America: Living And Breathing In Fear

3 Pages 744 Words

“If more guns make people safer then America would be one of the safest places in the world, but it is the opposite.” The quote was from Michael Moore’s film Bowling for Columbine; in Moore’s film he tries to discover why and what makes Americans so violent. He takes many different approaches in trying to find out the truth; Moore interviews people like the National Rifle Association president Charlton Heston to shock rocker Marilyn Manson. He came across many different causes as to why we are so violent, but two were most prevalent to me.
The first cause seemed to be that people are taking the Second Amendment, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed,” to the extreme. They have taken the “right to bear arms” and turned it into an excuse to keep a loaded gun in every room of the house. People have eliminated the middle man, becoming their own police, and have taken the law into their own hands. They are claiming that it is an American tradition and responsibility to be armed. Their argument is that if you are not armed you are not being responsible. In Virgin, Utah ordinance #2000-06-12 states that, “In order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the town and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in the Virgin Town limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefore.” In plain English it means that every household is required to have a gun in the house. Is it really necessary for us to take our freedom to this level just because we can? When Charlton Heston was interviewed he even admitted that he has never been a victim of a crime. So why does he keep a loaded gun in the house? His reply was that it is a “comfort factor.” I honestly feel like there are other ways to feeling safe in the house besides keeping a gun.
The second cause that ...