I want to first make it clear that I do not in any way condone the violence perpetrated by these two teenagers. Because like I feel Oliver Stone was saying in NATURAL BORN KILLERS, I am sick and tired of the senseless violence that is continuing to plague this country and this world.
I feel nothing but deep sorrow for the families of Patsy Byers and any others killed or injured by these teenagers, and my sincerest condolences go out to these families. But what is solved by bringing a lawsuit against a filmmaker? Oliver Stone did not pull the trigger against Patsy Byers ... those two teenagers did. And that's where the blame must end. Does it really matter what influenced a person to kill? They did it, plain and simple, and anyone who kills or attempts to kill another person is a complete and utter waste of humanity, a person obviously fucked up, no longer a person with any rights, and deserves to get the maximum punishment in return, death themselves. Swift and ugly death, not fifteen years after the fact like what happens in our current system of justice and the handling of the death penalty.
Money, time, and energy would be better well served by these people trying to prosecute filmmakers and movie studios in trying to execute convicted killers quicker and more often, perhaps serving as a better deterrent for others to commit crime. They could also better serve the memory of their loved one by funding the placement of more cops on the streets, and more importantly, analyze the real problem behind a person's motivation to kill ... their parents, and what they did in the raising of a child who eventually grows up to commit murder.
From time to time, there has been a continuous argument by some that the violence in movies was partly responsible for influencing some to commit violence. The argument happened when John Hinckley shot Ronald Reagan, and said he was apparently inspired by the film TAXI DRIVER. Some wanted to blame director Martin Scorsese and the producers responsible for making that film as being partially responsible for that crime.
Numerous other violent films over time have been accused of inspiring copycat crimes. But ever since the tragic murders at Columbine High School in Colorado, there's been an even stronger movement in this country to try to place blame for the country's violence on the hands of filmmakers, and Stone's NATURAL BORN KILLERS, made in 1994, is still one of the primary films cited as a film that glorifies violence, and as such, they want to blame Stone and Warner Bros. for crimes committed by people who say they were inspired to kill by that film.
