"The Cartridge Family" is the fifth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons.

The episode was intended to portray guns in an unbiased manner, and faced some problems with censors because of the subject matter.

After a five-day waiting period per the Brady Act (after which he is deemed "Potentially Dangerous" but is permitted to own three handguns at most), Homer shows his firearm to Marge, who is horrified and demands he get rid of it.

Homer brings her to a local National Rifle Association meeting hoping to change her mind, but she remains unconvinced.

That night, Homer hosts an NRA meeting at his house, but the other members kick him out of the association after seeing how recklessly he uses his pistol (having used it as both a beer can opener and a TV remote control in their company).

That episode would have concluded with Homer foiling a robbery and stating that although guns bring destruction, it worked for him.

[6][8] The referee at the game is a caricature of the janitor at Film Roman, who supplied director Pete Michels with every piece of soccer information he needed to design the episode.

[12] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also praised the episode, calling The Simpsons "the only sitcom in memory to treat gun control with any fairness".

Although the fictionalized NRA stress the importance of responsible gun ownership, the staff nonetheless received several complaints from the real National Rifle Association about the portrayal of the organization in the episode.

[6] Ian Jones and Steve Williams criticized the episode, calling it "a messy, unfocused lampooning of gun culture".

[16] The episode has since been aired in daytime slots on all channels which have broadcast The Simpsons in the UK, albeit with partial editing that implied Marge did put the gun in the bin.