Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

The number of cars parked in the lot at Borders struck me as a bit odd this morning, but I didn't give it any thought. I also didn't give much consideration to the police car sitting in front, which I chalked up to the presence next door of Krispy Kreme. But when I saw a large number of men milling about outside the store, I started to suspect that something was up. Some of these people were wearing those vests with all the pockets, that outdoors-type folks wear. Some wore shirts with the American flag printed on them. A couple of guys were dressed in nice suits, with lapel pins in the shape of rifles. And two fellows wore t-shirts with the Second Amendment printed on the back -- one of which was complete, while the other excised that troublesome first phrase in the Amendment.

Yup, strange things were afoot at Borders.

I went inside, where I was promptly greeted by one of the store's workers. I'm never greeted at Borders. Not that the folks who work there are unfriendly, but it's not Wal-Mart: they don't pay someone to stand there and greet people. Glancing back into the store, I saw a huge throng of people gathered in the area between the book and music sections, with many more men dressed in much the same manly-fashion as the fellows outside. The worker approaches me with a notepad as I'm attempting to look through the magazines, and asks, "Are you here to see Mr. LaPierre?"

It was then that I noticed the immense display stand off to the left, which was jam-packed with books whose cover depict an American eagle, next to a table laden to groaning with more copies of the same book. Unbeknownst to me, in my biweekly jaunt to Borders to see what's new, I had wandered into a Wayne LaPierre booksigning.

It was a strange thing to behold. First, I had no idea that this event was taking place, so the mere fact of seeing that many people in Borders on what should have been a slow Tuesday was off-putting in itself. But then I looked over the crowd itself. There really wasn't any one characteristic shared by all of them, except that where most of the men were dressed in some way which made their gun-views (or political views in general) well-known, the women who were there for the signing (and there were more than a few) were dressed like...well, like they'd dress if they were going to the grocery store or whatever else they do when they're not at work. I don't doubt their commitment to the Second Amendment cause, but it struck me that the women were unwilling to actually incorporate that cause into their fashion for the day.

Other than that, there were other things I noticed. A few of these folks were standing rooted in a single spot, clutching their four copies of Mr. LaPierre's book in a white-fingered grip and looking quite as if this was the only way they'd ever be caught dead purchasing books outside a Wal-Mart. But there were other folks, also with their copy in hand, walking around book-shopping like normal.

So, in some ways, the crowd attending Mr. LaPierre's booksigning conformed to what I would expect of a crowd attended such an event. But in other ways, the crowd did not conform to any such expectation. And when you think about it, that's probably the way it is with any group.