@cowboyshootist: Believe me, I am not anti-gun. I hail from South Dakota, and hunt on a regular basis. The point of my initial post was to say that the scissor spider probably interacts with the psychi on a more deep level than the gun spider, as scissors are only violent when misused.

The only point of a gun is violence (or the threat thereof). Hunting, though producing food, is still violent, just as predators eating prey is violent.

To use your own example, a spider made of hammers would still probably seem more disquieting than the own constructed from a gun, as yet again, a hammer is a tool not generally used for violence, yet still can be. A death by hammer seems more violent than a death by gun.

This is all intellectual "self-gratification" though, as honestly, it is only people bothered by spiders. or spider imagery that would get "creeped" out anyway.

zenpoet

@zenpoet:

Actually you can produce something with a gun....dinner. You may need fire to cook it but I challenge you to go after a deer or even a squirrel with a pair of scissors.

For what it's worth, a gun it a tool just like that hammer in the picture. You ever worry about someone beating you to death with a hammer? It happens, we're just not obsessed with it like gun violence.

cowboyshootist

The artist is my friend and he has quite a knack for creating visually interesting work out of junk. Way to go Chris, you got on Gizmodo!

Siafu

@calebc: Only in an abstract sense. Unless you can push mortar between bricks with bullets, your argument is only valid in a non-literal sense.

zenpoet

@rhew: Nah thats a prety normal sized metal working hammer relative to the size of the weapons.

Captian_Caveman

If you read the comments on the guys flickr page he says they are close to actual size.

There's a 2nd picture that shows a clear view of one of the bends between the rear of the lower reciever and the buttstock. It's pretty clear in that picture they are hollow plastic.

Bender

zenpoet said:
I think the scissor spider hits us with a more subconscious fear, as scissors, are generally supposed to be a benign item, that only when used wrong become deadly, whereas guns are really only used for destruction. One can create with scissors; one can be productive with scissors. One cannot build anything with a gun; one cannot produce anything with a gun.

calebc

@gundark:
i agree, plus if you look at the length of the hammer and the barrels on the guns, there about the same size, so either thats a huge hammer, or small guns.

rhew

@Bender

I will join you in your gun nuttiness.

They appear to be AR-10s.

[en.wikipedia.org]

68newyorker

@gundark:
NO. Only Giz can rewrite the past as they see fit!

(seriously... dont ban me!)

nutbastard

Yeah I'm with you GUNDARK. These are defintely fake. Either plastic small model guns that have been PS overlaid on the ground image, or maybe some prop leftovers from a studio or something. Maybe even halloween props.

But not real guns...

adam12hicks

Yes, I am aware I cant spell "bolts".

Gizmodo, any chance we can edit our own posts in the future?

gundark

Am I the only one that thinks those look like miniature toy guns that come with action figures? The hammer is the only thing telling me otherwise. Of course it could be a miniature hammer as well, so my theory might be correct.

The nuts and bolds seem oddly huge or oddly small for either size though.

gundark

@zenpoet:

the rock spider beats the crap out scissors spider every time.

ANoel

Here is my brief diatribe as to which is scarier, the gun spider or scissors spider. I think we, as a culture, are a bit over stimulated with guns, and gun images. (I say "we," as to the global internet culture, not just the US).

I think the scissor spider hits us with a more subconscious fear, as scissors, are generally supposed to be a benign item, that only when used wrong become deadly, whereas guns are really only used for destruction. One can create with scissors; one can be productive with scissors. One cannot build anything with a gun; one cannot produce anything with a gun.

Think about two hypothetical news casts. 1) Man shot four times with gun, dies. 2) Man stabbed four times with scissors, dies. To me, the second seems the more disturbing, as it implies that there was more rage, more intimacy involved with the killing. Its more up close, its physical.

So, though no one asked for it, I think that the scissor spider creates a stronger feeling of unease, playing on more fears than a gun ever could. Maybe the gun spider makes a bigger, or more socially minded statement, but the scissor spider is just a whole lot creepier.

zenpoet

Bender! Shame on you... Putting down your fellow robots like that.

And to think he would help you carry out your life-long dream of Killing All Humans.

dragonphyre

But when they run out of bullets the scissors are more dangerous!

Shnyzx

I apologize in advance for this gun nerd moment:

I'm not sure what those are but they are not M-16's. The handguards, pistol grip, front sight, and trigger are all wrong, and the charging handle is inside the handguard instead of behind it. It's obvious these are based on the Stoner system, but the M-16 is a specific configuration of that system and these are not M-16s.

Phew, that felt pretty good. I've been suppressing the gun nerd in me for a long time and all that bottled up gun nuttiness just came pouring out. I'm better now, I promise.

That being said, those were never real guns. They are one piece replicas (no moving parts.) You can tell by looking at the solid flash hiders and the solid trigger. (You can also tell by reading where the guy says he has 150 of these.)

Bender

Nice, but I was hoping to see a robot spider with an M16 head.

lol @MIO

lmjabreu

Whatever.

Melt them down, and make the thing out of replicator blocks. Then I'll be impressed.

Mio

@scifiwriter: "No, no, airport security officer dude, you see, only two of these can actually fire a round!"

Colonel35

I usually don't dig these things, but that is pretty cool.

tarochan

Nice sculpture! I am not too concerned about the M16s though. Only two look like they could fire, maybe.

scifiwriter

@ANoel:
+1
@zenpoet:
a nation is not a collection of buildings - it's a collection of principles. conversely, it's an active rejection of violations of those principles. guns == very good tools for this.

nutbastard

@nutbastard: An object or idea isn't capable of being responsible for the way it is used or presented.

Guns can be used to harm others, or prevent others from coming to harm. Radiation can be used to heal or harm people. The ocean can provide food, or drown you.

People talk about such things as if they are malicious, when they are simply being what they are.

Xavoc

@Xavoc: Damn straight. Guns don't kill people. People kill guns.

--Apologies to Berke Breathed.

Satorical