vanderkellen

 

Female who is the closest character to passing as a normal human being:

Parks and Recreation: Ann Perkins

Newhart: Joanna Loudon

 

Incompetent male:

Parks and Recreation: Andy Dwyer

Newhart: George Utley

 

Enthusiastic, alliterative male:

Parks and Recreation: Chris Traeger

Newhart: Michael Harris

 

Stoic woodsman:

Parks and Recreation: Ron Swanson

Newhart: Larry

 

Relatively quiet tertiary characters:

Parks and Recreation: Jerry Gergich and Donna Meagle

Newhart: Darryl and Darryl

 

Theme:

Parks and Recreation: Americana

Newhart: Americana 

 

On December 21, 2012, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun.” On June 5, 2014, a bad guy with a gun was stopped by bystanders, one wielding pepper spray.

 

The police and military are “good guys with guns” tasked with stopping “bad guys with guns.” But LaPierre’s statement is a rallying cry for a “good guy vigilantism” of sorts. It advocates for relaxed gun control laws, in part so that more people could conceivably stop a rampage killing.

 

I created GoodGuyWithAGun.net as list of how mass shootings in the United States since 1999 have ended. It defines a “good guy with a gun” as a civilian or off-duty officer. Enjoy.