Michael Moore says there's a reason for frequent U.S. shooting rampages
TMZ recently caught up with filmmaker Michael Moore at the Los Angeles airport, where deranged gunman Paul Ciancia recently opened fire on Transportation Safety Administration workers.
Moore's 2002 film Bowling for Columbine chronicled the devastating consequences of America's love affair with firearms.
He told TMZ there's a reason why gun-wielding lunatics don't open fire in public place as often in Ireland, Canada, France, and elsewhere as they do in the United States.
"They have their occasional craziness, but it's not on a weekly or monthly basis. No," he said. "So why us? They're not better than us. So why us? That is the question to ask. What do you think? 'Cause they have mentally ill people in those countries. In Canada, hunting is a bigger sport than hockey. There's a lot of guns in Canada. Why don't they kill each other? They have mental-health problems."
Moments later, he took a swipe at the National Rifle Association.
"The NRA—they got it half right when they say 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people'," Moore commented. "I change it to 'Guns don't kill people, Americans kill people', because we're the only ones who do it on this level and on this scale. Why?"
The videotape ended before he could answer his own question.
Comments
5 Comments
DavidH
Nov 10, 2013 at 10:27am
If you're raised in a home where alcohol and prohibited drugs are regularly consumed to excess by authority figures like parents, well ... you might end up with substance problems of your own.
And if you're raised in an environment where guns are as common as household appliances, and are celebrated purely for their own sake, and can be had as easily as a bit of grass in Gastown on a Saturday night, well ... you might see a lot of people getting shot.
It's no mystery. Behaviour is modelled. Sadly, this obvious conclusion is a scientific one, and we know what Conservatives think about science.
Pressure
Nov 11, 2013 at 5:15am
I think it's the pressure all Americans are put under, from childhood, to "be the best". They're under pressure from childhood to be the prettiest, most handsome, most fit, richest, most successful, most famous, smartest, etc. in a far more serious way than we are up here in Canada. They worship celebrity to a frighteningly unhealthy degree. So in my humble opinion, when a person (because of poverty, lack of brights, mental illness, or general situation) wants to but just cannot achieve their country's lofty goal of being number 1 in all areas, a goal internalized by the entire country, they go postal. This could also explain Kim Kardashian's popularity and her own need to keep having plastic surgery.
Kathleen Maloney
Nov 11, 2013 at 9:38am
More Americans kill kids with guns because they are still fighting a civil war and claiming to have won a right to kill unlike Canadians who use government colonial policy to knock off through omission rather than comission.
out at night
Nov 11, 2013 at 12:04pm
Just a country with more than its fair share of insane mofos. When a loon like Sarah Palin or a certified nutjob like Rick Santorum can get all the way to the top of the political/media heap, it means you're talking about a population suffering mass psychosis. Sorry America, you used to be pretty cool, but not so much nowadays...
Past president
Nov 11, 2013 at 12:36pm
Beware of the military industrial complex
The politicians inside the beltway are just bitches to big oil, big guns, big agro, and big pharma
What's 16 inches long and hangs between lockheed Martin's CEO's legs ?
Obama's tie.