Seeking gallery space

I am currently seeking a space for an art installation that will feature the theme: It's the Bullets.  Suggestions are welcome.  Please respond to directortv41@yahoo.com.

NO ID REQUIRED, CASH SALE: FIFTY BULLETS

A  couple of days ago I stopped by the Big 5 Sporting Goods store on Victory in Burbank.  After my first encounter with bullet sales, I decided to try to be a little less aggressive and see what happened.  

I found my way to the bullet department.  There is a big sign that has to do with a requirement for people purchasing certain kinds of gun related items to have specific certification and identification.  

A young man asked if he could help me.

"I want to buy some bullets."

He went behind the counter where there were shelves and shelves of all kinds of ammunition.  He asked what kind of bullets and I said, Nine Millimeter ..  He began to search for the 9mms and another man, older, came up and asked what I wanted the bullets for.  I said I wanted the least expensive.  He went on to describe the twenty pack of special hollow point shiny bullets and compared them to the target bullets in a box of fifty for about $18.00.  The hollow points were about $25 for twenty! 

I chose the box of fifty. The older man had the young man carry the bullets to the cash register for me.  The cashier was friendly. No questions asked except would I like a bag.  I did not ask for wet signatures on the receipt this time. The atmosphere in the gun department was much more relaxed and helpful than at the Gun Store in Glendale. 

Now I have fifty 9mm rounds.  They will never find their way into another human being.  Have I saved fifty lives? Metaphorically, yes.  It would be interesting to follow a path similar to an ABC television series, The Gun, which tracked a .45 Automatic from one owner to another, but imagine these bullets if they were in circulation.  

Currently, I open the box and am amazed that this tiny box weighs almost two pounds. The lead and brass and gun powder.  Each one is shiny and in some way appealing.  I may do a series of photographs with names or numbers on each bullet and hope to have an installation of the photos framed.  I've also thought about gathering the names of victims of gun shots (which today would be just combing the news for a few days in Arizona, Oregon and Texax!) and including a brief description of the victim.  

I've been criticized for pimping for the bullet sellers, saying that by buying bullets, they are making more profits.  However, the intention of this exercise is to remove these instruments of destruction from ever being used to kill.  It's just a symbolic act. It's personal.  It's what little I can do.  I don't care if not one other person follows my lead.  I will have done what I can do. 

My fifty bullets are "Aguila"..  Eagle!  Not Remington.  But, here's a photo to remind us what a box fifty bullets looks like: 

 

 

HIRED OFFICIALS IN GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA DEMUR ON BULLET DESTRUCTION

 I asked a local official to introduce me to the Chief of Police here in Glendale to ask him to participate in the destruction of bullets that I intend to take "off the market" as a gesture to save lives.   To me it is obvious that, ultimately, the problem is the bullets.  Guns must have bullets to do the killing. (Except when used as clubs, which is another issue all together.)

Previously, I posted my experience at a local gun shop where my bullet buying ended with my asking the owner to sign the receipt for the box of 9mm that I virtually had in my hands. Only when I asked him and his clerk to sign the receipt did they ask me for my personal information.  I could have exited the store, bullets in hand before without a question. It was only AFTER I asked that the 'rule' changed.  

It is disappointing that the City of Glendale officials will not endorse the 'political' action of the destruction of bullets.  I don't see it as a political action.  It's a human response to a problem that needs to be fixed. 

The city official noted that the LA County Sheriff, James "Jim" McDonnell is an elected official and may be approachable.  This 'journey' is much more complicated than I thought it would be.  

Mostly, I hope that individuals will make an effort to take bullets off the market and destroy them.  This is a small gesture.  At least I'll have the personal satisfaction of knowing that I made an effort and that the few bullets I'll destroy will never kill anyone.  

If government officials are unwilling to help, that makes a statement all by itself.  Interestingly, in Los Angeles, from time to time the police have "buy backs" for guns (which would include bullets? I don't know?) and so for Glendale to opt out of one person's effort to do essentially the same thing seems a bit odd.     Does the City of Glendale endorse killing with bullets? Of course, not.  Does the City endorse saving lives?  That is a question that I hope to find out the answer to.

This from a hired Glendale, California Official: 

"While I certainly share your sadness and frustration both in terms of the tragedy in Oregon itself, as well as the overall inability of the Congress to enact meaningful gun control and/or mental health reform, I don’t think either I or Chief Castro can participate in your protest.  As an appointed (versus elected) public official, the Chief’s job is to enforce the law.  He and I must be politically sensitive to our Council and community, however, our professional integrity largely rests upon being apolitical.  The difference is that we analyze and recommend options, actions and solutions to policymakers, but we do not enter the realm of advocacy and act as policymakers ourselves.  If Chief Castro were to engage in your expression of free speech there would be an expectation that either a) he would participate in other expressions of free speech  – particularly those in favor of lax weapons laws; or b) that he fully agrees with your speech and opposes the contrary position, which would lead him into the area of making policy versus enforcing it.  Conversely, if the Chief were himself an elected law enforcement official (like the LA County Sheriff), then he would have complete latitude over his political actions, endorsements, etc."

CALL YOUR CONGRESS PERSON!

October 3, 2015

In the past hour or so the attention to the idea of buying bullets for destruction is growing.  It was also pointed out directly contacting your congressional representatives is a good idea.  

Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer represent California in the US Senate.  To contact Feinstein: 
 https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me

To contact Senator Boxer: follow this link
https://www.boxer.senate.gov/contact/

I believe that any gesture that one person can make to help stop the killing of innocent people in the United States is a good idea.  Naysayers on Facebook have all kinds of criticism.  The story of the kid on the beach with the starfish is coming soon.  Meanwhile.  What have I done today to help curb deaths by guns?  Report to follow. 

Michael Sheehan

IT'S ABOUT THE BULLETS!

Two years ago I started this writing project: One Hundred Days...  to make comments on life and on clouds. The previous 'chapters' turn on days after the funeral of a very nice woman who was generous and kind.  Grace Base.  Today, I decided to make use of this forum to report on my adventure on a Sisyphusian Task.  It may be even bigger than Sisyphus and his rock.  

I declared on Face Book that it is my intention to do something about the proliferation of bullets that are the instruments of death when loaded into guns.  

The big Hoo Haw is about guns..  I think anyone who wants a gun should own one.  I also think that the "Barney Fife" approach to gun use is the proper approach.  Anyone who owns a gun may have one bullet (the Minute Men had muskets, the weapons of choice in the American Revolution and could only load and fire one shot at a time, thus the Second Amentment!).  The bullet may be carried in a pocket with a flap and a button or snap.  

As facetious as this remark may be, it might become be a rule, which, if followed, could save lives.

Today I enlisted City officials here in Glendale, California to support me in an idea that I hope will catch on.  I shall buy a box of bullets and arrange to meet with the Chief of Police here to turn the bullets over to him and ask him to destroy them.  It's a drop in the ocean, of course, but it is a beginning that has significant history of folks marching for a cause or sitting down to make a point.  All I want is for you, my reader, to do the same thing and encourage two friends to do the same thing where ever they may live.  I'd like comments here to share what happens when you give this a try.  

Here's my experience for today, Friday, October 2, 1915:

I went to a Gun Store.  You wait at the door and when you hear a click, you are admitted.  A huge guy with a beard like Popeye's nemesis, Bluto, was behind the counter. He looked down at me.  

I'd like a box of 9mm, please.

Full metal jacket?

The least expensive.

He turned and picked up a small box of 9mm shells.  I'm not sure how many were in the box.  

Twenty, he said.

Twenty dollars?

Twenty.

I paid twenty dollars in cash and he pushed the box of 9mm shells toward me.

I'd like a receipt.

Without a word, he did something on a computer behind the counter and waited by a printer.  He returned with the receipt and pushed it toward me.  

I'd like you to sign it, please.

He pointed to the name of the store on the receipt.  

This is the receipt, he said.

I know, but I'd like you to sign it.  You are the guy who sold me the bullets.

This guy was huge and intimidating.  Probably, a pussycat at home, but well over six feet tall with a black T shirt and a big, big black, black beard!  I felt intimidated!  

He repeated that the receipt had the name of the store on it and I asked again if he would please sign it.  

I'll have to ask my boss.

He went into a door where I could see bullet proof vests and other military looking items off the main room of the store.  

He returned with a man half his size. He was about five feet tall.  

The man asked me for my name and address and driver's license. 

No, I said, I just want you to sign this receipt and give me the bullets.

He refused to sign the receipt unless I provided my information. One minute before I'd given the clerk twenty dollars in cash and he had pushed the bullets and the receipt at me.  It was only AFTER I asked for verification of the sale that the owner insisted that I provide my information to take possession the ammunition and the signed receipt.  Had I not asked for a signature, I'd have been out the door with the box of bullets and the receipt, of course, unsigned.

I pointed this out to the small man.  He said he wasn't going to argue about this.  I said I didn't intend to argue.  

Give me my twenty dollars back, please.

The small man took a twenty from the till and handed it to me. 

We were done.  I turned to leave the store, but the door wouldn't open!!  I felt like George W. Bush in China trying to exit the stage in that famous video.  After a couple of tries, the door released and I left the store, heart pounding.  I took a moment to make notes.  It was my first lesson. 

It seemed to me that I could have bought as many boxes of bullets as I wanted to buy at twenty bucks each (They sell for $16.50 at the LA Gun Club) with no questions asked until "I" asked for a signature. 

When legislation is passed that makes the buyer of ammunition identify him/herself and when the casings are marked to identify batches of bullets to trace them back to the point of sale, a small dent will be made in the ability for us to kill one another. 

Bailing out the ocean with a teaspoon may be a Fool's Errand, but when I do find a store that will sell me a box of bullets (I'll see if another store is so casual about a sale) and I get the local police to publicly destroy them, that's one teaspoon with a zillion to go.. but.. it's a start.  

Please consider buying bullets to have them destroyed.  

Later, the story of the boy on the beach with the starfish.  

Friday October 2, 1915  11:45PM PDT

Michael Sheehan