The latest evidence of Americans’ fascination with guns, cars and outlaws: the faux bullet hole.
Drivers are increasingly using the magnets and stickers to create the head-turning illusion of a bullet-riddled vehicle. For some, the fake holes are a cheap way to customize their cars or motorcycles to achieve that gangster look, but without the lifestyle. Still others use them to play harmless practical jokes on people.
A handful of manufacturers make the fake bullet holes, which come in sticker or magnet forms and can be purchased on numerous Web sites or at automotive and novelty shops, such as Pep Boys and Spencer Gifts.
A pack of six stickers typically costs about half the price of magnetic ones, which sell for $5 to $7. Motorists can choose from small .22-caliber holes up to the larger .50-caliber variety.
Some don’t find the fake bullet holes amusing, however.
“This fad is a commentary on how desensitized to gun violence we’ve become and maybe even how much our country glorifies it,” said Blaine Rummel, a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, based in Washington.
“Americans tend not to think about the fact our country has the highest level of gun violence in the industrialized world. And not coincidentally, we have the weakest gun laws compared to those countries,” Rummel said.
Although he thinks they’re in bad taste, Rummel said the coalition isn’t going to devote time to opposing the holes’ sale.
Lena Pause, who with her husband, John, founded Hardley Dangerous Illusions LLC more than three years ago to make fake bullet-hole stickers, said she hasn’t received any complaints about the product.
“I’m not selling guns to kids here,” she said. “Most people realize it’s a novelty.”
The Pauses’ small company, nestled in Andrews, N.C., in the Smokey Mountains with about five employees, has distributed millions of the fake bullet-hole stickers nationwide and to more than 20 countries, she said. They’ve also branched out to sell fake car scratch stickers, which make an automobile look like it’s been “keyed.” The stickers come off without harming a car’s finish, she said.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and alBerto Trevino (atrevino@tribune.com)
