Bowling for Columbine

Michael Moore:
Why not use Gandhi's way? He didn't have guns, and he beat the British Empire.

John Nichols:
I'm not... familiar with that.

Michael Moore:
This was my first gun. I couldn't wait to go out and shoot up the neighborhood.

Michael Moore:
Well, here's my first question. Do you think it's kind of dangerous handing out guns at a bank?

John Nichols:
There's a lot of wackos out there.

Michael Moore:
Thank you for not shooting me.

Michael Moore:
What if I had a spear?

Marilyn Manson:
The two by-products of that whole tragedy were, violence in entertainment, and gun control. And how perfect that that was the two things that we were going to talk about with the upcoming election. And also, then we forgot about Monica Lewinsky and we forgot about, uh, the President was shooting bombs overseas, yet I'm a bad guy because I, well I sing some rock-and-roll songs, and who's a bigger influence, the President or Marilyn Manson? I'd like to think me, but I'm going to go with the President.

Michael Moore:
Do you know that on the day of the Columbine massacre, the US dropped more bombs on Kosovo than any other day?

Marilyn Manson:
I do know that, and I think that's really ironic, that nobody said 'well maybe the President had an influence on this violent behavior' Because that's not the way the media wants to take it and spin it, and turn it into fear, because then you're watching television, you're watching the news, you're being pumped full of fear, there's floods, there's AIDS, there's murder, cut to commercial, buy the Acura, buy the Colgate, if you have bad breath they're not going to talk to you, if you have pimples, the girl's not going to f*** you, and it's just this campaign of fear, and consumption, and that's what I think it's all based on, the whole idea of 'keep everyone afraid, and they'll consume.'

Chris Rock:
You don't need no gun control. You know what you need? Bullet control. I think all bullets should cost $5000. You know why? If a bullet cost $5000 there'd be no more innocent bystanders.

Michael Moore:
If you were to talk directly to the kids at Columbine or the people in that community, what would you say to them if they were here right now?

Marilyn Manson:
I wouldn't say a single word to them, I would listen to what they have to say and that's what no one did.

Marilyn Manson:
I definitely can see why they would pick me. Because I think it's easy to throw me face on the TV, because in the end, I'm a poster boy for fear. Because I represent what everyone is afraid of, because I say and do whatever I want.

Michael Moore:
"Have you ever been adjudicated mentally defective? Or have you ever been committed to a mental institution?" Well, I've never been committed to a mental institution. What does that mean, have I "ever been adjudicated mentally defective"?

Michael Moore:
Oh, with a crime. Okay, so if I'm just normally mentally defective but not criminal...

Michael Moore:
The media, the corporations, the politicians... have all done such a good job of scaring the American public, it's come to the point where they don't need to give any reason at all.

Charlton Heston:
(At an National Rifles Association meeting) I have only five words for you: FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS!

Michael Moore:
It was the morning of April 20th 1999, and it was pretty much like any other morning in America. The Farmer did his chores. The milkman made his deliveries. The President bombed another country whose name we couldn't pronounce. Out in Fargo, North Dakota, Cary McWilliams went on his morning walk. Back in Michigan, Mrs Hughes welcomed her students for another day of school. And out in a little town in Colorado, two boys went bowling at 6 in the morning. Yes, it was a typical day in the United States of America.

Michael Moore:
Yes, it was a glorious time to be an American.

Michael Moore:
Do you like living here?

Michael Moore:
And your T-shirt?

John Nichols:
I use the pen, because the pen is mightier than the sword. But you must always keep a sword handy for when the pen fails.

Michael Moore:
In your mind, somebody might break into your house to harm you or your family. What does that person look like?

Michael Moore:
Me?

Michael Moore:
Her?

Michael Moore:
Really?

Michael Moore:
I left the Heston estate atop Beverly Hills and walked back into the real world. To an America living and breathing in fear. Where gun sales are now at an all record high. And where, in the end, it all comes back to 'Bowling for Columbine'.

Marilyn Manson:
When I was a kid growing up, music was the escape. That's the only thing that had no judgments. You know, you put on a record, and it's not going to yell at you for dressing the way you do. It's going to make you feel better about it.

John Nichols:
I sleep at night with a gun under my pillow.

Michael Moore:
Aw, come on. Everyone says that.

Chris Rock:
Or if someone has a score to settle, being like, "You know what, I would f***ing put a cap in your ass... if I could *afford* it! I'm gonna save up some money, maybe get a second job or something, then you a motherf***in' dead man!"

[Moore speaking to Evan McCollum, Director of Communications at a Lockheed Martin plant near Columbine]

Michael Moore:
"So you don't think our kids say to themselves, 'Dad goes off to the factory every day, he builds missiles of mass destruction.' What's the difference between that mass destruction and the mass destruction over at Columbine High School?"

McCollum:
I guess I don't see that specific connection because the missiles that you're talking about were built and designed to defend us from somebody else who would be aggressors against us."

Interviewer:
What's your view on high school?

Male student:
Uh, I love it. Uh, I learn, I get picked on by bastards who hate me, and the principal's a dick.

Interviewer:
All right, what causes school violence?

Male student:
Uh, him. [Points to an overweight boy sitting nearby]

I'm Nicole Shleif.

And I'm Amanda Lamontagne.

And you went to Columbine?

Yes.

And you were with Eric and Dylan? In their class?

Yeah,

We were in their bowling class.

In their bowling class?

Yes.

What's bowling class?

Just an elective you can take for a gym credit.

Where's the educational value of this, though?

Um... I guess there isn't really any.

No, there's not.

I learned how to bowl a lot better, that's for sure.

What were Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold like?

Weird.

Yeah?

I mean, not very social.

I didn't really know who they were.

Not very social, just kinda kept to themselves.

How good a bowlers were Eric and Dylan?

When we played them, all I remember is they were just, like, crazy.

They would just chuck the ball.

Chuck it down there.

Throw the ball down; didn't really care how they bowled.

Yeah, they didn't really care about their scores.

Deputy Sheriff Steve Davis:
What were the suspects doing the morning of attack? I told you that I'd heard that they were bowling; that's the only thing I'm aware of.

Moore:
So did Dylan and Eric show up that morning and bowl two games before moving on to shoot up the school? And did they just chuck the balls down the lane? Did this mean something? Um, I guess they went to their favourite class. Why wasn't anyone blaming bowling for warping the minds of Eric and Dylan to commit their evil deeds? Wasn't that just as plausible as blaming Marilyn Manson? After all, it was apparently the last thing they did before the massacre.But wait a minute. There's lots of bowling going on in other countries.

[Two young men and a woman are hanging outside a fast food restaurant in Windsor, Ontario, Canada]

Interviewer:
Where are you supposed to be right now?

Man 1:
School.

Man 2:
School.

Woman:
School.

Interviewer:
Aren't you worried about what you're not learning?

Man 1:
Nah, I'm mostly helping everybody else in the class. Then I barely get to do my work.

Interviewer:
How about you? You're not worried about your education?

Woman:
Well, I've got the textbook.

Interviewer:
Why do you think we have so many, uh... gun murders in America?

Man 2:
Uh... I have no idea. People must hate each other or something.

Interviewer:
Oh, you mean Canadians don't hate each other?

Man 2:
Well, we do but we don't go to the point of shooting somebody just to get revenge.

Interviewer:
What do you do?

Man 2:
I don't know. Tease them, maybe. Make fun of them, ridicule them. Throw eggs at them.

...

Woman:
Every time I turn on the TV in the States, it's always about a murder here, a gunfight, hostile position... I just think the States, their view of things is fighting. That's how they resolve everything. If there's... there's something going on in another country, they send people over to fight it and... They are the most powerful country in the world, though. Canada's more just, like, "Let's negotiate, let's work something out." Where the States is, "We'll kill you and that'll be the end of that." Um, if guns were... If more guns made people safer, then America would be one of the safest countries in the world. It isn't. It's the opposite.

Michael Moore:
Now wait a minute... The Constitution says you've got the right to bear arms. What do you think 'arms' means?

John Nichols:
Well it's not like these... [waves his arms] It means we ought to have handguns if we want to.

Michael Moore:
What about nuclear weapons? Should you be able to have weapons-grade plutonium?

John Nichols:
Well I think that oughta be restricted.

Michael Moore:
Oh, so you do think there should be restrictions.

John Nichols:
Well...there's wackos out there.

Michael Moore:
Suddenly, our children had become little monsters.

Michael Moore:
Oh, with a crime. Okay, so if I'm just normally mentally defective but not criminal...

Chris Rock:
And people would think before they killed somebody if a bullet cost $5,000. It'd be like, "Man, I will blow your f***in' head off...if I could afford it! I'm gonna get another job, start saving some money, and you a dead man! You better hope I can't get no bullets on layaway!"

Canadian:
If more guns made people safer, then America would be one of the safest countries in the world. It isn't. It's the opposite.