Topic > Michael Moore's Perspective on the Side Effects of Firearms as Shown in the Documentary Bowling for Columbine

My family has never had a problem with the Second Amendment or firearms in general. In fact, my mother and her boyfriend each own a gun for defensive purposes. One of the first mature arguments I had with my parents was about who should or shouldn't own guns; we all agreed that mentally unstable people shouldn't own one. This opinion of mine has never changed since that discussion about five years ago. After all, why would you give a firearm to someone who is known to lash out and become very violent? After asking this rhetorical question to someone who is a gun rights activist, they would probably still encourage that everyone should have a gun and that there should be no more restrictions on having one. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Firearms are dangerous. There's no doubt about it. But it is possible to make them less dangerous by keeping them out of the hands of those who will use them mainly to harm rather than to defend. This is the message Michael Moore portrays in his documentary Bowling for Columbine. This film tries to convince gun rights activists that gun restrictions are absolutely necessary, using heavy sarcasm and wisps of satire to even try to make some of them look like idiots. I think this was effective because, even though it was sarcastic, it raises valid points and expresses legitimate concerns about the right to own firearms in the United States. While some may not agree with the information in this film, I completely agree. Throughout the film, Moore uses the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999 as an example of how dangerous firearms can be when put into the wrong hands. . And when I say “given,” I mean given. The film opens with pathos and visuals, showing Moore himself applying for a bank account at a bank (which was also a licensed firearms dealer) that offered free guns to anyone who opened one. The fact that weapons are so easy to obtain is pathos that Moore uses; makes the audience think, “wow, I wonder what crazy person in my town got a gun so easily? What would they do with that kind of firepower?” Moore continues to bring the audience into thoughts like the last one when he receives the rifle and starts aiming it inside the bank, giving the audience visuals to add to the already existing pathos. Moore also uses elements of sarcasm to continue the film's reliance on pathos. This is demonstrated by various combinations of ironic visual and audio components, such as “Happiness is a Warm Gun” by the Beatles, and “(What a) Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong as background music to videos of violent shootings and wars, obviously contradictory to each other . other. Playing joyful songs against the video of people being injured and dying from people shooting guns at them. This makes the public feel as if firearms do not cause happiness or do not make the world a better place at all and only harm others. This makes gun rights activists look a little silly, since they always say that guns are a basic human right/necessity and that they do less harm than people realize. Aside from pathos, Moore also uses elements of ethics, using a personal anecdote of a man who was expelled from a school. This man tells the principal that he blew up a school and also shows little remorse or regret in the.