Open Carry as Performance Art

Volokh Conspiracy ^ | October 7, 2014 | Eugene Volokh

[Thud]

Bill from Vegas

[case quotation]"… Gun carriers seem to not notice, or willfully ignore, that apparently-purposeless gun carrying is never going to be regarded as purposeless by bystanders...."

Which is why I consider lawful open carry primarily to be a form of performance art. You're not against art are you, Mr. Lathrop? Do I first have to drop my Glock in a jar of urine or rub elephant dung on it to get you to respect my self-expression?

Who are you to judge me anyway? Dammit, man, it's an aesthetic, not a dialectic. Okay, yea, I'm armed. But I stand here before you a whole person. Why, then, do you insist on valorizing my holstered firearm--fixated upon it, in fact, as if it's some kind of sheathed man-clitoris, ready to emerge, autonomic, at the slightest arousal? Frankly, you're creeping me out.

Stephen Lathrop

Bill from Vegas—You need to get over your misplaced artistic ambitions and contact Glock's ad agency. The dung/urine demo sounds like the basis for a graphically impressive display of reliability—one that might appeal to both Glock fans and Glock opponents.

Bill from Vegas

Stephen, I take it you haven't seen the video of the AK-47 rifle thrown out a second-story window into the mud, run over by a deuce-and-a-half, and then picked up and fired (as is) like nothing happened (If I exaggerate, it's only a little). It's hard to top that.

Anyway, a little rubbed-on dung and urine are nothing. (Ask most any combat veteran to tell you over a beer about the sh*t he's been through.)

But I'll run the idea by the product reps at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas next year.

[Thud]

Lawyer humor from the Volokh Conspiracy legal blog. Someone should probably try Open Carry As Performance Art in the District of Columbia to get a federal ruling on it ASAP.