COMMENTARY: Bowling for Columbine

BERKELEY -- Like most newcomers from overseas, I came to the United States for more freedom. However, the very first lesson I learned in this country was freedom is a relative term. How else can you explain the American fixation for owning firearms?

I wonder, who is more free? Me, a poor student from a Communist country with no need for or access to any weapon, or an American, afraid to be shot or robbed or assaulted at any minute, and therefore keeps a gun at home for protection?

Puzzled as I still am, Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine” led me into reflecting why average Americans either John Q. Mugger or John Q. Public need to carry a gun.

In a way, I do respect a country courageous enough to legalize gun-possession among the public. Every political, diplomatic or legal action made in this world is backed up by a threat of force and normally, the next link in the logic chain is that the first action by any oppressor is to remove the capability of the general populace to resist.

Restrictions on the number and types of firearms that the general population is allowed to own means that a government military force can outgun the general population, even when highly outnumbered. For example, it is partially why the Chinese government could safely ignore protesters’ demands during the 1989 Tian Anmen Square Riot.

Ideally, a well-armed populace could be the cornerstone of democracy. Yes, gunpowder was exactly what Americans used to defeat the British, enforce slavery, oppress and slaughter Native Americans, and otherwise develop an independent land Successful wars make Americans proud of their heritage and constitutional right to bear arms. “Guns make justice and freedom,” a Michigan gun-owner said in the documentary, “It is everyone’s duty to possess one.”
“Bowling for Columbine” attempts to show that the United States government’s use of guns to solve international issues, encourages its people to use violence to solve problems as well. Unfortunately, the victims of this violence include children like a 6-year-old boy in the movie who killed another 6-year-old girl and two high school students who massacred their schoolmates at Columbine High School in Colorado.

The documentary says Americans are scared because the media frightens them with everyday news coverage on violence. They therefore buy more guns to feel secure. To me, it is yet scarier to know that anyone, either criminals or my neighbors, could be armed especially those who are uneducated or have severe mental problems. Everyone could be a potential victim when people are uncertain whom they are shooting at or why they are firing the gun. Yes, “Nothing is for free.”— This freedom, this right to bear arms, is excessive and promotes fear instead of security.

Americans are brought up in a culture of excess. They drive the fastest cars of 175-mile-an-hour; listen to 600-watt stereo systems or watch the overly violent movies.

“I cried when the documentary ended with ‘America is a glorious country,’” said Michael Burns, a 54 years old mechanics after watching the documentary. “It just hurts my feeling...”

On the other hand, somebody may say it is good to feel “vulnerable,” because fear is, and always has been, a useful tool for governments whose actions are questionable in the eyes of their electorate. A citizenry who is afraid is easier to control, easier to influence, easier to direct at a common enemy and easier to be distracted from other social problems.

Many walking out of the theater said they have never thought of more rights for welfares and insurances when the government tends to overwhelm them with wars. “I wish every American can watch the documentary so that we won’t be fooled around any more,” said Pat Leighton, a 54-year-old high school teacher in Berkeley.

Violent crime is a very important yardstick for evaluating the moral standards of a nation. The level of crime in a society can be interpreted as being the accumulative result of various social factors.

Is America one of the most violent nations in the world? If so, what are the real social problems causing those threats? What does it mean a “free country?” What freedom has people enjoyed so far? If so, who are those people? There are so many questions I still do not have answers too.