Bowling for Columbine Page #10

Canada was one gun-lovin', gun-totin',

gun-crazy country!

- Where can I get a gun?

- I can buy a gun uptown any time.

I see you're a Glock owner.

Where can I get a Glock in Canada?

Most gun stores will sell them to you

if you have the proper permits and stuff.

In fact, despite all their tough gun laws,

take a look at what I, a foreign citizen,

was able to do at the local Canadian Wal-Mart.

AN right, where's the ammunition at?

Where's the ammunition? Back here.

- What kind are you looking for?

- You know... like bullets.

That's right.

I could buy as much live ammunition

as I wanted to...

in Canada.

Do you take American?

- Do you lock your doors?

- No.

Are you afraid of anything?

No, not normally, no.

- Do you lock your doors at night?

- Nope.

- You don't lock your doors?

- No.

Are you afraid of anything?

Not really.

- Have you ever been broken into?

- Yes, I have.

What happened?

They broke into my home... I wasn't there.

They broke in, they stole some booze,

some cigarettes, and they left.

So I figure it must have been some teenagers

out to have a little bit of fun.

That's all they took, though.

Just some booze and some cigarettes.

- Have you ever been a victim of crime?

- Yes.

What kind of crime?

I've had people walk in while I've been sleeping

and vandalize my home and steal from me.

And that didn't wanna make you

lock your doors at night?

Nope.

No.

As an American with three locks on his doors,

I found this all a bit confusing.

Even here in Toronto, a city of millions,

people just didn't lock their doors.

You don't lock your doors,

but we Americans do. Why is that?

You must be...

You must be afraid of your neighbor.

Do you ever leave your doors unlocked

at home?

- Yes.

- You do?

- Where do you live? Toronto?

- Right around here.

- You leave your doors unlocked?

- Yeah.

You think, as Americans, that the lock

is keeping people out of your place.

We, as Canadians, see it more as...

when we lock the door,

we're imprisoning ourselves inside.

You don't want to do that?

Not really, no.

We don't want to...

No.

I decided to go unannounced

to a neighborhood in Toronto,

to see if this unlocked door thing was true.

Oh, hi.

Sorry, just checking.

Hello?

Oh, hi.

Nobody locks their doors.

Nobody locks their doors in this town.

- No, do you want it locked?

- No, I don't. No.

- Do you like living here?

- I like it very much.

- And the T-shin?

- The T-shin too.

This door was wide open.

And you're not afraid?

- Should I be afraid?

- I don't know. You live here.

You're not, are you?

- Thank you very much.

- No problem.

- I'm sorry about the intrusion.

- No, no problem.

- Thank you for not shooting me.

- No problem.

Bye-bye.

As an American, I got to say,

this all seemed kind of strange

until I looked up at the TV in the bar,

and noticed what they watch

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 because someone says so.

Night after night, the Canadians

weren't being pumped full of fear.

And their politicians seemed to talk

kinda funny.

...making sure they have proper daycare,

that they have assistance for their parents

when they're in an old-age home,

proper health care to ensure

they won't lose their business or their house

because they can't afford medical bills.

That's how to build a good society.

No-one wins unless everyone wins.

You don't win by beating up

on defenseless people.

That's been the approach spreading in some of

the right-wing governments in North America.

They pick on defenseless people,

and at the same time they give financial support

and tax breaks and tax benefits

to people that don't need them.

Where are the indigent in the city?

Where do they live?

Indigent? Um...

You act like

you've never heard the word before!

We don't have that problem here, really.

So I asked him, "Could you at least

take me to a Canadian slum? Well...

this is what a ghetto looks like in Canada.

Is this the same sort of mentality that says,

with Canadians...

You think if somebody gets sick,

they should be able to have health care?

- Oh, definitely.

- Yes.

Why?

- Because!

- Human rights. Everyone's got the right to live.

- Did you just come from the emergency room?

- I did.

How much did you have to pay

for your treatment?

I wouldn't know what the bill is.

It's covered by our hospital plan.

- So you didn't have to pay anything?

- No, I don't.

I have family that lives in the States. They used

to live in Canada and moved over there.

- And it's so different.

- They get afraid more easily?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, very much so.

Because everybody reacts over there

just like that.

They don't stop and think.

First reaction is pull the gun up.

"You're on my property."

You know, like...

I don't know.

It's just different over here.

- Where do you live?

- Detroit.

- Come over to Canada here for the night?

- Right.

People are a bit more open-minded over here,

a bit more welcoming.

Feel any difference when you cross over

to this country? Be honest, now.

It's a lot lighter.

- Segregation there is much more intensified.

- In the United States?

Yeah.

So you can feel it.

Almost like they just let you be.

Well, that's Canada for you.

Every time I turn on the TV in the States,

it's always about a murder,

a gunfight, a hostile position.

I just think the States... Their view of things

is fighting. That's how they resolve everything.

If somethings going on in another country,

you know, they send people over to fight it.

Canada's more... just like...

let's negotiate, let's work something out,

where the States is,

"We'll just kill you and that'll be the end of that."

If guns were...

If more guns made people safer, America would

be one of the safest countries in the world.

It isn't, it's the opposite.

I heard that 911 call, on TV someplace.

It was horrible. It was just...

They kept asking, "Where's the shooter?"

She said, "He's gone. I need help."

- And that little girl was in there too? Kayla?

- She was on the floor, yes.

And the police and the medics came?

By the time the medics were here...

The medics had just come in and I remember

him stepping in and taking over the room.

He said, "You have to leave."

And then when the medics come in, when

the police come in, you're no longer in control.

Was she still alive then, or...?

Her lips had begun to turn blue.

Back in my hometown of Flint, Michigan,

a six-year-old first-grade boy

at Buell Elementary

had found a gun at his uncle's house,

where he was staying

because his mother was being evicted.

He brought the gun to school

and shot another first-grader,

six-year-old Kayla Rolland.

With one bullet that passed through her body,

she fell to the floor and laid there dying

while her teacher called 911 for help.

No-one knew why the little boy

wanted to shoot the little girl.

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