Brandishing Your Art

That incident in Kalamazoo is a good example of what I was talking about. The guy wasn't breaking any laws, but he was making people nervous, which could be construed as a threat to public safety, so the police had to do something. By confiscating the rifle, they neutralized the situation and, by returning it the next day, nobody's rights were violated. I think that, if somebody tried to openly carry a gun on the Mackinac Bridge Walk, the cops would do something similar. They are allowed to hold you for questioning for 24 hours, and then they have to either charge you with something or release you. I think that's what happens to most of the people who are arrested during a riot or demonstration. The idea is to get them off the street until everybody calms down, and then they let them go. I don't blame the cops, it's their job to maintain law and order, and sometimes they have a fine line to walk.

My dictionary defines "brandish" as "To shake or wave (as a weapon) menacingly." I can see where a lawyer might have fun with that. "Your Honor, my client was not waving his gun menacingly, he was just showing it to his friends, who were standing all around him, and he wanted to make sure that they all got a good look at it." If Uncle Ken was trying to show one of his paintings to his friends at the Ten Cat, he might do the same thing, but nobody would get nervous about that because most people don't consider a painting to be a dangerous weapon. Speaking of dangerous weapons, Old Dog's paint brush holder looks like it could be used to launch tactical rockets or mortar rounds. I wouldn't advise displaying that on Michigan Avenue, it might make people nervous and get you a night in the slammer.

Speaking of Old Dog, he says that "monetizing hobbies" is not the same thing as promoting your art. I don't know much about art, but I think anything that you do for fun that doesn't make you any money can be considered a hobby. Well, you could make some money, but not enough to justify quitting your day job. For 15 years I performed songs and stories at an annual event that was co-sponsored by the Bliss Fest and the Petoskey Public Library. We did it for free for the first few years, and then event's leader persuaded the sponsors to appropriate some money to pay the performers. First it was a hundred dollars, and then it was a hundred and fifty, not bad for 20 minutes work, but I could never figure out how to live on $150 a year.