Big Guns Causing Large Caliber Controversy

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Big Guns Causing Large Caliber Controversy

November 26, 2008

A new piece of art is causing a public dust-up along Hwy 75 in Hailey, Idaho. Line of Hope 2 is two black, 20-foot-tall AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles, muzzles in the air, connected by a clothesline pinned with military uniforms. White butterflies perch on the muzzles.

Passers-by on Hwy 75 are not happy. Some don’t like the sculpture’s anti-war slant. Others just don’t like the big guns.

The county’s code compliance officer wants the sculpture moved further away from the road. The sculptor sees that as harassment and says that it’s his property and how come the county isn’t making everyone move their stuff further away from the road? The county says that the other stuff was there before the code was written. The sculptor says, well, okay, maybe I’ll shift it around in the Spring (apparently only one of the guns is too close).

Part of the problem may be that it’s uncommon to see giant guns along the highway — unless they’re in the hands of giant warriors, in which case there’s no problem. A lot of public gun art is unmistakably anti-gun, which makes the quirky Line of Hope 2 perhaps more confusing than it should be.

We say pro-gun people should screw a silencer onto their discontent. They have more than their share of 2nd Amendment-friendly ballistic attractions, and they’re generally a lot more entertaining than any statue.

Sections: Attraction News, Statues