The documentary on America’s gun obsession: Teaching kids to shoot and clearing snow with flamethrowers

A father gives his teenage daughter a talk about the love of guns as she assembles and disassembles one blindfolded. A woman holds a banner declaring “gun rights are women’s rights.” A man decides to shoot dildos to test their durability. Two eight-year-old girls star in an ad for a gun shop, proudly displaying the weapons lined up on the shelves and counters.

These are just some of the scenes in From My Cold Dead Hands by Javier Horcajada. To make the film, the 36-year-old director watched 8,665 hours of YouTube videos. The result is a thought-provoking collection of footage that explores the United States’ obsession with pistols, revolvers, shotguns, rifles, assault rifles, and even tanks. The film leaves a lingering sense of unease. As Horcajada points out: “I’ve taken no side for or against guns, but witnessing so many children shooting from such a young age is painful. It makes you wonder what the future holds.”

From My Cold Dead Hands is not just a random collection of YouTube clips Horcajada stumbled upon; it has a clear structure, thematic blocks, and a central narrative. “I started during the lockdown, and the first thing I saw was a girl assembling weapons with her eyes closed, and the ad for a gun shop. I never imagined that this social network would become such a sinkhole of American videos about their love for and defense of the right to own weapons,” recalls the filmmaker, who also works as a coordinator at the post-production company Elamedia Estudios. “Because of my job, I’m very organized and meticulous, and that is why I know that I have seen those 8,665 hours. And that is why it has taken me so long,” he laughs.

Horcajada didn’t set out to deliver a message: “I’m clear on that. The definitive film about guns and their power in the U.S. is Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine. When Moore released it, we weren’t living in the empire of social media, and no one could have imagined that you’d find people frying bacon with the heat of a rifle barrel or couples singing about their love for guns. My film focuses on how these people see themselves and how they represent that.”

Or a woman dressed as a Disney princess at a firing range. Or guys shooting at water fountains to see if they could serve as cover during a school shooting. Or prophets preaching communion with God, family, and guns. Or girls thrilled when their boyfriends gift them a scale model of his gun. Or parents teaching their young children to shoot. Or people using flamethrowers to clear snow from their doorsteps. Or a musician playing the bugle while firing a gun. Or shooters aiming at fake heads that resemble zombies...

The main focus is a video featuring two young ex-marines, who list the 10 positive reasons for owning firearms. “Their list is ridiculous, like many of the videos,” Horcajada says. “But they create a kind of guilty pleasure for the viewer. Because at first, you laugh. And then you think: what exactly am I laughing at? I don’t like things that are too serious, which is why I sought that lightness that ultimately leads to an uncomfortable smile.”

In From My Cold Dead Hands, there is not a drop of blood or a shootout with injuries or deaths, “out of respect for the victims.” According to the organization The Trace, 16,576 people were killed by gunfire in the U.S. in 2024, not including suicides. “Those figures are not considered by gun owners. For them, this passion seeps into every part of their lives — family, religion, relationships, and leisure. It runs through all facets of their lives,” Horcajada explains. “That’s why, when the government tries to regulate automatic weapons like the Kalashnikov, it often feels like a futile effort. If people already own 30 shotguns and hundreds of pistols, owning an AK-47 seems almost trivial.”

The film centers on the famous speech given by actor Charlton Heston in May 2000, when he was president of the National Rifle Association. During the speech, he defended the right to own firearms, holding up a replica of a 19th-century shotgun. “I’ll give you my gun when you pry (or take) it from my cold, dead hands,” said Heston.

Horcajada recalls: “In Bowling for Columbine, Moore showed an excerpt. I left it nearly in its entirety because I thought it was important to hear a speech that, in essence, means absolutely nothing.” This speech inspired the title of Horcajada’s mashup documentary.

And what about Spain? “The problem is not with the United States, but with humanity itself. Fortunately, here we don’t have easy access to weapons. Because if we did, we’d probably experience several massacres like the one in Puerto Hurraco every year,” says the director, in reference to the 1990 massacre, when two brothers murdered nine people.

From My Cold Dead Hands has already begun its European festival tour and is now gearing up for American festivals. “We’ve already scheduled a screening in San Francisco for February. I want to see how that audience reacts. With Donald Trump’s inauguration, interest in the film has grown,” says Horcajada.

His next project, he shares, focuses on the little-known footage from the assault on the U.S. Capitol four years ago. “I’m working hard to get it ready soon.” According to the filmmaker, there are clear parallels between the love of weapons and the actions of the Capitol rioters: “When that crowd stormed Congress, they justified their actions by claiming they were fighting for freedom and democracy — yet they were attacking the very place that represents freedom and democracy. Both movements are born from contradictory beliefs, from principles that are equally valid for one thing and for the opposite.”

In a film that eschews talking heads to impart doctrine or voice-overs, and opens and closes with the sound of the American anthem played through bullets fired at metal plates, none of the footage is dated.

Horcajada explains: “Anyone who thinks this is just Trump’s America is wrong. This drive is beyond time, ethnicity, and social class. It’s one thing to laugh at these videos, but quite another to sugarcoat the problem or place the blame on just a few individuals.”

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