October 25, 2002

Dear friends,

Yesterday, Larry Bennett, a 16-year old, was shot in the head after he was involved in a minor traffic accident. You probably didn't hear about it because, well, how could he be dead if he wasn't shot by The Sniper?

Yesterday, an unidentified woman was shot to death in her car in Fenton, MI. You probably didn't hear about it because she had the misfortune of not being shot by The Sniper.

Two nights ago, Charles D. Bennett, 48, an apartment security guard, was shot to death after confronting two teenagers in his parking lot in Memphis, TN. You probably didn't hear about it because the sniper was too busy sleeping in his car that night, and thus, poor Charles was not shot by The Sniper.

Yes, The Sniper has apparently been caught, so we can go back now to NOT reporting the DOZENS of gun deaths that occur every day, the ones that just aren't newsworthy because they happen in all those old boring ways --
unlike the ways of The Sniper, who was interesting and creative and exciting and scary! He played so much better on the news.

Of course, had Congress not caved in to the NRA, we would have known after the first HOUR of the first day of the killings three weeks ago that the rifle those bullets were coming out of belonged to John Williams/Mohammad. Many more people died needlessly after that day, and every one of their deaths could have probably been prevented had we had a national ballistics fingerprinting data base.

Thank you, Mr. Heston for this unnecessary carnage. Thank you, Mr. Bush, for supporting Mr. Heston and his group's agenda -- which protects only the criminals.

If everyone reading this letter (and you now number in the millions) would share this fact with just one person who is thinking of skipping going to the polls on Nov. 5th, I believe that on Nov. 6th, Mr. Bush will have neither the Senate nor the House doing his or Heston's bidding. Americans don't like people who assist serial killers in being able to ratchet up their kills because The Sniper knows that his bullets are prohibited by law from being traced to his gun.

That, in a nutshell, is what the NRA is all about -- and I implore all responsible gun owners and hunters to join with me in putting an end to the NRA agenda once and for all. Don't give Bush his majority on November 5th. He's already seen to it that his cronies in big business have wiped out
your 401 (K), and they are doing their best to see that you are left with no pension at all. That alone should be reason enough to NOT pull a single lever for a Republican on Nov. 5th. Send a message. Do something brave.

Yours,

Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com

PS. "Bowling for Columbine" opens in a few dozen new cities this weekend,including Portland, Minneapolis, Sacramento, South Florida, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Baltimore, St. Louis, Kansas City, Cleveland, a bunch of towns in New Jersey, that village in Connecticut where we liberated the
beaches, a theatre in Times Square, Detroit (Royal Oak), and Denver. Click here (http://www.bowlingforcolumbine.com/about/theaters.php) to see the full list of theatres where it opens today.

PPS. Don't forget to show up in DC or SF tomorrow to voice your opposition to the War on Iraq. Many other cities are holding rallies. Check out my mission from the Office of Homeland Security (http://www.michaelmoore.com) for details.

PPPS. You can find out more about the candidates to beat and the ones to support in the upcoming election here:
http://www.bowlingforcolu...d/gop.php.

Isn't it true that once fired the fingerprint of a rifle changes? and I think that goes for each and every time it's fired...

I'm not aware, so I ask Was John Williams/Mohammad gun legally registared to him?

Red said:

You gotta be joking...folks are entitled to take sides on such issues, but if you're gonna fantasize you're not gonna be taken seriously.

Interview with Michael Moore published in the Times today:

http://www.timesonline.co...98,00.html

2 quotations from review of film:

In his latest film Moore takes two survivors of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre to the Michigan headquarters of the Kmart supermarket megachain. Both survivors, one of them now paralysed from the waist down, have several 17-cent bullets from a Tech 9 semi-automatic gun lodged in his body. The bullets came from Kmart. The bullets’ “hosts”, chaperoned by Moore, ask for a refund. They don’t get one, but what they do get, 24 hours later, is an undertaking from Kmart not to sell any more handgun ammunition, anywhere.

Later, Moore tracks Heston down to his Hollywood lair and is stunned to be granted an interview in which Heston appears to regret aspects of the civil rights movement and blames America’s gun violence on “mixed ethnicity”.

Michael Moore live at the Roundhouse, London NW1 (020-7424 9991), Nov 7 to Dec 8
[This message was edited Fri Oct 25 12:00:24 PDT 2002 by langebleu]

That movie clip from the south park creators was crazy!

Isnt Michael Moore incredible,Im reading Stupid White Men at the moment

Much love Pochacco

http://www.bowlingforcolu.../index.php
[This message was edited Fri Oct 25 12:08:46 PDT 2002 by yamomma]

Hey, that wasn't my quote, it was Moore's.

Michael Moore says "ballistic fingerprinting" can save lives. As far as I know, ballistic fingerprinting relies on three things:

1. the lands and grooves in the barrel putting a unique marking on the
bullet.

2. the indentation on the primer made by the firing pin

3. the marks on the spent cartridge casing made by the extractor and the
ejection mechanism.

"Of course, had Congress not caved in to the NRA, we would have known after the first HOUR of the first day of the killings three weeks ago that the rifle those bullets were coming out of belonged to John Williams/Mohammad."

Barrels can be changed easily. U can swap out the barrel of a 1911 Government Model .45 in about 3 minutes (field strip it, which requires only one tool, a bushing wrench).

Without a spare barrel, you can make new marks on the lands inside the barrel and the bullet looks different.

Changing a firing pin is a little more work, but changing an extractor is pretty easy. If you don't have spares, you can alter the extractor and the pin with a file, and the cartridges look different.

Voila, in ten minutes there's a pistol that is virtually untraceable for "ballistic fingerprinting." Gun owners know this, and that's why they are opposed to the idea of "ballistic fingerprinting" because criminals will simply swap out or modify parts.

Secondly, the logic that says stronger anti-gun laws will deter crime - criminals often do not register their guns.

Virtually all of the high crime areas of the u.s. have tough anti-gun laws. On the other hand, Vermont doesn't require any permit at all to carry a concealed firearm and its firearms-related crimes rank 49th out of the 50
states.

Britain outlawed most private ownership of handguns. Then, crime went up by 40 percent because criminals know that victims are unarmed.

States that allow qualified and law abiding citizens to carry a concealed firearm have all reported decrease in crime.

So as much as I adire Moore, he may be sadly misinformed on the mechanics of a number of firearms issues. I don't know, just reporting.

Thanks for putting that up here Red.

Red said:

nice! thanx.
also, with the hot/cold nature of a gun barrel, (expanding/contracting) the fingerprint is never going to be the same twice and will constantly change over the life of a barrel...right? (I heard this...don't know if it's true)
anyway...gun laws only work on law abiding citizens...criminals don't care what laws there are...might even make for more of a challenge.

The NRA

I heard that every year 39000 americans are being killed by bullets... very sad statistic. I guess that's what you get when your constitution and governement are controlled by something like the NRA: guns are everywhere.

not to mention that that the "Bushmaster" (how ironic)can be bought everywhere and that about 200 million guns are cuurently circulating in the US. How are you going to fingerprint those? No way, it's too late already.

UPDATE FROM MICHAEL MOORE
Let me alert those of you in the British Isles that I will be spending the next month on the stage at the Roundhouse theatre in London performing a one man show I have written. This is something I have been wanting to do for sometime, so I'm going to give it a go in Britain first before bringing it to the States. As the British have been good sports/guinea pigs in the past, allowing me to try out my TV shows on them ("TV Nation" was co-produced by the BBC and "The Awful Truth" by Channel Four UK), I thought it best that they be the first ones ever subjected to my attempt at live theatre.

So, I will be at the Roundhouse from November 8 to December 8. There will be singing, dancing and a nightly search for Osama bin Laden. OK, maybe not the dancing. BUT, whatever night we catch bin Laden, I'm sharing the $25 million reward with the audience that is there THAT night! If you are in the neighborhood of London (roughly anyone from Iceland to Bosnia), and would like attend, please call 0870 890 0512 for tickets or click here
www.michaelmoorelive.com