“My feelings about guns are that they are scary and dangerous. When I make one of my pieces, I create a background and then I camouflage the gun to make it almost invisible. The gun is still there but it’s hard to see it or you don’t see it for what it really is. Hopefully my art will get people talking about guns, gun safety and gun violence. I wish guns were only in an art gallery.” – Charles Gitnick, 11-year-old Charles Gitnick wows Miami Art Basel with gun art [at latimes.com]

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121 COMMENTS

    • Yeah, for what it’s worth, I think his stuff is pretty cool. I especially like the white one on the table behind him. I prefer that to the black ones.

      • Whoops. Forgot to say, “I like his stuff BUT I don’t pay any particular attention to the stuff he says.” He’s not old enough to know what he’s talking about yet.

    • I never blame the kids… clearly, his parents are to blame for his misguided thinking.

      Greatest irony: if someday he grows up to be a pro-gun painter thanks to the instruction of a gun-friendly uncle / auntie / neighbor / friend.

      SOMEBODY HELP THIS POOR CHILD OUT!

    • No they don’t.

      And that sentiment only serves to further open the divide between the anti-gun crowd and us.

      • Jozan …..that was a BullSh%T statement he’s only 11 and how do you know that he can’t protect himself?

        • HE is merely a young mind being molded and shaped by people, probably his parents, who have ulterior motives and plan to “use” their child to assist in their political scheme. When liberals say “for the children” this is what they mean.

          “For The Children (To be used as our pawns)”

    • Don’t go there, bub. Insults and teasing do NOT serve us well. We should hope that one of this kid’s friends has a parent who will see this and gently introduce him to a more balanced view of the world he will (hopefully) grow up in.

      One of my only gripes with home schooling is the way it tends to insulate some kids from the range of opinions that exist in the big, wide world. Say what you will about secularism or the prevalence of “political correctness” in the public schools, kids need to know what’s out there before it smacks them in the face later in life.

      • Thrusting kids into the PC groupthink cauldron that is the public school system is not a solution for the mythical problem of homeschooled kids allegedly insulated from diversity.

        • I would beg to differ. I’ve met teenagers who were home schooled and they not only had no idea how to function comfortably in everyday life, but they were disturbingly intolerant of others who did not share their belief system.

          In my opinion, and based on my own and friend’s kids, it is far easier for responsible parents to offset disagreeable ideas picked up in school than it is to prepare a child who has lived in a bubble for the challenges they will face in adulthood. Not impossible, mind you, but more difficult.

          The situation is analogous to that of the unfortunates whose mothers hate dirt so much that the kid’s immune system never has a chance to develop properly.

          It requires actually making time to talk to your kids, something difficult to do in a two career family, but absolutely necessary.

          If young people don’t encounter a range of ideas while young, you lose the chance to talk over the sort of people and ideas (good and bad) that they will inevitably encounter in adulthood. Kind of like the preachers kid who can’t wait to try sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll because their parents wouldn’t even acknowledge the existence of such things. Kids ARE curious – unless you anticipate them living out their lives out in the woods confined to “the compound”, they’re going to need to know what to guard against, for their own well being.

        • Leadbelly,

          I find the entire liberal progressive political worldview to be distressingly intolerant.

    • I was a 6’3″ 145 pound not interested in sports and afraid of girls geek in high school and I was bullied. Nobody DESERVES to be bullied. I carry now and I do not envy anyone who might try it these days.

      The problem I see here is not entirely the attitude about guns, but what is he learning about self defense over-all? If he thinks guns are evil has he also been taught to be non-violent in all things and try to negotiate with bullies or some other crap? I fear that in his case, where he will undoubtedly have to deal with bullies at some point just because of his artificial world-view, he will be entirely unprepared to do so effectively.

      • Well in principle, liberals like the idea of natural selection being taught, just not the practice in the daily lives of their voting base.

    • Yeah, the kid has a good take on the market for “art” that appeals to the left. with any luck, he will save up his profits and buy a nice gun when he is old enough.

    • This is it, really. Adult artists do this too, as do most of Hollywood. They use political issues to get noticed and stand out from the crowd. I’m pretty sure they would do something pro 2A if they were in a different environment.

    • So are you saying he needs a gun? Are you all telling him what to do…kind of like the government. Shame on all of you for attacking this kid. Grow the frack up…let him live his life how he wants. What do you care?

      • Anyone who rejects guns as a means of self-defense in a world full of them has rejected self-defense writ large. There’s a nice trope in the movies and TV of superheroes who can use KaraTE! and whips and all sorts of nonsense to fight evil, even when outgunned… in reality, there is no superman; batman would carry a gun, and the moment where Indiana Jones shoots the swordsman is exactly how things should play out.

        • Batman DID carry a gun! A pistol resembling a 1911 actually in his original incarnation. Then there are all the “guns” he used throughout the franchise that might not technically been firearms but that big harpoon shotgun thing from TDK would be welcome on my wall!

          A few things I always wondered, if Batman disapproves of guns and fans also disapprove of guns ” I have heard several fans point to him as a standard of some sort as if THATS how should all defend our selves” dose that mean that commissioner Gordon and his cops are bad? And if Batman is supposed to inspire the people to rise from their apathy and take Gotham back from the criminals…. how exactly are they supposed to do that un armed and not possessing endless resources and uncanny martial skills and strength?

          Oh and one more thing, in the 89 movie were those two M1919s on the batmobile and the GE mini gun on the batwing registered to Wayne or is Batman a straight up felon?

      • No shawn he doesnt need a gun. He needs parents who are realists not idealists.
        I personally don’t care what they do.

  9. Why does anyone listen to a child talk about a topic like this? I have a high expectation for children but M Theory doesn’t come up in casual conversation.

    • Well, the average child does have better critical thinking and reasoning skills than your Bloomberg or Shannon Watts types…

  10. Point one: I’ve no idea about the kids background.Lots of people are anti gun because they encountered an armed cretin, and are thus forever scarred by the experience

    Point two:the public school system ,not Chuck Schumer, is the biggest threat to our rights.One day, all of us here will grow old….even my 28 year old self.What then of the 2nd Amendment?

    • Chuck Schumer advocates the public school system. They are one and the same… but yes, point 2 is spot on.

  12. I am a veteran of both OIF, and OEF. My children are 9,6(today), and 1. Thanks to my MOS, and my families undying support for our Constitution, my
    9 year old knows more proper gun terminology and facts than most people 4 times his age. However, once his school realized this, they tried to turn him to the dark side. Luckily for me, he stood strong. My only question for this child and his parents is this: If you are so against guns, and most likely against profiting from their sale, how is this any different?

      • Shawn, thank you for your service. I agree with you and the school systems. As a veteran myself (USMC) I have also taught my kids to respect the constitution and it’s BOR. Especially the second A. My wife is a teacher in the public school system and has watched the liberal, politically correct agenda creep in and now it’s to the point where they can talk about Ramadan and Kwanza, but don’t mention Christmas or Easter in anyway. Celebrate diversity and submit to the State.

        Jeff, it’s not so much what they say, it’s what they are required to teach. The materials they are required to use and the testing methods used to measure success. The 1st amendment is celebrated only as far as being ultra politically correct goes. The second amendment wholly demonized. When a kid gets suspended for eating his pizza in such a way that it looks like a gun, and another kid complains, we have a problem. We’re no longer teaching critical thinking skills, were teaching kids to submit, because it’s easier. Do what the state asks, regurgitate what when you’re required to and you will pass. Do anything to the contrary and they will stomp on you. Bring a Lego pistol the size of a quarter to school? Suspended. Point your finger like a gun, suspended. Don’t think, just submit, the state knows what’s best for you and will take care of you. Crack any current US history book used in a public school open to the Civil War and read it. You’ll see what I mean.

      • Maybe they suspended another kid for pointing his finger at someone and saying “BANG!” or fashioning a pistol out of a Pop-Tart. They must eradicate certain forms of expression with fear. Certain other forms of expression are encouraged, if not compulsory.

        Like you don’t know what indoctrination is.

        • Uhhhh, whut?!?

          -10 points for being a troll, or plus 10 for sarcasm. Not sure which applies to this comment.

  13. Why is anyone taking the opinion of an 11 year old boy seriously?

    I mean look, I”m sure he’s a decent kid and all but he’s ELEVEN. When I was 11 I still thought girls had cooties and wanted to be a spaceman when I grew up. I didn’t know ANYTHING when I was 11. I still don’t know all that much.

    I hope–I really hope–that someone comes along in this kid’s life, before too long, to show him that what he’s been told all his life is bullhonkey.

    • Yes. This. I shall honor this comment by using the word “bullhonkey” at every available opportunity throughout the day.

  14. The schools are certainly a problem, but the parents are more so. A child this age does not have much of his own opinion- he has not lived long enough and seen enough to really formulate it. Instead, he reflects the views of the parents. Don’t be angry at the boy. He is not old enough to see his parents for the liberal wussass hippies that they are. Be angry at said hippies.

    Love to see him try to peddle that tripe in Texas, Montanna, etc.

    • Quit misusing the word Hippie, dammit. Modern “liberals” have little in common with the original hippies. I was in San Francisco for the “Summer Of Love in ’67, and, believe me, armed hippies were not rare. The back to the land types were happy to discuss the merits of whatever arm they used to put protein in the pot, and Janice Joplin regularly carried a High Standard .22wrm derringer in her garter.

    • I think a lot of us would have. He’ll either come around, or he won’t. In either event, Winston Churchill:

      “Show me a young conservative and I’ll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old liberal and I’ll show you someone with no soul.”

      His 11 year old opinion doesn’t bother me. If his 41 year old opinion hasn’t changed, then that will sadden me.

    • “I would have spoken similarly at the age of 11.”

      Perfect statement. Things are a bit more simplistic at that age. If you are bombarded with daily reports of people using guns to kill other people then, in a simplistic world, banning guns seems to be a solution. Progs think in the same child-like “one more law will fix (insert problem here)” simplistic terms on most topics: Education, poverty, violence, etc.

      So, being that we know the world isn’t a simplistic place because we grew up, it could be said that most Progs haven’t matured their crtical thinking skills past the age of an 11 year old.

      • Lol, I heard a story some time ago about some nascent artificial intelligence program that they said compared well to a very young child when it came to logic problems.

        One thing it came up with was the idea that if failing to brush your teeth enough could cause cavities then brushing your teeth more would make the cavities go away. Simple child like logic, and it is logic but a logical answer derived from incomplete information stands every chance of being a wrong answer.

        If so many people are dead from gun shots every year then removing guns must result in the same number of people not dying every year.

        If the childs mind were the better tool for problem solving we would nature (or god) would never cause us to progress further.

    • It is nice art. The kid has talent. He doesn’t strike me as dull or stupid by any stretch–misinformed yes, but not stupid.

    • Really? As Prager says “the Left destroys everything it touches.”….. Public education, universities, music, marriage, America, and art. All those painters before like Rembrandt, Degas, and others are just hacks compared to the genius baby boomer modern art of Pollock’s splatter. Really?

        • Oh please enlighten us to how the Republicans have “fracked up” America to the MAGNITUDE AND IMPORTANCE that the Left has done with art, film, education, music, marriage, immigration, and created a permanent underclass of TENS OF MILLIONS of people who feel that the “system is stacked against them” and so the government owes them a middle class lifestyle when doing no work.

          Please tell us where “conservatism” has DAMAGED the fabric of America. I’m waiting to hear something on the scale of a totally dysfunctional education system that has been wrecked by Leftism.

  17. I am growing tired of liberals using the terms “Gun Safety” and “Gun Control” interchangeably. As long as I follow the 4 rules, it does not matter if I am using a Maxim machine gun, AR-15, 1903 Springfield, or Ruger 10/22. I will be safe. Gun safety, is not banning guns based on cosmetic features. I am tired of this B.S. . We need to control the language, not them.

  18. In a few years that young “artist” will be spending too much time locked in the bathroom and playing the latest Call of Duty game. In truth all he really needs is a grandpa to take him shooting.

    • In a few years he’s going to be spending hours locked in the bathroom with a copy of “Red Hot Teenie Tarts”, diddling his doodle.

    • I agree! get that kid to a range with a .22 rifle. After all he should know what scares him so much!

  19. It is fairly obvious that he has been coached and put up to it by his ideologue parents. The only question is to what degree? Is he at least making the stuff himself or is the young man just a prop they trot out?

  21. Ok, off topic only slightly, when did crap like that become art? DaVinci, Rembrandt, Botticelli …. art. Finger painting over a plastice gun….not so much.

    And that’s not really meant as a knock on an 11 year old’s talent, it’s more of a comment on art in general lately…..isn’t art supposed to depict something?

    Google > define art:

    ” producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”

    Not producing works based on their ability to cash in on trends…..

  22. I never bought into the current era of child worship. An 11 year old child may have an opinion, but that opinion has very little influence on me. He deserves credit for developing his talent however I’m not convinced he can point me the way to the road to righteousness. Maybe the Bieber hairdo undermines his influence a tad.

  24. When he’s expelled for bringing one of his “works of art” to school, his education will truly begin.

  26. I wonder how this boy would feel if the kind of laws he wants would result in children without parents and families being broken up? Probably would not be a concern to this child. He is probably being told that gun owners are enemies of the state and need to be eliminated from society

  28. He needs to be taken to the range by someone who knows what they’re doing. Clearly, this would not include either of his parents.

  29. I am sure we’ll next see Master Gitnick as a “Poster Child” for MAIG and MDA. By the time his wussified generation reaches adulthood we’ll have to recruit (impress) Military and Law Enforcement personnel from Prison Populations because none of Gitnick’s brainwashed peers will be capable of doing any Job that might involve “scary and dangerous” guns. Fortunately, the blatant hypocrisy he and his parents are displaying won’t keep any of them up at night, nor will it ever occur to them that it might be a poor situation when LEOs and Soldiers are people whom we used to think we ought to keep from being armed and loose in Society. They’ll just live peacefully in the Camps and queue up twice a day for their subsistence rations. Utopia at last!

  30. Some are missing the point here, this boys reaction is perfectly normal in the “shelter in place”, “zero tolerance” societal/school system our kids grow up in.

  31. It’s his opinion based on the information he has received (or been allowed to receive) as well as how that information was delivered.

    Give me a day at the range with him, real experience, and let’s see if he changes his tune. Parents won’t allow that though because it disrupts their indoctrination. Parents should try not to make their kids believe what they believe, but offer both sides, explain why they view it a certain way, help the kids sift through the information, give them real life experiences. This goes for all topics by the way.

    He’s got talent though. Can’t knock him on that.

  34. I actually think the art is pretty cool! Couple more years, and this kid can go to with the boy scouts to the range. Then maybe his art can grow with more knowledge about the subject matter.

  36. Wait a minute…

    Every time I saw somebody in elementary school doodle out a gun, it always ended with a trip to the principal’s office and a suspension. (No, really!)

    Or is this just more of the rampant favoritism that permeates what remains of the American edumacashun system?

    • I feel like everything changed so fast.

      I graduated high school in 01. In the 90s we were still drawing awesome tanks, jets, battlestations, and dudes with guns. I still have some of my saved schoolwork covered in drawings of jets blowing shit up. Especially during the first gulf war, when we watched daily news of the happenings in Kuwait and Iraq, collapse of USSR, etc.

      Draw any of that stuff today and your child may be labeled as “troubled,” even though it very much represents the reality of many current events.

      • I graduated in 06…. In kindergarten me and my friend drew the Hindenburg blowing up, the Titanic sinking… As the years went I made “jet fighter” comics and sold them at a quarter a pop. We drew guns, bombs, etc…. And in highschool I was still anti-gun (growing up in NJ will do that)

        • I graduated high school in 1966. All I can say is: you poor little tykes! I used to be able to lock my .22 in my locker if I was being picked up at school by my folks Friday afternoons on the way to our “clubhouse”.

  37. He’s an eleven year old kid. I agree that the current Federal firearms policy seems like it was conceived by an eleven year old kid with autism, but still. This kid only knows what he’s been taught.

    Just like so many of the young and stupid Obamabots have finally figured out that their idol is a jagoff, this kid will figure things out for himself in time. Or not.

    • Do they let him take those things to school? Without being suspended for bringing “guns” to school?

  39. When I first skimmed the article my initial impression was “Art with the subtext of guns”. Then after looking at his work my take on it was along the lines that this art could be aimed to get those that fear the gun to hang this art in their home and slowly open their minds to the idea that guns are not evil. Kind of along the lines of those that feel if we open carry it will desensitize those hoplophobes however then I fully read the article the final statement, “I wish guns were only in an art gallery” and then was disappointed. I liked my original take on his art a lot better than his.

  40. When I was eleven, I don’t think I had yet come to appreciate the joys of boobies, either.
    Aw, who am I kidding? Of course I did. But it’s also an age where you tend to parrot things. Give him two or three years and he’ll be a surly teenager, forming his own opinions on things.
    Dammit, now I’m thinking about boobies again.

  41. I suppose I am the only one here that doesn’t think splatters of paint, or spilled lines=art. I see no talent, just something that could have been made without any artistic ability at all.

    Maybe, maybe, if he sketched those guns, he might be good at drawing. But an artist? Not seeing it.

    As far as his hoplophobia. An 11 yr boy+ gun range = excited new enthusiast

  43. A Wilson Combat CQB Professional bobtail is still a nicer piece of art than that kids crap.

  44. Guns are scary. They are tools to create death. As such they should be treated with respect.

  47. Kids should not be judged by their parents. It is clear he is extremely creative and wants peace for all people. As he gets older he will have to come to terms with the fact that other people don’t want peace and will take whatever they can until stopped with force. He will have to make the choice whether to take responsibility for defending those he loves and want peace against those who mean them harm or to be a victim.

    • So you’re saying those lawmakers who tell women to pee on themselves to stop a rapist are actually kids? Man, either you’re wrong about anti-gun leftism being something you just outgrow, or else politics takes more years off one’s life than I first thought.

      C’mon, this kid’s barely old enough for big boy pants and he’s already pushing for civilian disarmament? No preadolescent child does that of their own accord outside of The Simpsons; he’s a product of his parents and teachers who want to use him to send a “message”, simple as that, and they deserve all the scorn we can [politely] heap on them.

      • Right! I call that “addicted to straight A’s and pats on the head, like a dog”.

        Once I discovered how to take tests, and how to get mostly B’s and stray C’s without much effort, A’s started to look like too much useless work.

  49. “My feelings about guns are that they are scary and dangerous.” And with a bit or knowledge and training, those feelings of fear and dangerousness can be easily overcome. I wish you the best, young man.

  50. Just his parents puppet to push their agenda.
    If they told him Obama flies a spaceship hed believe them. Its the nature of children thinking their parents are always right.
    On a side note, the “art” is literally just different color lines or splatters

    • Agreed. Somewhere, there’s a depressed fruitcake rubbing poop on a picture of the Virgin Mary who puts more effort into it than this.

  52. It’s tragic it it’s way. Anyone who seriously uses the phrase “gun violence” has already taken a mindset that prevents them from understanding the issue.

  54. Nice kid, damn shame that it’s just as easy to kill a person by cracking their head open with a brick. Or 30 plus women die each day in Mexico just from domestic violence.

  55. Meh.

    I guess someone could call it art. To me it looks like a kid had some sort of seizure or fit whilst holding a can of paint.

  56. I agree that every man, woman and child has a right to their own opinion. I fought for freedom of speach, and though I may disagree with stance, I will continue to do so. What they did, was sat him down and showed him as much liberal anti gun propaganda as they could, before I burst in and raised hell. They gave him bullshit “facts” as well as showed videos of damage caused “by gun owners”. I found out while attempting to finish details of the firearms business I am trying to open. Thank god for friends in high places. It was stopped, and I am ACTUALLY being allowed to set up a safety/info class for all the parents AND students who wish to attend. It IS NOT school or city sponsored, but at my own expense. To me it is 100% worth it. I am asked questions daily by his friends and their parents. I can finally get true facts and solid information to the law abiding population here.

    • Sadly, those who are anti-gun will not attend. Even some of those who are ambivalent will not, simply because they have more pressing things in their life.

      I firmly believe everyone should have to have some firearms familiarization before they graduate high school. It doesn’t have to be a whole semester, just find a place to slot it into some other class like P.E or something. It’s not a class to get everyone their permit or anything like that. Just a few days in there somewhere to teach them “this is a gun, this is what it can do, this is what can’t do.” Basic nomenclature, stuff like that. I truly think that most hoplophobia is borne of ignorance, and the only way to combat ignorance is with education.

  57. Sadly, I know this. What makes matters worse, is in my little city, if you are not close with the leo chief, he will not sign off on sbr’s, apparently no law-abiding citizen needs a suppressor, etc. If I did not know about trusts, I would be screwed. I already lost most hearing thanks to an i.e.d., I am not losing the rest. I just wish pro 2 A people near me, would try to help educate and point out the falsities and flat-out lies to people on the fence about firearms.

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