Friday, February 12, 2010

The New West

Bizarro is brought to you today by Safety.

For those readers who have not visited a state in which it is legal to carry concealed weapons, this is a sign that you see with some regularity. It is alarming to people like me, who are not used to seeing this kind of thing.

CHNW (my Crazy Half-Nekked Wife) was visiting family in South Dakota recently and we were chatting via cell phone one day while she was out shopping. She read a sign like this one to me as she was entering a store and I offhandedly asked if there was a pile of guns next to the door. Hence, the cartoon.

I don't usually get cartoon ideas from real life situations since most of my cartoons are more surreal than reality. But in this case, not much exaggeration is needed to make this surreal. If I lived in a community in which a lot of people were toting guns, I'd likely be tempted to get a gun to protect myself from all the guns. Seems like a slippery slope.

Without getting too political, if you look around the world at countries where guns are plentiful and unregulated, it is hard to find one you'd even want to visit, much less live in.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

[pro-forma shriek of outrage: gun rights, 2nd amendment, only criminals, blah blah blah]

There, that's dutifully been said, let's move on.

Anonymous said...

Switzerland. I believe it's a legal requirement to keep a gun at home as part of your militia obligations. Prolly not encouraged to bring them to the mall.

John R. Platt said...

LOVED this one!

James said...

The problem is not the number of guns, but whether or not people are trained to use them properly. I don't want to see some drunk teenager or thug with a criminal record waving around a Glock, but law-abiding citizens should be allowed to own and carry firearms. It's in the Constitution, it should not be prohibited as long as they're used responsibly.

D.B. Echo said...

At my workplace there is a gign on all the entrances that says "Guns, Knives, and Other Weapons Prohibited." I'm wondering how many people have come up to the door, seen the sign, and returned to their cars to disarm.

Word Verification word: rubseven. Something like Preparation H, but it took only six previous tries to get it right.

Unknown said...

Actually NY and even NYC allow concealed carry, however to do it legally, you must have the required permit and safety training. Oddly, a permit holder from say Rochester can't legally carry their weapon in NYC or Nassau county without a special dispensation permit, including law enforcement officers (except State Police). Yet a permit issued in NYC or Nassau County is legal for the entire state. Guess they don't want us Bumpkins from the country packin' heat in the city where we might be a little nervous.

hawkgirl said...

Flashing me back to one of my favorite South Dakota road trips. I chowed down at a “family restaurant” where you're asked to check your gun at the door. I wondered if I shouldn't at least be carrying a .38 caliber pistol or hand grenade like all the ten-year-olds. :) Hell, I love a good western any night but that's the only place I wanna be seeing guns.

qka said...

@Shipping Troll

Yeah, NYC is the tail that wags the rest of this dog-gone state.

LaLaOrange said...

This is great! I'm from Arizona, and when I was growing up there were some grocery stores where you had to leave your gun with customer service before you could shop. And the customer service lady really would have a little pile of guns behind the counter.
I guess Arizona influenced me--I'm still (mostly) against gun control.

Anonymous said...

I went with my foster daughter to Guatemala two years ago. ALL of the banks and many of the stores and some restaurants have full time 'safety officers' armed with machine guns.

Lawyer Dave said...

When I lived in South Carolina, there was a building I passed through regularly that had one of these "no gun" signs on the door. But somebody had managed to put the sign inside the door, not outside, suggesting that people were allowed to have guns in the building but had to get rid of them before going out into the world.

icecycle said...

We have few of these signs in Indiana; nobody much cares if you carry a gun here as we are largely adult about the whole thing.
Can in certain cases carry to work.
(although I now have to leave mine in the owner's desk drawer; I trust him; a little.)
I certainly would feel safer unarmed in Indiana than carrying in NY; you are braver than I and I salute you.