The Business of Guns

View The Business of Guns, click here

Minute MBA has a very nice and nonpartisan short video on the gun industry in the United States.

My own interpretation is that U.S. gun ownership is a measure of our own paranoia as a nation. Maybe in the past pioneer era having a deadly weapon was useful, but in Century 21 private gun ownership is not about freedom, it is about fear.

As for hunters, they can use crossbows, that way it'll be a real sport.


Two links to clarify:

Watercolor series: Since I originally posted this, I have moved more solidly into the gun control camp. The more I read about Americans shooting each other, the more I welcome the day when the NRA is considered the terrorist organization it is and gets shut down. What they are promoting is destroying our country.

Cold Dead Hand: The Jim Carrey video that riled up Fox and the NRA. Go Jim!

Morty Comix # 2415

 Before

 After

Morty Comix # 2415, the final one in the Watercolor Series, was left inside a storage box under Donna Barr's display table at the Clallam Bay Comicon.

Morty Comix # 2414

 Before

 After

Morty Comix # 2414, part of the Watercolor Series, was inserted into a menu at a restaurant in Forks, Washington, where I met filmmakers Louise Amandes and Ron Austin for breakfast.

As I was stuffing the menu, Ron asked, "Aren't you worried someone is going to kick your ass?"

Well, as a matter of fact, yes. Particularly in the town of Forks, which had a much different reputation before the national media discovered this place. In the 1970s, we hitchhikers knew this was a town never to get stranded in.

Ron's question is a good one. This method of distributing Morty Comix could easily cross some legal/social boundaries if I am careless. Maybe I have even already crossed some. I am sure in some cases my distribution actions have been recorded by security cameras. But as we saw with Morty Comix # 2407 a security guy appeared to enjoy discovering the comic.

This is a blending of graphic and conceptual art. The rules of the game reveal themselves as we play. I'll try to be a bit more playful than those old Jack T. Chick comics I used to find in phone booths, but in many ways his method of distribution helped inspire me on this project.

If the old mailed Morty Comix drove completist collectors crazy, this new set, starting with Morty Comix # 2279,  will be extra hard to find and I must say there is some satisfaction in that.

But at some point I'll stop and allow this certain slice of Morty Comix to be incredibly hard to collect and then move on to something else.   

Morty Comix # 2413

 Before

 

 After

Morty Comix # 2413, part of the Watercolor series, was left in a phone booth at Kalaloch, Washington, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Morty Comix # 2412

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Morty Comix # 2412, one of the Watercolor Series, was carefully folded and inserted inside a promotional tablestand for some product at a local Burger King. I think I had a crispy chicken sandwich that day. Not bad.

Morty Comix # 2411

 Before

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Morty Comix # 2411, part of the Watercolor Series, was placed on a chair in a meeting room serving a Washington State agency in Tumwater.

Morty Comix # 2410

 Before

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 Morty Comix # 2410, part of the Watercolor Series, was folded and placed inside a gas station promo

McCleary, Washington

Morty Comix # 2409

 Before

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Placed in the kitty litter section of an Olympia store

Morty Comix # 2409 - # 2415 Watercolor Series

Morty Comix # 2409 through # 2415 can be called the Watercolor Series. Before I post these things, they will require some explanation since the final products came out even weirder than normal, and even I will admit that is saying a lot.

Last year when Colin Upton told me "Color is for the weak," I really knew what he meant. So call this a moment of weakness while I was on a staycation.

First, I tied a string between a young elm that is sharing some kind of leaf disease with all the other elms in my yard, and a tree from the Southeast called, I think, the Devil's Walking Stick. This was a tree my Dad, may he rest in peace, gave me to plant. When a guy from Alabama fixed my garage roof a few years ago, he asked why I had this big weed in my yard on purpose.

Then, using some of the very same clothespins I employed in the Bezango WA 985 art exhibit at Batdorf and Bronson in Olympia several years ago, I hung up seven blank sheets of letter size typing paper.

What I was about to do has been on my mind for quite some time. A year ago, maybe more, maybe less, I had purchased a cheap watercolor set and a suction-cup toy gun. I laid them out with a styrofoam cup filled with water on an issue of our local weekly newspaper, the East County News.

I dipped the suction cup end in water and after that in the watercolor set. Then I took aim and fired at close range. I did this over and over, for about 30 minutes.

Yes, here's a case where a gun is really a tool for something good. The "gun is a tool" argument is frequently repeated by the gun crazies. In my situation, I was making something fun. But the real gun is a tool for one thing: wounding or killing someone. And that is not good. 

Here's the ironic part. I dislike guns and think the National Rifle Association is full of paranoid rightwing nutjobs with a penis complex. Oops, I was being quadruple redundant there. My review of Bowling for Columbine in Cheaper by the Dozen 6 pretty much summarizes my mixed feelings on firearms.

Anyway, here's an example of the results of my efforts. This sheet of paper eventually became Morty Comix # 2410 after I finished with it. You'll see.

Sarah happened to be here when I was performing this act of art, wondering what the Hell I was doing as I failed to explain what I was up to while she was visiting. So she took this photo since she is a journalist. I apparently did not inherit my Willis grandfather's deadeye aim when he had his famous 1931 shootout, killing two people and taking three bullets himself and living through it. Even at this close range, I still missed several times.

When this orgy of watercolor violence was over the toy gun was no longer functional. I'm sure members of the NRA can appreciate how Freudian that is. I had to throw all the supplies away.


At any rate, now you have the background on the next round of Morty Comix.