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Via Matt Silvie in Seattlest:

Police forces from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s department and the Sultan Police department swarmed on the semi-annual Fantagraphics Shoot-out party on Saturday, shutting down the festivities after only a measly two hours of shooting, which wasn’t nearly enough time to shoot all the tvs, computer monitors and lawn mowers hauled out to be shot (see our coverage of the 2005 party here). Apparently, according to these cops, it’s somehow “illegal” to dump a lot of junk on some random unknown stranger’s private property in the woods and shoot it with guns. Wow, really? Who knew?

1 COMMENT

  1. The 2nd Amendment doesn’t give people the right to bear arms on private property without the owner’s permission, any more than the 1st Amendment gives people the right to paint graffiti on private property without the owner’s permission. (All in all, though, I’d much prefer the graffiti.)

  2. Does anyone else find it strange that one of the most left leaning groups of people in comics also are a bunch of gun nuts?

  3. This comment over at Seattlest says it all, really:

    “I see comments about the profound stupidity and ignorance it takes to blow up toxin-laden machinery IN THE FUCKING FOREST.”

  4. > Does anyone else find it strange that one of the most left leaning
    > groups of people in comics also are a bunch of gun nuts?

    Just curious…in what way do you find Fantagraphics folks “left leaning”?

    I haven’t kept up with all things involving Fantagraphics, politics, or both, but a lot of Fantagraphics’ image that I encounter make them seem very libertarian, which would, if anything, make you inclined to lean ’em toward the right (and be consistent with being “gun nuts,” too…)

    Anyway, no matter how divisive politics are nowadays, there probably isn’t a whole lot of point to putting “left-wing” or “right-wing” labels on this story. At least not as much as putting a “man, how stupid is it to do that!” label on it…

  5. “Just curious…in what way do you find Fantagraphics folks “left leaning”?

    In every way.

    “Anyway, no matter how divisive politics are nowadays, there probably isn’t a whole lot of point to putting “left-wing” or “right-wing” labels on this story. At least not as much as putting a “man, how stupid is it to do that!” label on it…

    Not trying to label the story one way or another, just found it strange is all.

  6. What are they? A bunch of hicks?!?!? O.o

    ‘Sides, if they want to do that sort of thing, all they have to do is head down south, where that sort of behavior is accepted.

  7. For what it’s worth, Matt neglected to mention a couple things in his report: (1) they actually hauled all of the junk out ater shooting it. And (2) that area has been a shooting range for at least 15 years, it’s an area where people shoot up stuff every day, or at least they used to. It’s kind of a big landfill and it’s the same place Gary’s been going for over 15 years and never had any problems before. But Gary & Co. hadn’t been there for a couple of years and I guess the situation has changed. Live and learn.

    And no, I don’t particularly enjoy guns myself and I wasn’t involved in this adventure. But Matt’s post, in an effort to be funny, made it sound like Gary just randomly picked someone’s private property to dump crap on, which really isn’t true. Everytime I’ve ever been out there, there have always been other people doing the same thing and the police have never objected, they were probably out there doing the same thing themselves. Today all of the junk brought back is being hauled out by a professional outfit to dispose of in an environmentally friendly way.

    And for the record, I think it’s fair to say that Fanta as a whole is pretty left-leaning. Gary’s enjoyment of guns being a weird aberration. But he doesn’t hunt or like to kill things other than inanimate targets.

  8. What was also not revealed in the story was that VP Eric Reynolds actually shot one of the Fanta. Legal Defense Fund donors IN THE FACE!

    Sprayed him with birdshot, he did. What a senseless waste of human life.

  9. This just in! Local shooting event inspires close minded opinions and common stereotypes served through snarkiness! More on this at 11!

  10. I got to go to bowling night. I got to go to wing night. I even got to go to some weird party at a proto-Dave & Buster’s – Chuck e-Cheese for adults weird video playground thing with Fantagraphics….but, I never got to go to the damn legendary shoot-out. You owe me, Gary!

  11. > Does anyone really have any concept of Libertarians other than
    > they are just “Republicans who like to smoke pot”?

    I’m no political sci-maven, but the best brief shorthand not-perfect-but-good-enough-for-casual-conversation description of Libertarianism I’ve encountered talks about them being the group that combines the support of small government and fiscal responsibility that one might typically associate with the Republican/right wing side of the aise with the ideas of personal liberties and individual rights & responsibilities that one might typically associate with the Democratic/left wing.

    That said, even in my lifetime, I’ve seen how these typical party beliefs have shifted a bit so as no longer to be as firmly associated with either the Dems or the G.O.P. as perhaps once they were. So perhaps that’s not as fair or useful way to describe Libertarianism as once it was…

    All that aside, there’s always the famous political quiz that many a Libertarian likes to trot out:

    http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html

  12. Sounds like fun. XD Though shooting at tvs isn’t exactly the most intelligent thing in the world; there are chemicals in those that aren’t exactly great for the environment, and what about all the broken glass?

    All in all, it’s pretty funny. Sounds like the police were more concerned about the litter as well.

  13. There are businesses that cater to the desire to shoot up old junk. There used to be one in Hot Springs where patrons could shoot up old cars, refrigerators, etc. Out in the Las Vegas area I believe there are similar things, and even one where you go shooting with topless models.

  14. <BTW. Does anyone really have any concept of Libertarians other than they are just “Republicans who like to smoke pot”?>

    Yes, anyone who pays attention (to more than what they hear in the popular media) know there are many differences between Libertarians and Republicans, and many differences between Greens and Democrats.

  15. Not that anyone will read this 4 months later, but, the big difference is that the Greens get a lot more money from the Republicans than the Libertarians get from the Democrats.