Armed America on new blog That Ain't Art

By at 3:59 pm Friday, Feb 23

That Ain't Art is a new group blog that my friend Kirsten Anderson, curatrix of Seattle's Roq la Rue Gallery and editor of Pop Surrealism, launched with several of her art mafia pals. That's where I found out about this forthcoming book Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in their Homes by Kyle Cassidy. The book doesn't come out until summer, but Cassidy's site has an excellent selection of the photos. Seen here is "Howard with his C. Sharps Arms Co. Model 1874 in .45-70." Howard says, "I love history and I love old mechanical devices -- guns are both. I also enjoy target shooting."
Howard Howard1
From the book's introduction:
The question of gun ownership in America is a fractious one. Even the number of guns in the country is in significant debate. The National Rifle Association (NRA), the country's largest pro-gun lobbying group, quotes the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE)'s estimate that in 1999 there were about 215,000,000 guns in America and one gun in about half of the households in the country. The Brady Campaign (the nation's leading anti-gun coalition) estimates there are 192,000,000 guns in America, owned by 39% of the population.

This isn't a book about guns. It's a book about people.

Whether it's 39% or 50% of Americans, it's still an awful lot of people. I started wondering just who they were, what they looked like, and how they lived.
Link (via That Ain't Art)

David Pescovitz

Collector of anomalies, esoterica, and curiosities.

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