The New York Daily News has been campaigning for years for stricter gun control legislation across the United States and has used its front pages on numerous occasions, including Thursday, above, to hammer home their point.
In their view, this is a rational and reasonable response to a deadly scourge on American society.
They have fearlessly gone after lawmakers:
They've also gone after members of the public, below, with the gall to disagree with them:
In other words, they believe shouting louder than everyone else and calling people jerks justifies saving lives by restricting the number of guns and the access to them. People skills, Donald Trump style.
This is the era of anger, the age of outrage, where indignation, expressed as colourfully and as mercilessly as possible, is far better than discussion, forcing the divisions between people and their views ever wider.
There is also a solid business decision at work here. To attract audience and attention, fearlessly offend one portion of the market to attract another group of readers that share the same fury. As readership continues to splinter and decline, what's old is new again. Yellow journalism and shameless advocacy is back in style, in an effort to get things done and save the business at the same time.
Nuance and context is boring. Public shaming can both change the world and be entertaining.
Don't think so? You're an idiot.
