(AP Photo/The Pueblo Chieftain, Bryan Kelsen)

Two artists hoping to open gun-themed exhibitions next year may find themselves in a friendly duel. Both John Anderson and Cory Oberndorfer have proposed plans for Washington, D.C. gun store art shows to address District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court case that struck down D.C.’s longstanding ban on gun ownership.

“Once [the ban] was overturned I thought, ‘Now’s the time for someone to open a gun store in D.C.’” says Anderson. “I want to explore the Second Amendment, and how we were the murder capital while having a gun ban. I’ll sell art objects that will have gun shape.”

Oberndorfer, too, hopes to explore the Second Amendment - but with a more playful bent. In his research of D.C gun law and culture, Oberndorfer discovered that there is one gun store in D.C. — It had been grandfathered in before the ban — and only two toy stores. When he opens his gun show, there will be as many places to buy guns in the District as there are places to buy toys — except his guns will be Nerf guns, toy guys and squirt guns. Oberndorfer’s work often addresses play and childhood, but this will be a darker departure for him. “It was a good way for me to deal with loss of innocence,” he says.

Oberndorfer thought of the idea for his gun show while doing a residency in South Carolina this summer, right in the heart of gun country, he says.

“I made a friend with a membership at a gun range, and she took me to a shop, and I fired a few different handguns at a firing range,” said Oberndorfer. “I was good at it.” Nevertheless, he admits, “I’m deathly afraid of guns other than for hunting. Handguns are awful because they only kill people.”

Anderson doesn’t personally care for guns either, but both he and Oberndorfer agree that the ban was futile.

“[Viewers] can weigh the issue of gun control and guns in general without my personal biases against guns clouding the work,” says Anderson. “My preference will be evident by some of the sculptures and imagery available, but I don’t have anything against the Second Amendment.”

Anderson is the recipient of a 2011 Artist Fellowship from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and his work will be grounded in art history and politics. Inspired by artist Claes Oldenburg’s guns, made 50 years ago, Anderson had wanted to address the D.C. gun ban in a work for more than a year now. He had considered making it a gun store and gay wedding chapel, but is not sure that will be a part of the piece any more. He’s not as wary of guns as Oberndorfer, either. Growing up in Iowa, Anderson says he would shoot rabbits on his grandparents’ property as a kid.

Anderson plans to utilize soft sculpture as an homage to Oldenburg, as well as “Guns that are encaustic so they look like human skin, or animal skins, to conceptualize the target of those guns. I would be creating some work like manuals that document how to clean or operate a firearm,” said Anderson. “We’re going to be mining gun culture. Before the end of the day, my goal is to join the NRA, and contribute money to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. I’m interested in exploring the topic from both sides.”

Anderson and Oberndorfer are both professors at Prince George’s County Community College, but they learned that their projects may overlap through Philippa Hughes of the Pink Line Project. Oberndorfer had originally spoken to Hughes about the gun store for her Temporium, a pop-up store with wares created by artists. When Anderson posted on Facebook that his grant would make his own gun store project possible, Hughes suggested the two talk. Neither were very surprised that they were on the same wavelength.

“I suppose the only thing that’s surprising to me is that someone else wanted to do a store, but at the same time, considering it’s D.C., and there have been all these pop up projects, what is the function of putting up another gallery of paintings on the wall?” says Anderson.

“I’m glad we both didn’t apply for the fellowship grant with the same project,” says Oberndorfer, who applied for a City Arts Project grant through the DCCAH instead.

“It doesn’t prevent me from wanting to continue with the plan,” says Anderson, of the competing shows. “It’s like Tombstone vs. Wyatt Earp. Kevin Costner did the full bio of Wyatt Earp, which was dull, but I liked it better because it was deeper. Tombstone had a lot more flash. Cory is approaching it in a way that is more consumable.”

Neither show has been scheduled yet, and both artists are currently looking for a space to host their gun stores next spring or summer. For now, they’re both researching gun laws and culture — they’ve even considered going to The Nation’s Gun Show together this weekend at Dulles.

“My only expectation [for the gun expo] is seeing someone in a shirt with the American Flag, and people wearing cowboy boots who are not cowboys but own pickup trucks anyway,” says Anderson. "I think it will be an education.”