Michael Moore Speaks About Gun Violence In America

Ten years after the release of his award-winning “Bowling for Columbine” documentary, which explored the gun culture in the US, Michael Moore is now being asked to comment in the wake of the Aurora, Colorado shooting earlier this month, when 12 people were killed while attending a movie theatre.

In an open letter, Moore sounded saddened and discouraged at the lack of progress in America, where, he says, “We have two Auroras that take place every single day of every single year. At least 24 Americans every day (8-9,000 a year) are killed by people with guns, and that doesn’t count the ones accidentally killed by guns or who commit suicide with a gun. Count them and you triple that number to over 25,000.”

Moore criticizes the way America’s Second Amendment (the right to own guns) has been hijacked from the intention of the Founding Fathers, which provided that “a militia could be quickly called up from amongst the farmers and merchants should the Brits decide to return and wreak some havoc.”

He’s also tired of the standard excuses given for gun violence in America, such as the influence of violent movies and video games, and a history and culture of men with guns. Moore says these don’t hold up when compared with other countries whose populations are exposed to the same movies and games, and who have guns in their histories as well, but today they do not suffer similar results on the streets.

The notion that a gun cannot fire itself, that “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”, an oft heard slogan of the NRA, would be more honest according to Moore if it said rather, “Guns don’t kill people, Americans kill people.”

“We Americans are incredibly good killers,” says Moore. "We believe in killing as a way of accomplishing our goals. Three quarters of our states execute criminals even though states with lower murder rates are generally the states with no death penalty. We’ve been invaders since we conquered the Wild West.

“We are an easily frightened people and it is easy to manipulate us with fear. What are we so afraid of that we need to have 300 million guns in our homes? Maybe we should fix our race problem and then there would be fewer frustrated, frightened, angry people reaching for the gun in the drawer.”