Bowling for Columbine Page #13

I asked the boys if they'd like to go to Kmart

to return the merchandise.

Ready?

You go.

- Me?

- Yep

Cool.

Do you want me to grab this?

Hi.

- You have to turn the camera off, please.

- We're here to see Mr Conaway.

You have to turn the camera off in the building

till I get clearance for you to turn it on.

OK, turn it off.

OK, Michael. I'm Mary Lorencz.

I'm Director of Media Relations for Kmart.

- Oh, good. All right.

- How can I help you today?

- I'm here today... This is Richard Castaldo.

- Richard, nice to meet you.

- And this is Mark Taylor.

- Mark.

And they're students

from Columbine High School. They were shot...

They were shot at Columbine in the massacre

with bullets from Kmart.

You came a long way,

all the way from Colorado.

Yeah, I just...

was thinking that since you stopped

selling the handguns an' all,

it may kinda make sense

to stop selling the bullets too.

Our request is that you get rid of

the 9mm bullets

and don't sell them in the store completely.

We do carry...

You probably are aware of Kmart,

hopefully you're shoppers of our stores.

We do only carry, you know,

sporting firearms and the...

the accessories that go with the hunting sport.

And we'll certainly take your message

to our chairman and CEO, Chuck Conaway.

He's not here today.

- He's not here today?

- No. He's not here actually this whole week.

Not at all during the week?

Do you have a limit on the number of bullets,

ammunition, that people can purchase?

I can't answer these questions for you. I'm not

the merchandiser who places those products.

- Can I speak to that person?

- I can get answers to those questions for you

if you would like to leave your card.

Well, we don't want to leave a card.

I'll just be blunt. The reason why we can't take

a card and come back is because Mark here,

he's got a Kmart bullet, just an inch away,

right... from your aorta?

- In between my aorta and spine.

- Between your aorta and spine?

Well, I'm glad to see

that you're still able to stand.

And I told them that somebody here

would listen, somebody here would... would...

would take their request seriously.

Not just a PR person,

but somebody who has some authority

and can answer some of the questions

that they want answered.

Kmart does care about this.

But I can't go any further right now,

so until I make a call...

I'm gonna go back to the office and...

see if there's anyone in merchandising.

Mary went back upstairs, and two hours tater

she brought down this guy,

whose job it is to buy the bullets for Kmart.

Stay out of trouble.

We're not the ones in trouble, guys.

Mark thought he'd show them

his bullet wounds.

Those are his bullet holes... from your bullets.

That's where the Kmart bullets went in.

Well, take care.

Is anybody else gonna come down?

Is anybody else gonna come down? Is that it?

- Let me check.

- OK, thank you.

We waited around a couple more hours

but no-one else came down.

As we left the building,

Mark came up with an idea.

He suggested that we go to the nearest Kmart

and buy out all their bullets.

Just take as many of those as you can.

Yeah, you can come around here and look.

What else do we have over here?

You've got 357s? Sure, I'll take them all.

Everything you've got.

- So you're 17 and you're what?

- 16.

Oh, sh*t.

Oh, my God, Craig.

Mark pretty much cleaned them out

of their ammunition.

And the next day we decided to go back

to Kmart headquarters

with all the bullets.

This time we brought the press.

Our local coverage of southeastern Michigan

continues with all new stories.

In our six o'clock report,

a warning to everyone to watch out for snakes.

You'll hear from a mom

who was bitten by a rattlesnake.

And also new, students who survived

the Columbine massacre are in town.

They are very angry with Kmart.

We're here to see Chuck Conaway,

Chairman of Kmart.

It's always a pleasure to see you.

OK. Erm...

They would like to speak with Mr Conaway.

Here's the 9mms.

These are the bullets that are in both Richard...

and in Mark's body right now.

Want to put them back?

I don't want to touch those.

I will do that for you, sir.

If you move outside,

somebody will be here in five minutes.

Don't block the door.

Just off to the side, if you would.

We'll go outside and somebody will come out?

I'm Lori McTavish, the Vice President

of Communications for Kmart.

I'm happy to deliver a statement

on behalf of the company.

What happened in Columbine, Colorado,

was truly tragic and touched every American.

And we're sorry for the...

disadvantage to this young man.

Kmart is phasing out

the sale of handgun ammunition.

The business plan calls for this to be complete

in the continental US within the next 90 days.

Wow!

Kmart representatives met with Mr Moore and

students from Columbine, Colorado, yesterday

and listened to their concerns

about the product carried in Kmart's stores.

The company committed

at the end of that meeting

that Kmart would have an answer for them

within a week's time.

Well, the first thing we want to do is thank you

for committing to no longer selling handgun

ammunition in your stores... and within 90 days?

The process will be phased out within 90 days.

And after 90 days there will be

no more selling of ammunition

that can go into handguns or assault weapons?

Firearm ammunition will be...

We will not sell it after 90 days in our stores.

- Well, we greatly appreciate that.

- Thank you.

Thank you very much. This is very great.

Thank you. Wow!

That blows my mind.

That's more than what we asked for.

- This is remarkable.

- Yeah.

- I didn't think it'd...

- Did you think?

I'm like... We're like...

- We were just getting ready to go to the airport.

- We were just getting ready to go.

The kids from Columbine had scored

an overwhelming victory against Kmart.

It inspired me to do something

that I knew I had to do.

All I needed...

was a star map.

Hello?

- Mr Heston?

- Yeah?

This is Michael Moore... Er... the film-maker.

- Yes, of course.

- How are you doing?

Fine, thank you.

Listen, I was wondering

if maybe I could talk to you.

We're making a documentary about urn...

you know, the whole gun issue.

And I'm a member of the NRA.

I thought maybe we could talk

a little bit about this.

I tell you what. Let me look at my calendar.

I may be able to give you some time tomorrow.

- I have some people here now.

- How can I... Pardon me?

- Hold the phone.

- OK, thank you.

I can give you a little time tomorrow morning.

I think that's Thursday.

Yes.

- Let's say 8:
30.

- 8:
30 in the morning?

OK, and just come here?

- Here.

- Yes? OK, good.

Hello?

Hi, it's Michael Moore here

to see Charlton Heston.

OK.

Hi.

Good morning.

How are you?

Thank you very much for agreeing to see me.

He took me out to his pool and tennis house

so we could have a chat.

Hold him that I was a lifetime member

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