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:
No comments:
Post a Comment