While "SRATSS" DOES have guns, it also has an episode early on in the series that preaches gun safety and the only people "killed" by the aforesaid guns, which, despite having bullets, fire blasts, are the evil vapor beings or Outriders, and they are merely "sent back to their own dimension." This isn't simply a nice way of saying "dying" either since US-made episodes were adding showing Outriders returning to their own dimension, the dimension in question, and formerly "dead" Outriders live for a considerably longer period of time than their allotment in the original.
While the "mediocrity" of Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs has been lamented, the nay-sayers are missing out on one fundamental truth: Sure, Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs isn't exactly "ground-breaking" in any way, shape, or form, but the plotline is decent, the characters are likeable, the character designs and animation, while definitely 80s-style, still hold up, and the show itself is good, plain fun.
It's more popular than the original, Sei Jyushi Bismark, especially in countries like Russia and Germany where it is a consistent favorite (to the point of the series being reshown in Germany today) as well as gaining fans in the Philippines and the U.S.. There are many people (myself included) who first saw the series in its original '86-'87 U.S. TV run who remember it fondly and rate it as a treasured childhood memory. However, since it is rather old, this is the perfect time to re-release it on television and garner a whole new crop of eager viewers. Especially since anime has become more widely accepted and popular than it was fifteen years ago, making this a better opportunity for "SRATSS" to succeed in the U.S. market where it previously failed.
The writing and characterization are also a cut above the previous World Events Production show, Voltron. The voice actors are top-rate (especially for that time period) and the show doesn't have to rely on deux -ex-machina (such as a new weapon every show or the intervention of Allura's father's ghost) in order to defeat the villains. At times the limited weaponry may grow a little repetitive, but at least the viewers know the limits of the capabilities of their heroes and look forward to the tactics they use in order to get to the point where they can bring out the big guns and finish the villain's mecha off.
The characters may seem like stereotypes at first, but as the viewers watch more and more of the show, their motivations and aspirations come to life and by the last episode, these are characters that we have grown to know and love even as we have shared with their private demons, their struggles, their losses, their hopes, their joys, their laughter and tears, and it is not without regret that we leave them.
In this day and age where, granted, a great deal of quality anime is released, there is also a lot of trash being churned out day after day. Plot and character development are often sacrificed in the favor of flashy (but horrible) CG and old plot devices. Hardly anything new is ever truly original and while I'm not saying that "SRATSS" is, I *am* saying that unlike a great many shows out now, it has something truly novel to offer. Entertainment value.
When the new stuff fails you, it's time to fall back on the tried and true.
And that, is why I think "Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs" and Cartoon Network are a perfect fit.