Bowling for Columbine and Gun

BOWLING for COLUMBINE and GUN CONTROL ISSUES in the U.S.

In his 2002 movie Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore examines the issues of gun ownership and violence in the United States. The movie's title is a reference to the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado by two students heavily armed with firearms. Initially, Moore considers the prevalence of gun ownership as a causal factor in the massacre and as the reason for the high rate of gun violence in the U.S. Moore does illustrate the fanaticism of the National Rifle Association and its thousands of supporters. Eventually, however, he concludes that violence in the U.S. is more the result of a culture of aggression and violence than simply the result of access to firearms. Moore suggest as much through imagery of U.S. foreign policy in action.

Opinion of Issues

The National Rifle Association

Moore actually visits the home of the late President of the National Rifle Association (NRA) unannounced to challenge the former actor on the issue of responsibility for gun violence. When confronted by Moore's argument that the widespread availability of firearms in the U.S., Heston replies that Moore should refer his questions to the Framers of the U.S. Constitution.

That suggestion is based on the familiar position of the powerful NRA political lobby (and many others) supporting the belief that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution specifically guarantees the "right to bear arms." In reality, the issue is much less clear because many legal scholars (including the members of the U.S. Supreme Court to date) argue that the Second Amendment merely authorizes the individual states to maintain armed state militias (Dershowitz, 2002).

In my opinion, the more restrictive interpretation may make more sense, mainly because the Constitution was drafted at a time when states' rights and federal rights were a principal concern. It is also unreasonable to believe that the Framers could ever have envisioned the types of modern firearms that would be available two centuries after their era.

Institutionalized Violence

On the other hand, it does not make sense to focus so much on the availability of firearms, simply because most violent crimes involving firearms are committed with illegal firearms and not legally owned and possessed weapons (Dershowitz, 2002). Moore himself comes to the conclusion that, if anything, the American obsession with guns is more a symptom than a cause of the complex social and cultural reasons for higher rates of violent crime in the U.S. than exist in many other countries. The second part of the movie includes vivid news footage of violence initiated by the U.S. As well as interviews with employees of Lockheed-Martin, a missile contractor for the U.S. military located in Littleton.

New Jersey State Gun Laws