There was another massacre in the theaters last weekend. In fact, there were
almost 200 casualties. What I am talking about is the level of visual violence on our
movie screens today. At a time when various movie stars are calling for gun control, it is
worth looking at the violence many of them portray on the big screen.

The Media Research Center looked at the five top grossing movies for the
weekend of January 11. They were: “Zero Dark Thirty,” “A Haunted House,” “Gangster
Squad,” “Django Unchained,” and “Les Miserables.” They point out that even with the
presence of the PG-13 musical “Les Miserables” and a spoof comedy “A Haunted
House,” it was a violent and bloody weekend at the movies.

According to their tally, there were 65 scenes of violence, with 185 individual
victims, most but not all of whom died as a result. More than half of the scenes depicted
gun violence. The Media Research Center also explains that their count may be on the
low side since these movies had many fast moving scenes, which made it impossible to
get a completely accurate body count.

Many actors have appeared in a video called “Demand a Plan to End Gun
Violence.” Jamie Foxx is one of the actors featured prominently. He also is the title
character in “Django Unchained” which has 19 violent scenes and 69 victims of violence.
When offered the job as bounty hunter, he replied, “Killing white folks and getting paid
for it? What’s not to like?” And we might mention that when he was the host of Saturday
Night Live last month, he said in his monologue, “I kill all the white people in the movie.
How great is that?”

Jeremy Renner is another actor who appears in the video to end gun violence. He
has had a career of depicting on screen violence. The trailer for his upcoming film has
him telling someone how to recognize his signal: “I’ll be blowing one of these (blanks)
head off.” I might also point out that two more violent films, “Jack Reacher” and “Texas
Chainsaw 3-D” have now made it to the top spots.

The actors telling us to pass more gun control legislation might want to consider
whether the movies they are making are a more significant contributor to violence in
society. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.