Michael Moore on mass shootings and guns

Michael Moore's award winning film about the 1999 Columbine High School mass shooting established him as our social conscience on guns, health care, and a number of other topics.   So it was natural for people to turn to him for a comment on the latest mass shooting in Isla Vista, California.   That was in May of 2014.  Here's what he wrote at that time.

With due respect to those who are asking me to comment on last night's tragic mass shooting at UCSB in Isla Vista, CA -- I no longer have anything to say about what is now part of normal American life. Everything I have to say about this, I said it 12 years ago:

We are a people easily manipulated by fear which causes us to arm ourselves with a quarter BILLION guns in our homes that are often easily accessible to young people, burglars, the mentally ill and anyone who momentarily snaps. We are a nation founded in violence, grew our borders through violence, and allow men in power to use violence around the world to further our so-called American (corporate) "interests." The gun, not the eagle, is our true national symbol.

While other countries have more violent pasts (Germany, Japan), more guns per capita in their homes (Canada [mostly hunting guns), and the kids in most other countries watch the same violent movies and play the same violent video games that our kids play, no one even comes close to killing as many of its own citizens on a daily basis as we do -- and yet we don't seem to want to ask ourselves this simple question: "Why us? What is it about US?"

Nearly all of our mass shootings are by angry or disturbed white males. None of them are committed by the majority gender, women. Hmmm, why is that? 

Even when 90% of the American public calls for stronger gun laws, Congress refuses -- and then we the people refuse to remove them from office.

So the onus is on us, all of us. We won't pass the necessary laws, but more importantly we won't consider why this happens here all the time. When the NRA says, "Guns don't kill people -- people kill people," they've got it half-right. Except I would amend it to this: "Guns don't kill people -- Americans kill people." Enjoy the rest of your day, and rest assured this will all happen again very soon.         Michael Moore

And, of course, it did happen again and again.  Since Moore wrote that, nearly 18 months ago, there have been at least 100 more shootings in schools alone, in addition to movie theaters, shopping malls, churches.   Isn't it . . . at long, long last . . . time to address the problem?   It isn't just "stuff" that happens, Jeb, when a young, white, American man with multiple guns and a grievance pulls the trigger, again . . . and again . . . and again . . . 

Australia showed us how to do it.    When they had a mass shooting, they passed effective laws.   And they haven't had a mass shooting since.

Ralph