What do Movie People Say When Asked to Remove Guns from Films?

The new video from Project Veritas – James O'Keefe's merry band of guerilla filmmakers who have scored major hits on ACORN, NPR, and voter fraud—is a compelling watch. From the YouTube writeup:

@Project_Veritas investigators urge Piers Morgan, Oprah Winfrey's production company (Harpo), and Robert DeNiro's production company (Tribeca) to help ban all guns from past and future movies. With some disturbed murderers citing violent movies as the impetus for their crimes, would Hollywood elites agree to remove guns from their flicks #ForTheChildren? Or would money and fame supersede their malleable ideology?

To that end, Project Veritas asks a bunch of people involved in media and film if they would sign a petition to delete guns from old and new movies. The answers…will surprise you.

I'm less interested in the rank hypocrisy that surrounds debates on the effects of popular culture on behavior and more interested in the way that this video shows that by framing the debate differently you might actually have a really interesting conversation.

But wherever you stand on the issue of guns, violence, and movies, if you've ever watched a Merchant Ivory movie, you will enjoy this video.

And if Project Veritas's plan to delete guns from new and old movies sounds implausible, recall the big push to airbrush smoking out of movies and other forms of entertainment. (My favorite contribution to that effort was Joe Esterhas's heartfelt but stupid bit). Some years back, the U.S. government went full Orwell on the stamp honoring bluesman Robert Johnson. Click here for more egregious airbrushing of famous cigarettes from photos.