I was watching "Bowling For Columbine" tonight, and regardless of what an individual's own political ideology might be regarding the obviously pro-gun-control Michael Moore's slant on Columbine, he does ask a fairly significant question. Why are there so many more handgun murders per capita in the United States than in any other country?
Moore carefully and successfully eliminates all of the obvious and sometimes really ignorant misconceptions that people have (i.e., there are more handgun murders because we have more handguns, there are only white people in these other countries such as Canada: NEITHER OF THESE IS TRUE. Then Moore suggests, or rather has some of the subjects of his documentary suggest that our nation has more of a propensity toward violence as a method of problem-solving than other nations do. One of his guests suggests that we oftentimes resort to total destruction of our enemy, while the citizens of other countries are more into negotiation.
Whether you agree with Moore's conclusions and observations regarding the question posed about our rampant problem with handgun violence, or you disagree, will probably hinge on your political leanings and really doesn't matter. The most important thing that Moore's documentary provided was the question itself.
Are we, as a nation, enamored with the instant gratification we can achieve through the sudden finality of a handgun? Does the constitutional right to possess a gun somehow encourage their use for illicit means?
I honestly don't believe there are any believable conclusions or statements that can be made at this point. I certainly don't believe in making our 'society' in general a scapegoat for the actions of the individual. But I do believe that in addition to assessing reponsibility to the action of pulling the trigger, there might be something really wrong in our society that we can try to identify and possibly change.
Moore carefully and successfully eliminates all of the obvious and sometimes really ignorant misconceptions that people have (i.e., there are more handgun murders because we have more handguns, there are only white people in these other countries such as Canada: NEITHER OF THESE IS TRUE. Then Moore suggests, or rather has some of the subjects of his documentary suggest that our nation has more of a propensity toward violence as a method of problem-solving than other nations do. One of his guests suggests that we oftentimes resort to total destruction of our enemy, while the citizens of other countries are more into negotiation.
Whether you agree with Moore's conclusions and observations regarding the question posed about our rampant problem with handgun violence, or you disagree, will probably hinge on your political leanings and really doesn't matter. The most important thing that Moore's documentary provided was the question itself.
Are we, as a nation, enamored with the instant gratification we can achieve through the sudden finality of a handgun? Does the constitutional right to possess a gun somehow encourage their use for illicit means?
I honestly don't believe there are any believable conclusions or statements that can be made at this point. I certainly don't believe in making our 'society' in general a scapegoat for the actions of the individual. But I do believe that in addition to assessing reponsibility to the action of pulling the trigger, there might be something really wrong in our society that we can try to identify and possibly change.
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