At least 12 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

[Agent Richard07]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Oh, yeah. That'll be great. We can sit through six weeks of pop culture being blamed for one's man violence, again.

Not blaming, it was just something that came to mind.

 

[Satyrquaze]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Their parents deserve a good spanking, or at the very least some parenting counseling, once/if they get over the trauma of the event.

Don't you think they've been punished enough?

It's helpful to think of counseling as an opportunity for growth and maturation rather than punishment.

When has 'a good spanking' ever been shown to be a proven tool towards the end of growth and maturation?

Nevermind, don't answer that. I'm not continuing this conversation.

 

[Derishton]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Please don't make this about gun control. Having weapons doesn't make a person do something like this.

Really? When was the last time someone murdered fourteen people with a butter knife? The fact that the suspect was peacefully apprehended suggests to me that he may be afraid of bodily harm.[/QUOT

I don't understand this logic, Rhaven: a man who is obviously mentally-unbalanced or very angry has a bunch of guns somehow, and kills 14 people including children. How is this not about guns or access to guns? People who defend guns don't get to dismiss an example just because it is troublesome to their cause. If the current state of American gun law is not to blame, that case needs to be demonstrated.

 

[Gaith]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Why was a baby anywhere near the place?

What the hell is your problem? Do you have some compulsive need to pass judgment on the victims?

Assuming the baby was in the screening, and not, say, the ticket-taker's kid, sleeping soundly in the lobby, then hell yes, I have a compulsive need to pass judgment on anyone, anywhere, who takes a baby to any screening of a loud action movie. What the hell is wrong with society/a theater management that would even allow such a thing?

Any non-deaf baby in a TDKR screening is itself a victim, doubly so after midnight.

 

[Dream]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Good news. 3 month old girl who was shot, has returned home and full recovery is expected.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Why was a baby anywhere near the place?

What the hell is your problem? Do you have some compulsive need to pass judgment on the victims?

Assuming the baby was in the screening, and not, say, the ticket-taker's kid, sleeping soundly in the lobby, then hell yes, I have a compulsive need to pass judgment on anyone, anywhere, who takes a baby to any screening of a loud action movie. What the hell is wrong with society/a theater management that would even allow such a thing?

Any non-deaf baby in a TDKR screening is itself a victim, doubly so after midnight.

I think you've got some fucked up priorities if you're more concerned about why there were kids at a midnight screening than the fact that a dozen people were senselessly killed.

 

[Shakaar]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

We have no idea when or how he got those guns. He could have purchased them before he displayed any signs of mental unbalance. He could have stolen them. He could have gotten them from a friend or relative. Hell, he could have bought them off the back of a truck somewhere, in which case even strict gun control laws wouldn't help. After all, drug laws haven't exactly made those hard to get. The point is, until more is known we can't really say anything except that the guy was nuts and should be punished.

Personally, I take this as a sign that concealed carry laws should be expanded. If someone with a permit like me had been carrying in that theater, there might have been a lot less killed. I'm not sure what the gun laws are in Colorado.

I AM interested in whether or not he should have been identified beforehand. After all, his mother's immediate response was to believe it and say that they had the right man.

Anyway you spin it, its a tragedy. In this day and age, its practically impossible to stop a lone nut from going on a rampage or blowing something up. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families.

 

[marillion]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Good news. 3 month old girl who was shot, has returned home and full recovery is expected.

Great news indeed...

I suspect there is going to be a lot of teeth gnashing in the months to come, about the appropriatness of bringing infants and other young children to a violent movie such as this, midnight showing or not.

I agree with Gaith on this... If you have a baby, stay home, no matter what time you're going, ESPECIALLY at midnight. If you can't find a sitter, too damn bad.. See the movie when you can.

Taking older (say between 8 and 12 year old) children to this and other violent movies is a personal parenting choice.. There are plenty of movies I don't want my 11 year old to see, but I've taken him to plenty of comic book hero movies in the past. It's up to us to judge whether or not we feel they are mature enough to separate reality from fantasy when it comes to violence..

The older, wiser parent in me, thinks, however, that a midnight showing for any movie is no place for a 10 year old.

 

[Derishton]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Personally, I take this as a sign that concealed carry laws should be expanded. If someone with a permit like me had been carrying in that theater, there might have been a lot less killed. I'm not sure what the gun laws are in Colorado.

I agree with much if what you say, but again I don't see the logic of this. There's a gunman in a dark theatre in which a movie is playing. There's the sound of guns from the movie. The dark theatre has just had tear gas thrown into it. How is somebody else firing into a dark crowded theatre full of tear gas going to make the situation better, without assuming a lucky perfect single shot?

 

[Sindatur]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

The better questions are, was anyone negligent in not reporting this guy as a lunatic, and why was he permitted to buy all these guns? Is this what a "well-regulated militia" looks like?

Who knows how altered this guy was? He could have been someone you worked with or just walked by. You wouldn't know either.

Please don't make this about gun control. Having weapons doesn't make a person do something like this.

Although I can see your point, Gaith makes a good one, too. Guys like Jared Lee Loughner should've never been able to obtain guns. Is this another instance where a mentally ill person was able to heavily arm himself because of lax regulation? It's worth finding out.

I'll grant that we can't prevent all incidents like this, but we can certainly do more to keep guns out of the hands of mentally unstable individuals.

<Scratches head> According to The Yahoo story, it appears that maybe the mother knew there was something unbalanced about her son
http://gma.yahoo.com/mass-shooting-...ople-dead-085940786--abc-news-topstories.html

A San Diego woman identifying herself as James Holmes's mother spoke briefly with ABC News this morning.

She had awoken unaware of the news of the shooting and had not been contacted by authorities.

She immediately expressed concern that her son may have been involved.

"You have the right person," she said.

"I need to call the police," she added. "I need to fly out to Colorado."

Horrible tragedy, I agree it's necessary to find out how this guy became so well armed, when it seems at least his mother knew he was not right in the head

And now, theaters are going to have to be vigilant throughout the run of this movie for fear of copycats.

I do wonder why no word was said about how this guy actually got into a screening room, seemingly unnoticed. Most big city theaters I've been to, you have a guy at the front door (sometimes frisking you to ensure you're not sneaking in snacks and drinks), and you have guys at the snack bar, and you have a guy taking your ticket at the screening room. Now, I'm not suggesting anyone should have tried to take him down or anything, but, someone coming in wearing a Gas Mask, a Bullet Proof vest and a Shotgun, shouldn't have gotten through all those checkpoints unnoticed? Did someone notice something, and call 911 immediately and the story on Yahoo simply doesn't bother mentioning this?

 

[Yoda]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Umm Loughner is the crazy guy who shot Congresswoman Giffords...

Anyway, stories I read said he entered through an emergency exit.

I've never been frisked entering a theater.

 

[Gaith]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

I think you've got some fucked up priorities if you're more concerned about why there were kids at a midnight screening than the fact that a dozen people were senselessly killed.

What a vicious and baseless assumption. Just because I find the smaller injustice more worthy of discussion and debate on a sci-fi forum doesn't mean I'm a lunatic, only that I'm not the sort of person who expresses personal grief in a similarly public manner. If you can't read a discussion thread about a tragedy without assuming that fellow posters who don't express themselves according to your expectations are "fucked up" monsters, maybe you oughn't read such threads.

Respectfully,
Gaith

 

[BillJ]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Personally, I take this as a sign that concealed carry laws should be expanded. If someone with a permit like me had been carrying in that theater, there might have been a lot less killed. I'm not sure what the gun laws are in Colorado.

Likely you firing rounds with people scurrying in every direction with tear gas flooding the area would have only made the situation.

With the sounds of gunfire coming from two different directions people wouldn't have known which way to flee to safety.

 

[Sindatur]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Umm Loughner is the crazy guy who shot Congresswoman Giffords...

Anyway, stories I read said he entered through an emergency exit.

I've never been frisked entering a theater.

Yea, I googled and saw that and edited my post. The way the post was written that I replied to made it appear Loughner was the name of this guy.

Seriously? You've never been frisked going into a theater or had to open a fanny pack/bag or a female with you had to open a purse? Never had to open a heavy coat? I mean of course, they're not expecting weapons, it's only snacks and drinks/alcohol, but, if he had gone through the front door rather than an Emergency exit, it should've definitely set off "alarms"

NYC cops are apparently going to be available to theaters, but, that's almost certainly going to cause a shortage of Police for other crimes <SIGH> How do people get like this?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

I think you've got some fucked up priorities if you're more concerned about why there were kids at a midnight screening than the fact that a dozen people were senselessly killed.

What a vicious and baseless assumption. Just because I find the smaller injustice more worthy of discussion and debate on a sci-fi forum doesn't mean I'm a lunatic, only that I'm not the sort of person who expresses personal grief in a similarly public manner. If you can't read a discussion thread about a tragedy without assuming that fellow posters who don't express themselves according to your expectations are "fucked up" monsters, maybe you oughn't read such threads.

Respectfully,
Gaith

I said your priorities were fucked up, not that you are a monster. Perhaps you should try reading my posts next time.

Dismissively,
Robert Maxwell

 

[Derishton]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Personally, I take this as a sign that concealed carry laws should be expanded. If someone with a permit like me had been carrying in that theater, there might have been a lot less killed. I'm not sure what the gun laws are in Colorado.

Likely you firing rounds with people scurrying in every direction with tear gas flooding the area would have only made the situation.

With the sounds of gunfire coming from two different directions people wouldn't have known which way to flee to safety.

Exactly what I was trying to say above. It would probably be worse than two directions: at least three with the movie sounds, and now multiple concealed weapons all coming out at once. The more guns echoing in a single space, the more chaotic the shooting. And on and on.

 

[DigificWriter]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Can we stop the idiocy? This is, in the words of President Obama, "senseless" and "evil" and should be condemned as such. End of story. The person who did this should be dealt with in as harsh a way as is legally possible.

BTW, people should really not be using the word 'tragedy' to describe this situation. It's a crime and should be referred to as such.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

Can we stop the idiocy? This is, in the words of President Obama, "senseless" and "evil" and should be condemned as such. End of story. The person who did this should be dealt with in as harsh a way as is legally possible.

I agree with this part (short of executing the perpetrator, that is.)

BTW, people should really not be using the word 'tragedy' to describe this situation. It's a crime and should be referred to as such.

But I don't agree with this. Who died and made you the language police?

 

[BillJ]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

BTW, people should really not be using the word 'tragedy' to describe this situation. It's a crime and should be referred to as such.

It's actually both.

 

[DigificWriter]

Re: 14 killed, 50 injured at midnight showing of Batman movie

To me, the word 'tragedy' implies, at least to me, that this is not something that could have been anticipated or prevented, which is why I think it is inappropriate to use that word.