Is anybody else anxiously waiting for Michael Moore's latest movie? If you don't know, the movie is basically about america's love of guns and our culture of violence. He started working on it after the Columbine shootings. On the day of the shootings, the kids who were responsible went bowling in the morning, hence the name. Interesting side note, Moore is a card carrying member of the NRA and was an expert marksman as a teenager. Anyways, he interviews members of the Michigan Militia(who put out an annual "Militia Babes" calendar), people from Virgin, Utah (the town where you are required to own a gun), Columbine victims (they go to wal-mart to try and get them to take back the bullets from their store that are still stuck in their spines), Marylin Manson, Matt Stone, Charleton Heston (brought a gun rally to denver 10 days after the shootings), and some crazies like a sheriff who keeps a rifle strapped to his dog. I'm ready to see it, but I doubt they'll show it out here in College (that's all there is here) Station. I'll probably have to head back home to H-town.
The interesting thing is that several of the people killed were killed by homemade bombs packed with nails...not guns. Sure most were killed with the guns, but they could have done a lot of damage without the guns. I certainly hope this does not become an anti-gun film. I believe in the 2nd Amendment...but I thought a gun rally in Denver that close in time to the tragedy was in extremely poor taste.
Michael Moore is a shock value hack who has absolutely no interest in a real debate. He would rather just find a few freaks & extreme gun nuts and paint all firearms owners with the same brush. Instead of examining the the underlying causes of violence in this country - namely poverty, lack of education, lack of opportunity, lack of a family upbringing - he tries to pin it all on metal tools. Moore is an egotistical, self-promoting, fat turd. Why doesn't he do a documentary on the vile bullying & ostracism that was at the root of what happened at Columbine? Oh, maybe it wouldn't generate the publicity that blaming guns does...
I've talked with Michael Moore many times. His office and mine were in the same building on 57th & 7th. He is a pretty cool guy. He is (of course) a Knicks fan, and we had our first conversation one day when I was wearing some Rockets gear and he was wearing a Knicks hat. I had to give him some **** and we talked on and off after that. You should know that he gave the Rockets their props for taking it to his Knicks - Woo hoo! For as many people on this board who like Stern and his ilk, Moore is much better than that. 'Roger & me' was great. I'm sure it will at least be worth checking the new movie out.
You can't be sure unless you watch it. Like I said, he is a member of the NRA and I doubt he's trying to ban guns. Shock value hack seems pretty incorrect. Have you seen Roger & Me? It's shocking that GM would screw the people of Flint who helped build the company so that they can get cheaper labor in Mexico, but he didn't make it up. Your list of what causes violence seems to explain gang violence and you have the school violence down, but these aren't the reasons for half the violence that exists in the world. Lots of people in those positions don't turn to violence. You see him talking to kids in arcades, he goes to the innercity, and he goes to Columbine and even talks to a famous alumn Matt Stone(of South Park). I hope he talks about Wal-Mart, it seems ironic that they ban music for bad words, yet sell guns and ammo. More people have been hurt by weapons bought at Wal-Mart than people who listen to un-edited music. Your wrong about several of the people killed being by bombs Refman. It could have happened though. They had 2 big propane bombs that were supposed to blow up the cafeteria and I read that could have resulted in neary 500 more deaths, but they didn't work. Something like 13 people were killed not counting the 2 gunmen. The official report said that 10 kids were shot in the library and one teacher was shot helping kids out of the school. So at most, 2 died from nail bombs. I don't think his intent is to attack the average joe who owns a gun for hunting purposes or to protect their home. I guess this more about keeping guns out of the hands of the wrong people. One funny scene in the trailer shows him getting his gun at the bank after he opens an account, and he says "well here's my first question, do you think it's a little dangerous handing out guns in a bank?"
you know, i've always wondered about that... When I was a child, I met Sam Walton at a Wal-Mart in Florida... I was really tempted to bring that up, but I was too scared.
Just like in the little argument that occured in the crazy gunman on the looose in Maryland thread, car accidents are just that accidents. Most gun deaths are delibarate and usually committed by a friend/family member/acquintance of the victim. How many times has your buddy hit you with his car?
So you think Wal-Mart sells guns so people can murder with them? Don't forget about all those stores that sell knives, bats, etc. that people also get killed with.
No, but people buy from Wal-mart with that intent. But do you think people put dirty words in their music for the purpose of hurting people or corrupting minds? So why the hypocrisy? Show me the statistics of people killed with baseball bats vs. guns and tell me which one is more dangerous. I doubt the makers of base ball bats take into account the stopping power of their products.
There is no hypocrisy. I suppose you want them to start selling p*rn? No one gets killed by that, do they?
First of all, the only reason Moore has joined the NRA is to try to deflect some criticism that he has an anti-gun agenda. In fact, I believe he said that if he ever became NRA president, he would turn the NRA into a gun-control advocacy group. He has an agenda. He is anti-gun. He is a hack who loves highlighting freaks & idiots, yet won't show the millions upon millions who use firearms legally & safely to hunt & target shoot ever day. In "Roger & Me" I don't remember him debating whether GM had a right, or a duty to its shareholders, to move its ops to Mexico to save money. Do you think the government should force businesses to stay in American towns & lose money? Moore probably thinks they should. As for what Wal-Mart & K-Mart sell, who gives a &^$%? THEY ARE BUSINESSES, THEY CAN SELL ANYTHING LEGAL THAT THEY WANT! If you want your CD w/out having to look at hunting shotguns & rifles, go to Tower records. No one is forcing you to buy from these stores, so why are you trying to force your views on them & their business?
This is not completely accurate. Defensive gun uses in which the gun is just brandished but not used to kill are actually common. I use my "old west" guns for entertainment/recreation every month. No one ever gets killed.
A couple of things. 1.Laws are made for people without good hearts and common sense. If everyone had those things, there wouldn't really be a need for laws. It's the freaks & idiots that make laws necessary so it makes sense to highlight them. 2.Moor is a film maker. It would be a real bore to watch people properly cleaning their guns, and locking them away. It's entertaining to see those that are in the extreme. And again those are the people that any gun control laws are for. Moore is film maker. HE CAN MAKE FILMS ABOUT ANYTHING HE WANTS. The point about Wal-Mart is that they would ban something less dangerous because of moral objection, and allow something more dangerous, and have no moral objection. That is odd, even though they have the right to do it. All he's doing is showing the inconsistency. If others are fine with it, then great, if they want to change that then they can. Moore is only getting it out in the open.
Amazing. I have fired my guns on numerous occasions and have never killed anything. I may have brutally put holes in a few pieces of paper on the range...but that tree was already dead. So golly gee...it seems like guns DO have another purpose. All I have EVER done with them is target shoot. What's the harm? To everybody bashing Wal-Mart...have you ever been to their sporting goods department? It's not like they are selling a huge amount of that stuff. They don't have ANY handguns. I also don't think it's right to villify a store because they sell a few boxes of 9mm Winchester rounds. I'm NOT talking hollow points either. They sell hardball rounds which are most often used for target shooting.
When I was younger I owned a .22 rifle that my dad bought me for Christmas. I think he was more excited to give it to me than I was to get it. But learning how to shoot and how to be safe around guns was definately something that brought me closer to my Dad and I'll always remember it. When the family got together for Holidays and BBQ's, normally someone had a new gun, and informal shooting contests were always held. The only thing I ever did with that gun was shoot plastic milk caps and foam targets I had plenty of fun, and got to be very good at shooting... the end result does NOT have to be killing people or animals However since tradition and family history are no longer matter, yes, Ms. JB, Guns are just for killing stuff
Okay young guns, you can call off the posse now! I was only pointing out to Freak how guns differ from bats and knives in that their essential purpose is to kill. That's why they were invented -- not so for bats and knives (though they can also be used for that reason). I know that guns CAN be used for a myriad of different purposes and I'm SURE nobody here has ever used their guns for anything but shooting milk cans, aiming at targets and engaging in perfectly legal hunting pursuits. I was only pointing out the differences that are inherent in three inanimate objects. I was in no way making any reference to the owners of said objects.
What Mrs. JB said. By the way, Moore is a life long member of the NRA. I doubt that when Moore was a teenager participating in shooting contests it was all just a facade for a later purpose, deflecting criticism that his movie was just about gun control. Critics have said the movie really ends being more about America's culture of violence and fear. How could he debate the intentions of GM if they wouldn't even grant him an interview? If it was about saving money, why wouldn't they say that? What's wrong with saving money? Is it far fetched to believe they were trying make more money for themselves? It's not illegal, but at the expense of people who worked their whole lives for the company, it seem morally wrong to put them out of work to pocket more cash.
