Words and Pictures and Guns

Over the last few weeks, I've been intermittently playing around with images and text.  I think it was a sign that stirred it, one carried at a gun-rights protest in Austin, Texas.  "The Second Amendment is from God," it said.   I reflected on that concept in my blogging, but it stayed stuck in my mind's craw.  As did some of the other signs and slogans from that demonstration.

Funny thing, about signs.  They point to different things, depending on how you view them.   Like, say, the slogan:  "An Armed Society is a Polite Society."  Gun rights advocates see one thing.  But I see this:

Then there's the old Charlton Heston classic, "From My Cold Dead Hands."  That evokes this:

That Red Dawn fantasy (Wolvereeeenes!) slogan about defending against tyranny?  I see this, because tyranny in the 21st century?  It won't look like Hessians with muskets:

Tell me that a handgun in the house makes you feel safe and protected when your husband is away?

This guy.  Really.  He's into it.  He totally thinks that.

Here, I'm not so sure.  The attitude is totally right, and the gaming reference is perfect, but it feels a bit like it plays off of racist fears.  Which is ironic, but there's only so far one can run with that without actually being that thing.

So I go with this one instead.  Notice how it's the same picture.  Sure, the composition of the first one is better.  But it's the same attitude.  The same spirit.  The same game franchise.  Tell me that doesn't mean something.

And this one, this one I see clearly.  I wish I didn't.