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

[throwback]

People for thousands of years have sought ways to make their names remain eternal. Thousands of years ago, a young Ephesian named Herostratus perpetuated an act of arson by burning down the Temple of Artemis. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herostratus) We remember his name because a historian wrote about him. This man who did the shooting has gained the attention of the world's press by committing a mass murder.

Personally, I know that the national security agencies are monitoring what we say and what we search for on the Internet. I think it's time that they begin to flag purchases. This man was able to buy 6,000 rounds of ammunition in 60 days. I would call this a red flag, and, if a monitoring system was in place, he would have been brought in by the police for questioning.

I don't know why parents bring their young, impressionable children to an adult movie that has scenes of intense, graphic violence. Even worse, in my opinion, the children were brought to a film at a time they should have been in bed.

I know there will be mass shootings in the future. I don't expect the politicians to change the gun laws. I don't think the NRA will be harmed by this event.

One last point I would like to make. People like me who don't have friends, and are very shy will be lumped unfairly into the same circle as these psychopaths who commit these brutal murders. Not all loners are psychopaths is what I am saying.

 

[gturner]

He doesn't have a Masters. He only has a BS in Neuroscience from UC. He got in the PhD program on strength of that. And he failed his prelims at UCo.

Dang it! Didn't he know not to answer the questions honestly?

Q: Why do you want to pursue a PhD in neurobiology at the University of Colorado?

A: So I can create mind-altering chemical weapons to wipe out the pathetic sheeple of Gotham City, spreading chaos, darkness, and fear, and bring Batman to his knees before me! Bwuhahahaha!!!!

Q: What other interests do you have beside neurobiology?

A: Guns, explosives, booby traps, smoke grenades, tear gas, body armor.

Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 years.

A: Sitting in the big chair in the mayor's office or sharing a cell with Two-Face.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

.

I don't know why parents bring their young, impressionable children to an adult movie that has scenes of intense, graphic violence. Even worse, in my opinion, the children were brought to a film at a time they should have been in bed.

Neither of which are any of your business, nor relevant to the shooting. Don't put this on the parents or use this tragedy as a forum to air some douche single guy pet peeve.

 

[Trekker4747]

This man was able to buy 6,000 rounds of ammunition in 60 days. I would call this a red flag, and, if a monitoring system was in place, he would have been brought in by the police for questioning.

I'm not a huge fan of gun control or things of that ilk but, I sort of agree. Maybe not so much "brought in for questioning" but someone buying so many guns and so much ammunition in a short time should set off some warning bells and at least get some questions asked. But I don't think there's any measure of "solution" for it as, at the same time, people should be free to buy things.

 

[gturner]

6,000 rounds in 60 days is nothing. Some of my chat friends often burn through a thousand or more rounds on some days, a couple hundred rounds a day at minimum. One of them even has two adopted little girls who'll go through a hundred or so a day, each.

 

[Trekker4747]

All I'm sure just shooting for fun, target practice/whatever. Which is why "tracking" ammunition would be impossible to do and really the question WOULD be "how much is too much?" But, still, a "red flag" should go up when someone buys so many guns in a fairly short length of time.

Not that tracking guns, or even the ammunition, would have stopped this. Even with those systems in place there's always ways around it.

 

[nightwind1]

One interesting thing I read was that the cops said he had his stereo timed to crank the music up at his apartment a little before midnight. They theorize that his plan was to cause a noise complaint, leading the police to walk into a booby trapped house and set off his bombs, causing most law enforcement to go to a site five miles away. That would've left little immediate response to his attack at the theater.

He was definitely planning this at a pretty high level.

That's a pretty stupid fucking plan unless:

A) The police in this town routinely dispatch all units for a noise complaint.

B) The police in this town are prone to entering a residence without a warrant or permission to do so on a noise complaint.

B). If they knocked and announced, and loud music still continued, they probably would have entered (on a "safety check" if nothing else).
A). Once they entered and set off a bunch of explosives, how many units do you think would be dispatched to a scene where officers were present when a bomb/bombs went off?

 

[Corwwyn]

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.

I agree with Gaith and Marillion on this too. Stupid, negligent parenting.

 

[RoJoHen]

Unfortunately, too many parents place their own desires over the needs of their children. They treat their infants as if they're just accessories to carry around.

 

[throwback]

I think having families and children in the auditorium may have a relevance on the shooting. Do we know if there were children and families in the other auditorium?

I am permitted to state my opinion, Admiral James Kirk. I am careful to state this is my opinion. If you don't like my opinion, fine, but don't be so ugly with your reply.

I don't understand the gun culture, nor why people feel the need to fire a weapon and expend such a large amount of ammo. To someone who lives outside the gun culture, 6000 rounds is a large purchase. (Please note Admiral James Kirk that I phrase my sentences with I. This is how I was taught to say my opinions, by my mother who raised a child by herself.)

 

[T'Bonz]

Eh. Some can't afford a movie AND a sitter and the baby won't be hurt at a theater in the normal course of things.

Who knew some nutjob would come in and start blowing people away? Normally the only annoyance at the theater comes from people running their yaps during the movie, or the (down here at least) moldy-smelling theaters.

 

[RoJoHen]

Eh. Some can't afford a movie AND a sitter and the baby won't be hurt at a theater in the normal course of things.

Who knew some nutjob would come in and start blowing people away? Normally the only annoyance at the theater comes from people running their yaps during the movie, or the (down here at least) moldy-smelling theaters.

Every time I've been in the theater with a baby, the baby has cried. If you can't afford a sitter, tough. Don't go to the movie.

Frankly, if you can't afford a babysitter, you should probably be using your money for something other than a trip to the movies.

 

[Saul]

Likewise, the guy was making bombs, so even the most draconian gun restrictions wouldn't have completely stopped him. If he'd focused on barring the theater doors and using incendiaries, he might've killed almost everybody, similar to the Beverly Hills superclub fire (165 dead), the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire (492 dead), or the Iroquois Theatre Fire (602 dead), although I don't think the modern, open, sparsely furnished movieplexes we have now are nearly as flammable as the ornate wooden theaters used to be.

The difference is that not everyone can make bombs. But lots of people can buy guns. Just because this guy could have done different things doesn't negate the fact that what he and others before him used were guns. He was carrying pistols on him, he was planning to kill and hurt lots of people and he found shooting to be the easiest way to do it.

 

[Data Holmes]

Likewise, the guy was making bombs, so even the most draconian gun restrictions wouldn't have completely stopped him. If he'd focused on barring the theater doors and using incendiaries, he might've killed almost everybody, similar to the Beverly Hills superclub fire (165 dead), the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire (492 dead), or the Iroquois Theatre Fire (602 dead), although I don't think the modern, open, sparsely furnished movieplexes we have now are nearly as flammable as the ornate wooden theaters used to be.

The difference is that not everyone can make bombs. But lots of people can buy guns. Just because this guy could have done different things doesn't negate the fact that what he and others before him used were guns. He was carrying pistols on him, he was planning to kill and hurt lots of people and he found shooting to be the easiest way to do it.

In some cities/states it is actually easier to make a bomb than it is to buy a gun. Anyone, with internet access and a trip to the home depot or local shopping center, could build a bomb in a weekend.

 

[gturner]

I don't understand the gun culture, nor why people feel the need to fire a weapon and expend such a large amount of ammo. To someone who lives outside the gun culture, 6000 rounds is a large purchase. (Please note Admiral James Kirk that I phrase my sentences with I. This is how I was taught to say my opinions, by my mother who raised a child by herself.)

Oh, well just ignore that it's a culture and look at the rate they burn through ammunition in their recreation. 6000 rounds in 60 days is just 100 rounds a day. Anyone would use double that just with a bench-rest bolt-action rifle working up different loads.

Most everyone here has played shooter games like Halo or a hundred others, and most people who play those games play them for hours at a stretch. Think how much virtual ammunition you use in those games and then translate it to reality.

Full auto (lots of my friends shoot full auto, paying thousands a year to the BATFE) will go through 100 rounds in about 10 seconds. 10 seconds is a pretty short playing time for any activity. Semi-auto would go through 100 rounds in 30 seconds to a minute. Again, not a whole lot of entertainment time if you've spent 30 minutes driving to the gun range and will be cleaning and stripping the rifle when you get home.

One of my friends supplies the ammunition to a housefull of Marine and Navy family members and caretakers, occassionally with orphan Marine Christmas guests, putting about 12 shooters on the line, half with full-auto M-16's, Stens, Brownings, and whatnot, with the group able to eat through a couple thousand rounds in a single minute. And they spend most evenings at it. Needless to say, it's not a poor man's hobby.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Eh. Some can't afford a movie AND a sitter and the baby won't be hurt at a theater in the normal course of things.

Who knew some nutjob would come in and start blowing people away? Normally the only annoyance at the theater comes from people running their yaps during the movie, or the (down here at least) moldy-smelling theaters.

Every time I've been in the theater with a baby, the baby has cried. If you can't afford a sitter, tough. Don't go to the movie.

Frankly, if you can't afford a babysitter, you should probably be using your money for something other than a trip to the movies.

They probably don't need to go to the midnight screening either for that matter.

 

[gturner]

So now I read his weapon of choice wasn't an AR-15, but a S&W M&P 15-22, which looks like an AR-15 but fires .22LR. Those are cheap to shoot (about $20 for a 500 round box).

 

[LaxScrutiny]

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

One possible question to ask if you are a supporter guns and a loved one is shot and killed by one. Would your position be the same?

I would rephrase that as "...and killed by someone with known issues such as anger management or alcoholism, and they could have been prevented from acquiring a firearm if regulations were in place and enforced uniformly across the country?"

 

[gturner]

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

We can't even prevent felons from acquiring coke imported from Columbia, which has a detectable odor. We're not going to prevent felons from acquring arms. One of the leaders of the New Black Panther Party, a convicted felon calling for George Zimmerman's execution, was very recently arrested for pawning high value semi-automatic pistols that he couldn't possibly legally own, but sold quite easily on the legal market. If even high profile felons can easily avoid our best efforts when in the public spotlight, the people in back alleys won't even notice. People with alcohol and anger management issues are 18 steps back in the priority line behind the convicted terrorists and drug dealers who don't have any problems getting weapons.

 

[Hound of UIster]

^ If he's really sick, it could be something from his neurobiology studies. In "Batman Begins" the plot centered around some very strange, mind-altering drugs that were set up to wipe out most of the city, turning people into paranoid freaks. He might have cooked up a low-budget version of a bad trip, which could be any of a vast host of things. Perhaps MPTP which causes Parkinson's disease, which was easily (and accidentally) synthesized by a college student trying to make MPPP, a synthetic opiate.

There's no telling what horrors this guy might've cooked up.

No pharmacology experience from what I have seen of his background. Mostly advanced cell biology with emphasis of course in nerve cells.