22 Years After “Bowling for Columbine:”
Kaitlin Bennett and the Gun Control Debate, with 81days left until the 2024 Presidential Election
American Second Amendment activist and right-wing political gadfly Kaitlin Bennett. Photo courtesy: Twitter - @KaitMarieox.
In many ways, Kaitlin Bennett is the perfect human avatar to reflect on documentary movie director Michael Moore’s two-decades-old classic 2002 film Bowling for Columbine.
Vice President (VP) Kamala Harris and her VP nominee, Tim Walz, often mention their intention to pursue a ban on the sale of assault weapons in the US if they defeat Donald Trump in November. Just seven (7) years old, when Michael Moore released Bowling for Columbine, Kaitlin Bennett’s conservative, pro-Second Amendment advocacy is an effective cultural and media phenomenon with which to analyze the current state of the fight for gun control in America.
Kaitlin Bennett successfully garnered the attention of the national mainstream media in 2018 after posting graduation photos across social media while carrying an assault rifle on the Kent State University campus. Kent State prohibits students, faculty, and staff from carrying guns and other “deadly weapons” anywhere on campus grounds.
Bennett posted that she should have been able to bring the weapon on campus as a student, “especially since four unarmed students were shot and killed by the government.”
**********
Kaitlin Bennett at Kent State University in 2018. The photo image is courtesy of Twitter - @KaitMarieox.
Mrs. Bennett’s old statement was referencing the 1970 killing of four students and wounding of nine others by the Ohio National Guard during a Vietnam War protest on the Kent State campus.
However, Kaitlin Bennett began her career as a conservative activist in 2017 during her junior year as an undergraduate biology student at Kent State. She was the campus organizer for Turning Point USA when she put together a notorious “diaper protest” that backfired in public humiliation for the group.
Since 2018, Kaitlin Bennett has become a social media phenomenon for her viral videos and image posts supporting Donald Trump, the MAGA movement, Christianity, and capitalism. From 2019 through 2021, Bennett became a constant presence at Donald Trump’s Presidential rallies and the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Although Kaitlin Bennet has also made headlines for her strong anti-LGBTQ+ and anticommunist views, her 2018 gun-carrying graduation publicity stunt on campus transformed her into one of America’s most prominent gun rights advocates.
**********
Kaitlin Bennett. The photo image is courtesy of Twitter - @KaitMarieox.
The Second Amendment of The United States Constitution is the most controversial amendment of the Bill of Rights.
“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” is the text of the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment aside, the US government has a limited right to regulate gun ownership via registration and limits on the most dangerous weapons.
Kaitlin Bennett would disagree with that assessment. She is against any restrictions on the Second Amendment. Ms. Bennett is also part of a wave of famous “gun rights” advocates who gained mass popularity after the advent of social media in the mid-to-late 2000s.
Social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter (now “X”) were all instrumental in securing large audiences for aggressively independent 2nd Amendment advocates like Dana Loesch, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Colion Noir, and Kaitlin Bennett.
**********
2nd Amendment activist and radio host Dana Loesch speaking with attendees at the 2018 Young Women’s Leadership Summit hosted by Turning Point USA in Dallas, Texas. The photo image is courtesy of Gage Skidmore and is available via Wikipedia Commons.
Of course, Representatives Taylor-Greene and Boebert rode the wave of social media into the hallowed halls of Congress.
Loesch and Colion Noir are part of a populist American backlash against Michael Moore’s liberal political sentiments, as exhibited in Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004). Bowling for Columbine explores what Moore proposes are the principal causes of the Columbine High School massacre and other acts of gun violence in America.
The Columbine High School massacre happened on April 20, 1999. Two teens – 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold, went on a shooting spree at the high school. The two boys killed thirteen people and wounded over twenty others before turning their guns on themselves and committing suicide. We briefly referenced the Columbine massacre back in our essay about The Southport Stabbings.
The Columbine massacre prompted Micheal Moore to begin working on his 2002 documentary investigation to determine what motivated the two gunmen to commit what was then the worst high school shooting in US history.
**********
The 2002 theatrical release poster for Michael Moore’s documentary film “Bowling for Columbine.” The photo image is courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
In Bowling for Columbine, Moore questions why gun-related crime rates are so high in the United States compared to other countries like Canada, where gun ownership is also common.
Moore uses the terrible mass slaughter in Littleton, Colorado, as a focus point to answer that question and examine the debate over gun control. The film concentrates on the disturbing footage of the massacre from the high school’s security camera tapes of the shootings.
Mr. Moore connects the existence in Littleton of Lockheed Martin, a large corporate business enterprise with contacts to the federal defense department, to the violent behavior of the Columbine shooters. He implies that the mindset of Harris and Klebold – an attitude that accepts institutionalized violence as a solution to conflicts, is directly connected to the presence of a facility that manufactures weapons and military technology within the community.
Because violent offenses committed with firearms in the United States are significantly higher than the violent gun crime rates of other countries, Moore seeks to bolster his theory with celebrity and social expert interviews.
**********
Michael Moore in 2002, while filming his documentary “Bowling for Columbine.”
During Bowling for Columbine, Moore interviews celebrities like veteran actor and former President of the National Rifle Association (NRA) Charlton Heston (1923-2008), heavy metal musician Marilyn Manson, and a former Littleton resident and co-creator of the hit television show South Park - Matt Stone.
Each celebrity offers some rhetorical insight into the violent culture and history of the US. The filmmaker is surprised when he talks to Arthur Busch, a former county prosecutor from Flint, Michigan. Mr. Busch recounted the case of a 6-year-old boy who shot a little girl in his district. He remembered the pressure he received from people across the United States who wanted to “string up” the boy.
“They wanted this boy hung from the highest tree. There was such an undercurrent of racism and hate,” Busch continued. “It was ugly.”
When asked about the nature of crime in Michigan, Busch makes a statement that is at odds with Moore’s politically liberal preconceptions about gun violence in America.
**********
Michael Moore in 2002, while filming his documentary “Bowling for Columbine.”
“Guns are a much bigger problem in the white suburbs than in the primarily Black urban areas,” said Busch.
“Most of the problems with kids possessing guns are in the suburban schools—not in the urban schools,” Busch continued. “I did not think that is what you were going to say,” Mr. Moore responded. “I thought you were going to say it was Black kids in the inner city.”
“Black America has become entertainment for the rest of the community. If it bleeds, it leads—and the lead is almost always a crime where the perpetrator is allegedly black,” Busch concluded.
The narrative focus of Bowling for Columbine includes an analysis of the NRA for its influential promotion of private gun ownership and the opposition to any form of gun control. Michael Moore connects the public advocacy of the NRA to the wide availability of guns and ammunition in America.
Another central question Moore asks in Bowling for Columbine is why fear controls the minds and lives of American citizens.
**********
Barry Glassner, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California (USC), discusses the American culture of fear and how corporations profit from it.
Professor Glassner implies that the news media profits by presenting pervasive stories about crime, even when crime rates decrease. The Bowling for Columbine documentary does not conclusively prove its theories. But Michael Moore does a fantastic job of forcing movie viewers to think about modern life in America, where too many people – much more than is acceptable – die every year from gun violence.
Many of Kaitlin Bennett’s supporters call her “The Gun Girl.” Her appeal comes from her physical attractiveness, youth, and earnestly dry wit. She effectively built up an audience on social media via her deadpan jokes and an “I’m just an innocent little White girl” act.
Yet, Mrs. Bennett is more an entertainer than a 2nd Amendment activist. She also reminds us that America is a society where television, cable news, movies, music, and social media programs transmit a never-ending stream of violent images.
**********
Kaitlin Bennett is posing with an M-16-A2 rifle. The photo image is courtesy of Twitter - @KaitMarieox.
People in American society live in constant fear of violent crime.
The predominant public message communicated to US citizens from the media is that it is normal to counteract fears, solve problems, and resolve conflicts with lethal firearms and other forms of violence. However, starting in the 19th Century, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment does not bar state regulation of firearms.
Contemporary advocates for gun control sometimes claim that the Second Amendment is an outdated relic of the US Constitution. They assume that the Second Amendment made sense in colonial America but is no longer relevant today.
Gun abolitionists also think advances in law enforcement and the modern criminal justice system are sufficient to keep Americans safe. The prevalence of violent gun crime and gang activity disproves this theory. The issue invariably comes down to the importance of adequate public safety and effective public health policy.