Bowling for Columbine (2002) - Quotes

Taglines: One Nation Under The Gun

Taglines: Are we a nation of gun nuts or are we just nuts?

James Nichols: I use the pen, because the pen is mightier than the sword. But you must always keep the sword handy for when the pen fails.

James Nichols: I sleep at night with a gun under my pillow.

Michael Moore: [[w:Nuclear weapons of the United States|nuclear weapons?] What about ] Should you be able to have weapons-grade plutonium?

Michael Moore: Oh, so you do think there should be restrictions.

James Nichols: Well...there's wackos out there.

Michael Moore: Where are you supposed to be right now?

Man 1: School.

Man 2: School.

Woman: School.

Michael Moore: Aren't you worried about what you're not learning?

Man 1: Nah, I'm mostly helping everybody else in the class. Then I barely get to do my work.

Michael Moore: How about you? You're not worried about your education?

Woman: Well, I've got the textbook.

Michael Moore: Why do you think we have so many, uh... gun murders in America?

Man 2: Uh... I have no idea. People must hate each other or something.

Michael Moore: Oh, you mean Canadians don't hate each other?

Man 2: [[w:Exceptionalism|Well, we do but we don't go to the point of shooting somebody just to get revenge] ].

Michael Moore: What do you do?

Man 2: [[w:Egging|Throw eggs at them] I don't know. Tease them, maybe. Make fun of them, ridicule them. ].

Woman: [[w:Mass media in the United States|Every time I turn on the TV in the States] ], it's always about a murder here, a gunfight, hostile position... I just think the States, their view of things is fighting. That's how they resolve everything. If there's... there's something going on in another country, they send people over to fight it and... They are the most powerful country in the world, though. Canada's more just, like, "Let's negotiate, let's work something out." Where the States is, "We'll kill you and that'll be the end of that." Um, if guns were... If more guns made people safer, then America would be one of the safest countries in the world. It isn't. It's the opposite.

Nicole Shleif: I'm Nicole Shleif.

Amanda Lamontagne: And I'm Amanda Lamontagne.

Michael Moore: And you went to Columbine?

Nicole Shleif: Yes.

Michael Moore: And you were with Eric and Dylan? In their class?

Nicole Shleif: Yeah, We were in their bowling class.

Michael Moore: In their bowling class?

Nicole Shleif: Yes.

Michael Moore: What's bowling class?

Nicole Shleif: Just an elective you can take for a gym credit.

Michael Moore: Where's the educational value of this, though?

Nicole Shleif: Um... I guess there isn't really any.

Amanda Lamontagne: No, there's not.

Nicole Shleif: I learned how to bowl a lot better, that's for sure.

Michael Moore: What were Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold like?

Amanda Lamontagne: Weird.

Michael Moore: Yeah?

Amanda Lamontagne: I mean, not very social.

Nicole Shleif: I didn't really know who they were.

Amanda Lamontagne: Not very social, just kinda kept to themselves.

Michael Moore: How good a bowlers were Eric and Dylan?

Nicole Shleif: When we played them, all I remember is they were just, like, crazy, they would just chuck the ball.

Amanda Lamontagne: Chuck it down there.

Nicole Shleif: Throw the ball down; didn't really care how they bowled.

Amanda Lamontagne: Yeah, they didn't really care about their scores.

Deputy Sheriff Steve Davis: What were the suspects doing the morning of attack? I told you that I'd heard that they were bowling; that's the only thing I'm aware of.

Moore: [''Voiceover''; [w:Marilyn Manson|Marilyn Manson] So did Dylan and Eric show up that morning and bowl two games before moving on to shoot up the school? And did they just chuck the balls down the lane? Did this mean something? Um, I guess they went to their favourite class. Why wasn't anyone blaming bowling for warping the minds of Eric and Dylan to commit their evil deeds? Wasn't that just as plausible as blaming ]? After all, it was apparently the last thing they did before the massacre.But wait a minute. There's lots of bowling going on in other countries.

Interviewer: What's your view on high school?

Male student: Uh, I love it. Uh, I learn, I get picked on by bastards who hate me, and the principal's a dick.

Interviewer: All right, what causes school violence?

Male student: [''Points to an overweight boy sitting nearby''] Uh, him.

Michael Moore: So you don't think our kids say to themselves, Dad goes off to the factory every day, he builds missiles of mass destruction. What's the difference between that mass destruction and the mass destruction over at Columbine High School?

McCollum: I guess I don't see that specific connection because the missiles that you're talking about were built and designed to defend us from somebody else who would be aggressors against us.

Canadian: If more guns made people safer, then America would be one of the safest countries in the world. It isn't. It's the opposite.

Chris Rock - HBO's Bigger and Blacker (1999): And people would think before they killed somebody if a bullet cost $5,000. It'd be like, "Man, I will blow your fuckin head off...if I could afford it! I'm gonna get another job, start saving some money, and you a dead man! You better hope I can't get no bullets on layaway!

Chris Rock - HBO's Bigger and Blacker (1999): [[w:Gun politics in the United States|gun control; [innocent; [bystanders] You don't need no ]. You know what you need? Bullet control. I think all bullets should cost $5000. You know why? If a bullet cost $5000 there'd be no more ] ]. People would stop and go, "Damn, he musta done something! Shit, they put $50,000 worth of bullets in his ass!

Michael Moore: [''Amazed at how Canadians do not lock their front doors (in the day time) after opening them in [[w:Toronto|Toronto; [w:Canadian people|The Canadians] As an American, I gotta say this all seemed kind of strange. Until I looked up at the TV in the bar and noticed what they watched for their evening news. They're friends of ours. We'll certainly listen to them courteously and carefully, but you don't just make war just cause someone says so. ] weren't being pumped full of fear. And their politicians seemed to talk kind of funny.

Michael Moore: Oh, with a crime. Okay, so if I'm just normally mentally defective but not criminal...

Michael Moore: Have you ever been adjudicated mentally defective? Or have you ever been committed to a mental institution?" Well, I've never been committed to a mental institution. What does that mean, have I "ever been adjudicated mentally defective"?

Michael Moore: [[w:Nathan Tucker|Nathan Tucker] Thank you for not shooting me ].

Michael Moore: [[w:American people|to be an American] Yes, it was a glorious time ].

Michael Moore: [[w:Charleton Heston|the Heston estate; [w:Beverly Hills|Beverly Hills] I left ] atop ] and walked back into the real world. To an America living and breathing in fear. Where gun sales are now at an all record high. And where, in the end, it all comes back to Bowling for Columbine'.

Michael Moore: The media, the corporations, the politicians... have all done such a good job of scaring the American public, it's come to the point where they don't need to give any reason at all.

Michael Moore: Suddenly, our children had become little monsters.

Michael Moore: What if I had a spear?

Michael Moore: Well, here's my first question. Do you think it's kind of dangerous handing out guns at a bank?

Michael Moore: This was my first gun. I couldn't wait to go out and shoot up the neighborhood.

Michael Moore: [[Kosovo|another country whose name we couldn't pronounce; [w:Fargo, North Dakota|Fargo, North Dakota; [w:Michigan|Michigan; [w:Colorado|Colorado; [w:Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold|two boys went bowling at 6 in the morning; [w:United States|United States of America] It was the morning of April 20, 1999, and it was pretty much like any other morning in America. The Farmer did his chores. The milkman made his deliveries. The President bombed ]. Out in ], Cary McWilliams went on his morning walk. Back in ], Mrs Hughes welcomed her students for another day of school. And out in a little town in ], ]. Yes, it was a typical day in the ].