From: [c--wf--d] at [fido.econlab.arizona.edu] (David Woo Crawford)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: [MEDIA] Pro-Second Amendment Documentary
Date: 25 Jul 1994 14:09:03 -0400
#Date: Wed, 20 Jul 1994 04:25:13 -0400 (EDT)
#From: Jim Cammarano <[H M CINC] at [delphi.com]>
#Subject: Pro-Second Amendment Documentary
#To: [l--er--t] at [Dartmouth.EDU]
ARMED AND LAW ABIDING
90 minute Public Television Special
RIVA FREIFELD and DOMINIQUE LASSEUR, award-winning Canadian and French
documentary filmmakers living in New York City are producing a Public Television
special on the Second Amendment, the current debate over gun control, and the
American tradition of private gun ownership. Today when politicians, the
mainstream media, and a large segment of the public are calling for gun control
to help solve the apparently rising tide of gun-related crime, we wish to open
up a side of the gun issue that is not often portrayed, the "good side."
Our film will first of all examine the fearful image of guns in today's society.
We will show some of the tragedy that has so often been depicted, accidental
deaths of children shot by guns belonging to careless owners, the bloodbaths
that have been the topics of so many headlines. But we will tell another, more
difficult story as well. A story which does not lend itself to dramatic
headlines and fast moving imagery, because it is not about death, it is about
life. There are over 200 million guns in America. But many people have been
saved by guns, and their stories rarely make the news. There is a stigma
attached to gun ownership, yet about half of all American homes contain a gun,
whose only purpose is for protection. A gun is used successfully in self-defense
about 1,000,000 times a year. In many of these cases, it is not even fired. In
other cases, the person defending him/herself is prosecuted. The people who own
these guns are not the media stereotypes, and come from all political
persuasions. Most of them are average citizens, some of them are prominent
Americans.
The film will present portraits of a variety of gun owners, doctors, lawyers,
teachers and businesspeople. Women, the elderly, and the disabled. Some of them
have already had to defend themselves or their loved ones. Others are merely
exercising their right to be able to do so in the future. Our subjects will
tell their own stories, through on-camera interviews and real documentary
sequences. We will augment these portraits with stock footage, TV news clips,
and dramatic re-enactments when necessary. The human drama that will emerge from
hearing people talk about being responsible for their own lives will be our
film's primary focus.
We will also interview more well-known figures who will help dispel some of the
popular myths about who owns guns and why. These will include actress Valerie
Perrine, Roy Innis of C.O.R.E., author Tom Clancy, sociologist David Kopel,
constitutional lawyer Don Kates, Dr. Edgar Suter, Dr. Suzanne Gratia, Massad
Ayoob, members of Congress, and the head of the NYPD License Division.
We also would like gun owners to participate in a search for solutions to the
crime problem and the accidental deaths associated with guns. So we will end our
film with an open debate about gun control in the form of a town meeting, in
which we hope to create a new awareness and communality among people of
different opinions.
A celebrity who is not associated with guns will be the narrator. The production
company is Tatge-Lasseur Productions, Inc. of New York City, which has produced
independent issue-oriented documentaries airing on national PBS and French
television.
For additional information, and should you wish to make a tax-deductible
financial contribution to this project, contact the producer, Riva Freifeld, at
(212) 874-7535, fax (212) 874-3970 or on the Internet at
[70642 426] at [compuserve.com.] t, contact the producer, Riva Freifeld, at
(212) 874-7535, fax (212) 874-3970
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