15 years have passed since the infamous “Columbine High School Massacre” of 1999, where two secluded high school seniors murdered 12 students and 1 high school teacher. This tragic event , and the death of 30 000 other people due to gun violence each year, sparked a large debate over gun control laws in the US which still exists to this day and seems unlikely to simmer-down any time soon. In In the critically acclaimed documentary “Bowling For Columbine”, Michael Moore explores the roots of Americans fascination of guns. This documentary can easily be viewed as fully objective as Moore does not choose sides between gun control or civil rights, but instead tackles what is the cause of such fondness of this awful culture. This documentary heavily revolves around the idea that the main cause of gun violence in America is due to so many American’s being immersed in a culture of fear.
One example of this would be when he said the NRA hosted a meeting in Denver 10 days after the Littleton shooting, and then jumped to a scene of the leader of the NRA hoisting a gun over his head yelling “Over my dead body!”. To a viewer this statement would seem quite offensive and without tact, but when researching the facts behind the story, I learned that the statement he made right after saying the NRA hosted a meeting 10 days after the shooting actually was made 2 years after April 20th 1999. This kind of camera editing and voice -overs are used to deceive the viewer into making Moore’s argument more believable. For this reason, I do not believe this is truly a documentary, but more of a heavily biased propaganda video, somewhat like those campaign election ads telling you of how horrible of
Neighbors reported that at some time before commiting the crimes that placed him on the Most Wanted list, Diggs began drinking and he was heard to be arguing with his wife. A newspaper of account of time tells the story like this: At 7 o'clock on the morning of May 26, 1949, James Eddie Diggs shot and killed his wife, Ruth, and their two sons James Jr., 6, and Alfonso, 4, at their home in Norfolk, Va. There were no signs of a struggle and police have been unable to establish a clear motive. However, shortly before the triple killing Diggs began to drink to excess and to seek the company of women. The whereabouts of Diggs were unknown for nearly a week after the slayings, but on May 31, 1949 he was identified as the man who, when the auto in which he was riding was halted at Hamlet, N. C., drew a revolver and critically wounded officer Rex Howell.
According to the U.S. Secret Service and Department of Education, there were four targeted school shootings in the 1970s, five in the 1980s, twenty-eight in the 1990s, and according to the article “Tragedy and the Meaning of School Shootings” as of June 1, 2010 there has been twenty-five so far in the 2000s. “Warnick, Bryan, Johnson, A. Benjamin, Rocha, Samuel, 2010” If only there was stricter gun control had been implemented and enforced. I mean after all these shootings happen because of a child being able to obtain a firearm. Twenty-three students were killed from school shootings in the year 1999. Probably the most publicized school shooting during that year was the devastation that occurred at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
Then, she explains her first experience shooting a gun when she was six years old. Her twin sister was fascinated by guns, but Sarah hated guns so much that she whispered “Satan, I rebuke thee” when holding the gun. Her parents allowed her to make her own choices, including not engaging in family activities that included “little death sticks” such as hunting. During the Reagan administration Sarah and her father bickered over nuclear proliferation, Contra aid and Communism. As Sarah got older she
written by Paul Harris is an opinionated paper told by one of the victims fathers Tom Mauser, who is very devoted to change the guns laws in Colorado form his own experience of losing his son in the 1999 columbine high school shooting, his son was one of 12 to have his life taken by the shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold who had also killed a teacher and injured 24 other staff and students. Tom Mauser has endorsed the rare politicians who make gun controls part of their agenda and is a board member of Colorado Ceasefire, a gun control group. Tom Mauser is angry that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney because they have avoided talking about gun crime in Colorado. One of the possible social changes could have been if Obama or Romney
A constant message throughout this documentary is that because some mentally challenged teens shot up a school and killed 15 students the 80 million responsible gun owners who handle over 300 million firearms in the US are somehow responsible (2011 Gallup Firearms Survey). Give credit where credit is due Moore did an outstanding job in selecting the most stereotypical, moronic and entertaining “pro-gunners”. Frederick smith of the Fox daily bulletin criticized Moore’s choice of psychopathic Nichol brother who was acquitted of charges in relation to the Oklahoma City Bombing. He stated “Moore’s choice of interviewee in regards to gun violence is absurd, and totally politically motivated, by choosing this one un-stable man he is generalizing and that is dangerous”. There is doubt that
MeShelle Locke 16, of Lacey, Washington was suspended from school for four days for making a hand gesture of a gun at another student and saying “Bang.” The boy whom MeShelle often joked with asked “Is that a threat” jokingly. She replied “No, that’s a promise.” This prank resulted in, out of school suspension. So has gun laws changed after the Columbine shooting on April 20, 1999? Here’s a few facts: May 1999 | In the wake of the Columbine shootings, Congress holds heated gun-control debates. Then-Vice President Al Gore cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate to require background checks for firearms purchases at gun shows and
Like I said, guns can’t choose its targets. The power behind the gun is that it has the capability to kill. There were innocent people who are killed by guns every year in the United States, and some of gun shooting events occurred on campus. At 11:21 A.M. on April 20, 1999, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold entered Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, from back parking lot carrying two shotguns, a Hi-Point semiautomatic rifle and a 9 millimeter Tech DC 9 semi-automatic pistol with a high-capacity magazine. They shot to death 12 students and a teacher, and then they killed themselves (Lamb).
It took only ten minutes for Nikolas Cruz to enter the school premises, fire dozens of rounds throughout the school, and kill seventeen students and teachers. Many of the results of other shootings occurred here as well, but the perpetrator did not kill himself at the end; rather, he left campus in accordance of the students who fled the school. Though, the police forces caught him soon after. The feeling of dread that the students felt as their peers and teachers fell, before them, downed by the malicious intents of an alumnus cannot and could not be tolerated. Those within the building suffered through the dread of death, but their families had to endure the fear of their loved one falling to those bullets.