Gun T-Shirts Banned By Airport… Taste Is Not Terrorism!

I found this report ‘Gun T-Shirt was a Security Risk‘ at the BBC’s news site today, and it made me wonder, how many gun t-shirts would it take to shut down an airport? Firstly it’d be a great way to highlight the demolition of human rights, privacy laws, and general freedoms of a democracy in the name of “Anti-Terrorism”. Secondly it would do the Earth good to take a day off from stratospheric air pollution. Thirdly it would be interesting to see if airport security would refuse a whole plane load of gun-themed t-shirt wearing passengers, leaving flight stranded on the airport. A picture of a gun cannot be offensive, it cannot be deemed to be a security threat, the Nanny State is getting to big for her slippers, there’s a vast difference between taste and terrorism…

Brad Jayakody donning a Transformers T-shirt depicting a cartoon character holding a gun was stopped from boarding a flight by the security at Heathrow’s Terminal 5. Security officers objected to the gun, held by the cartoon character. “I was like, ‘What are you talking about?”.

Mr Jayakody was forced to strip and change his T-shirt on-the-spot before being allowed to board his flight - “It’s a cartoon robot - what threat is it to security or offensive to anyone at all?” asked Brad. The official BAA statement reads “There was no record of the incident and no formal complaint had been made.”

I think it is time for t-shirt fans and the fashion world at large to reclaim our freedom to express ourselves, to wear what we want to wear, to be who we want to be. If we don’t what is the point? I cannot accept the argument that a democratic society must give up all its freedom to protect its way of life, if you reduce fashion to the tastes of a private security guard, what on earth is the point of buying clothes in the first place? If I had the clout/cash I’d organise a charter flight from Heathrow full of gun-t-shirt-toting passengers and sit back and watch the whole debacle play out. If I could I would, I need far more money, far more friends, far more visitors, you know the score, spread the word about my blog and who knows, it might happen yet?

Now before anyone starts jumping to conclusions, I’m British and I’ve never seen a real gun close-up in my whole life. I can’t imagine guns doing anything but increasing violence in Britain. We have enough knife crime as it is. Some of our police officers are issued guns, and even one of those went crazy a few months back and shot his family and himself dead, so no I’m pretty much against anything that results in that kind of massacre. I’m not so blind as to not understand that some people honestly feel they need them, if you live somewhere that unsafe, where everyone carries guns, then I can understand your choice, but essentially I feel every society to should ultimately aim for a gun-free culture

Back to my non-violent protest against BAA’s decision to lead the world of fashion. The plan is just what you’d expect from a t-shirt reviewer, I’ll highlight some great gun t-shirts and fingers crossed a few more people will be causing problems at BAA’s micro-dictatorship…

HandGun by Paul Baines.From only $9.99 - Yep its mine :p	Nuts by Barnaby Bocock @ Threadless.com. Stick em up!
Get Off at Busted Tees Very Spaghetti Western!	Diabolical Hot Dog by B. Walters - Threadless
Obey Tons of Guns by Obey. You can get it at Zumiez.com	Guns Don’t Kill People - I need some research data on the rest!
BA Mr T Shirt at Scam. I ain’t getting on no plane fool!	Who can tell me where you can get this? It’s probably been banned 4 cruelty :p

The irony is even those protesting against war, terrorism and other pertinent themes, are in theory banned from living in a democratic world. I wonder what BAA’s views are on say camouflage prints, or the colour Khaki? Both also very militaristic. I really think its time we all started wearing gun t-shirts on flights, just to prove a point, there is a vast gulf of difference between a gun and a t-shirt depicting a gun. Would you arrest a cartoonist for depicting a murder in a DC comic strip? Could you lock up a painter as a “dealer” for depicting someone injecting heroin? If you make a woodcut print of a prostitute, are you actually a pimp? There is taste, and then there is terrorism. Terrorism indoctrinated by a fundamentalist cell, a belief system filled with a vast list of prohibitions, a regulated and controlled way of dressing, these ideas feel more and more familiar than ever. If I was Gordon Brown, or any of the current leaders in the West, I’d be worried, very worried. Democracy can be cumbersome, but most Western governments cannot remember the last time their people rose up and brought down their oppressors. The mind boggles why any democratically elected leader would consider replicating the culture of their enemies in order to protect their own way of life. Hey Brown, Bush, and anyone other political leader with a public approval rating of less than 30% - look up the word “hypocracy” in the dictionary.

Every artist must be free to express themselves, in whatever medium, in whatever way. If not, that marks the end of imagination, cultural speculation, the future as we know it will be stilted and stifled, bland as Margarine and predominantly a taupe/beige colour. BAA, I believe we should talk, you definitely need a new uniform design for your security guards, perhaps something black featuring a red swastika would be appropriate?