FROM THE NEWS ARCHIVES OF CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL
A letter to Charlton Heston from Michael Moore of "Bowling for Columbine"
POSTED
ON
10/30/02 AT 3:30 P.M.
BY ETHAN AAMES
The following is an open letter sent to us which is addressed to actor Charlton Heston, current president of the NRA, from Michael Moore, director of "Bowling for Columbine," a hard-hitting, but humorous documentary on gun control in the United States. It is in response to Heston's planned trip to Tucson, Arizona, where just two days ago, a shooting occured at the University of Arizona. ---------- To: Charlton Heston, President, NRA
Dear Mr. Heston:
When you showed up in Denver to hold your pro-gun rally just days after the
massacre at nearby Columbine High School, the nation was shocked at your
incredible insensitivity to those who had just lost loved ones.
When you came to Flint to hold another rally in the months after a 6-yearold
boy shot a 6-year old girl at a nearby elementary school, the community was
stunned by your desire to rub its face in its grief.
But your announcement that you are on your way to Tucson today, just 48
hours after a student at the University of Arizona shot and killed three
professors, a student, and then himself, to hold ANOTHER big pro-gun
celebration -- this time to get out the vote for the NRA-backed Republican
running for Congress -- well, sir, I have to ask you: Have you no shame?
I am asking that you not go to Tucson today. Do not cause any more grief,
any more pain. Let the relatives and friends of the deceased mourn. Why show
up to play the role of the bully, kicking these good people when they are
down, just so you can prove that you have a right to your big, bad guns?
These are not the actions of a once brave and decent man. They are the acts
of a coward, as no man of courage would think of picking on his fellow
citizens when they are so consumed with tragedy.
Obviously, you couldn't care less. Because to you, The Gun is supreme --and
wherever it is used to kill multiple people (preferably at a school),
there shall we find you gloating about some misbegotten right you think you
have to own a device that is designed to eliminate human life.
Well, Mr. Heston, this time I think you have crossed the line. I hope that
your efforts as a gun supremacist -- you are now, I understand, in the
middle of a 12-state tour to help elect Republicans -- backfire on you in
the surest way that it can: total rejection of you, the NRA, and the
candidates you back come next Tuesday. The American people have had enough.
To the people of Tucson and the students at the University of Arizona, I am
so sorry for the tragedy you have suffered, and I feel terribly sad that you
will have to endure the sight of Charlton Heston and his gun nuts today.
Take some solace in knowing that your fellow Americans by an overwhelming
margin want tough gun laws -- and that the day of obtaining them is not far
away. There is one small way to make sure Heston and the NRA are stopped in
their tracks -- just check out the website of the man (TKTKTKTK) they have
come to Tucson to defeat. Let them pack their guns -- we will pack the
polls!
Yours,
Michael Moore
From: Michael Moore, Winner, NRA Marksman Award
Subject: Your Visit to Tucson Today in the Wake of Another School Shooting
www.michaelmoore.com
Mike@michaelmoore.com

