Michael Moore: 'We want to join hands with all NRA members' who are rational

At a town hall meeting held on the 10th anniversary of the documentary "Bowling for Columbine" winning an Oscar for "Best Documentary," liberal filmmaker Michael Moore urged mothers and fathers concerned about gun violence to form community groups with friends and neighbors, with the goal of every member getting as many other people as possible to contact their members of Congress in support of gun control

Video of Saturday night's town hall discussion in New York City was published to YouTube on Sunday. Moore and Democratic-affiliated activist group MoveOn.orgorganized the discussion to coincide with house parties around the country featuring screenings of "Bowling for Columbine," followed by Moore's live presentation that included participation from the audience on Twitter.

"We want to join hands with all NRA members who are sane and rational and believe we should have sensible gun control laws in this country," Moore said. He cited recent polling that shows 57 percent of Americans "want assault weapons banned," and 91 percent "want background checks on all gun purchases, including all gun shows."

"We have had almost 30 of these gun massacres just since Columbine, and zero [new] gun laws," Moore lamented. "Total number of murders in Britain in 2010: 27. In Australia: 30. In Japan: 11, in 2008. Eleven people in a nation of 100 million people."

The discussion featured a panel of leading gun control activists like Garlin Gilchrist II, spokesperson of MoveOn.Org and Jamie Pessin, director of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, all of whom advocated for Moore's plan to overwhelm congressional resistance to gun control with a widespread, community-based messaging campaign.

"I saw a statistic that said women are five times more likely to be killed by an abuser if there's a gun in the house," Pessin said. "It's appalling to me that domestic abusers can so easily access weapons in this country."

Moore agreed, saying that the power of mothers and fathers far exceeds the power of the NRA in terms of pull on Washington, D.C.

"There are 80 million mothers in this country as compared to the 4 million members of the NRA," Pessin added.

This video was published to YouTube on Sunday, March 24, 2013.