Bowling for Columbine

I am for increased gun control. I say this as a premise for all of my future statements. This documentary actually took a different angle than I had expected. In the past, most articles pin point the lack of gun regulations as the reason for the high rate of gun related homicides in the United States. Our numbers are in the 11,000 while Europe's barely pass 200 deaths, but Michael Moore makes the interesting point that Canada also has an extremely low death rate of about 60 yearly. He then  points out that Canadians have a lot of guns like the in the United States. Michael Moore raises the good question why do we see so many gun homicides in the United States?

Michael Moore does a really good job at using pro-gun members statements against themselves. For example, at the end of the documentary, he speaks with a NRA leader and asks him why he has loaded guns in his house. The speaker says that it's his 2nd amendment right to do so, but then, Moore insists on why he has loaded guns: he's not in danger, doesn't feel like he will need to use the guns, and doesn't necessarily need to uphold his 2nd Amendment right by keeping loaded guns in his house. The speaker almost ignores Moore's statements and insists that it was his right to do so. Almost like a Red Herring, the NRA member insists on a point that has nothing to do with the question. Moore then asks him why we have so many gun related deaths in the US, and the man says it must be because of our violent past. Throughout the documentary, Moore had already strongly proven that that wasn't the case --Germany showed to be a good example of having a more violent history than the US--. The NRA member doesn't even care to understand and insists on his 2nd Amendment rights. To what point can these members continue on insisting on an irrelevant point? We get it, we have the right to bear arms --which is kinda vague may I add-- but that doesn't answer the terrible amount of deaths we've had in the United States. 500 of those 11,000 deaths were exclusively due to accidental discharge. I understand their point that we must stand behind our constitution, but can they at least give us an answer to why we have so many deaths in this country? They say they care so much to protect themselves, but they can't seem to protect their neighbors.

In the end, what I really liked about this documentary was its open endedness. Unlike other articles, Moore doesn't give an answer to why we have so many shootings in this country. He just asks a lot of questions, sometimes begging the question, but he asks questions none the less and presents facts. Obviously on many points he was being biased since his a socialist, but in this documentary at least, I don't think it was too prevalent. I mean, come on; some of the men who supported gun rights were plain old clueless. Such as the man who was accused of assisting in the bombing of a federal building. He said that one day we might have to take over the government, and we will need to use our guns to do so. Then Moore says that Ghandi didn't use guns, and he toppled the entire British empire. The man didn't know who Ghandi was.