Questions to “Bowling for Columbine”
Sociology 241: Sociology of Deviance
Professor: Jill Hennessee
2nd Semester of 2005


1.  Michale Moore opens a bank account so that he can get what item instead of interest?
    He opened a bank account so that he could get a free gun.

2.  Charlton Heston is the president of what organization?
    He is the president of the National Rifle Association.

3.  Why does the man from the Michigan militia say you must carry a gun?
    He said that you must carry a gun to defend yourself and your family.

4.  James Nichols was arrested in connection with what bombing?
    He was arrested for his connection with the Oklahoma City Bombing.

5.  How does James Nichols contradict himself when discussing the ban of nuclear weapons?
He said that he believes in restrictions for nuclear weapons but not for guns. Both are weapons anyway you look at it.

6.   Describe the Littleton community.
The community of Littleton is a very close-knit average town, full of good people and a good place to raise your children.

7.  The Littleton security man gets emotional and says that Columbine “did” something. What?
    The security man stated that it changed how people talked.

8.  Why did Lockheed donate $100,000 toward anger-management programs?
They donated money because they feel the reason why the Columbine shootings happened was because the two boys who killed the people had anger-management problems.

9.  What happened to Kosovo on April 20, 1999? What happened one hour later?
The largest bombing in Kosovo happened one hour before the shootings happened at Columbine high school.

10.  What organization held a major rally in Denver 10 days after the shooting?
    Charlton Heston held a gun rally for the National Rifle Association.

11. Who were some of the people/things blamed for the tragedy at Columbine?
Several things like, South Park, parents, video games, Marilyn Manson, broken homes, and poverty were blamed on the Columbine shootings.

12.  How does Marilyn Manson respond to allegations that he is to blame?
He says that he can see why they would blame him because he promotes fear and talks about things that the world holds as bad.
    
13.  How many kids have been killed by Halloween candy? Why is this important?
There have been 2 kids that have been killed by candy due to poisoning on purpose by family members. This is important because of the fear of putting razors in apples. America lives in fear.

14.  What role does “fear” play in American culture?
    It fully consumes the American culture.

15.  Describe the most common criminal seen on television.
    The most common criminal on TV is that of a black man.

16.  What does the former TV producer of Cops say sells in the media?
The former producer states that anger, hate, and violence are what sell in the media today.

17.  How many gun murders were there in Sarnia and Windsor, Canada, in the past three years?
    There was ONE in Sarnia, and ONE in Windsor within the last three years.

18.  Does Canada have guns? In 2001, could they get guns/ammunition easily? Explain.
Yes, Canada does have guns and can buy them easily at department stores (Wal-Mart) and or gun stores. They feel that the people in Canada are much more safe and caring when it comes to fire arms.
    
19.  How is Canada TV news different from TV news in the United States?
The TV news in Canada does not talk about war or violence because they do not have much of it within their country.  While in the U.S. that is what our news is made up of most of the time.

20.  How did the Welfare to Work program impact Tamarla Ownes, the mother of the boy who shot the little girl, Kayla?
The program made her work a long way from home, so she wasn’t able to be with her son and supervise him.

21.  What do Mark, Richard, and Michael convince K-Mart to do about selling ammunition?
They were able to get K-Mart to stop selling ammunition since they do not sell guns.

22.  Whom does Michael Moore visit at his home in Hollywood? What is the outcome of their discussion?
He went to visit Charleton Heston in Hollywood.  He says that he feels comfort knowing that he has a loaded gun in his house.  He also said that he thinks history of violence and ethnicity are reasons for violence involving guns in America. Moore catches Heston contradicting himself and pesters him about this, causing Heston to walk away from their conversation.

23.  What did you learn from the film?
I learned how much violence within our country occurs because of the sales of guns and that many Americans are living in fear.



Professor’s comments: Professor Hennessee didn’t write any comments on the paper, but put a number 11 at the top of the page, which was full credit on the assignment.

Source:  Thio, Alex. Deviant Behavior. 7th ed. Boston: Pearson Education Inc., 2004.



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