Gunman kills 12 in Colorado movie theater

[ou48A]

Or better parenting from the baby boomers?

Since there will always be bad parents ….. Both

[Spartan]

garbage

This is incendiary of you. FritterGirl was making a good point, and this is all you have?

So anything other than "America is #1!!!!" or "There is nothing wrong in America, we are a perfect country the way we are," is garbage.

[Roadhawg]

Not enough people pay to go see more wholesome movies... Doris Day and Rock Hudson's days are gone. Hollywood makes movies that people want to go see and pay money for.

[Just the facts]

Or better parenting from the baby boomers?

Did bad parenting result in people who make a movies that have graphic violence? Did bad parenting result in a population of people that want to go see graphic violence? Did bad parenting result in a gun man that shot people at a theater who there to watch a movie about murder and torture? Or were you just talking about people who took their kids to see it?

[Just the facts]

Not enough people pay to go see more wholesome movies... Doris Day and Rock Hudson's days are gone. Hollywood makes movies that people want to go see and pay money for.

Yes and no. Hollywood producers, actors, and writers have their own agendas. Product placement isn't just for products. It is for 'ideas' as well. But your point is well taken about people paying to go see it, and I am saying - start thinking twice before you do and ask yourself, is this good for the Humans.

[PennyQuilts]

Since there will always be bad parents ….. Both

The baby boomers are well into their grandparent stage - for the most part, blame their clueless children.

[Ginkasa]

Those on BOTH SIDES trying to politicize this horrible event should be ashamed of themselves. Both sides are already pointing fingers.

Its comforting for people to be able to point to a cause and blame some external force for violence and tragedy rather than accept that sometimes awful things happen and sometimes its just because somebody is an awful person. Its difficult for a decent person to comprehend how someone else could not be a decent person and often insist that the person must have somehow been corrupted by some external force. Natural and personal bias tends to cause the external force of choice to be either current cultural scapegoat, or whatever an individual has personally chosen as destructive.

[PennyQuilts]

So you think if there were an armed patron in the theater he/she should have pulled their weapon and in the midst of a panic and people running in a panic they should have stated firing shots at the guy?

I was discussing why he might - or might not - have chosen the venue. But, yeah, considering the carnage, I think a patron firing back in the midst of a panic would have been the better scenario. The patron might have accidently shot one or two but who knows how many could have been spared - about 78 injured and 12 or so dead at last count. Not ideal but being in a movie theater with someone gunning down men, women and children with no push back doesn't strike me as the better option. At that point, your choices aren't safely sit there vs. run the risk of accidently being shot by a patron. Your choices at that point are probably being deliberately gunned down by someone actively trying to kill you and your family vs. perhaps accidently getting shot by a patron in a panic situation and a killer who would be far more likely to be going into defensive mode than he would have if no one fought back - thus a safer situation for most of the patrons. No guarantee but at that point, you are playing the odds to survive.

Once you have someone actively trying to slaughter everyone in huge numbers - including children - I think it is a little bit of a stretch to be more concerned that someone might get caught in a crossfire than that patrons sitting there might be the shooter's next victim. He didn't stop until he was ready and as I read the reports, the theater was quiet other than the dying once he stopped.

[Just the facts]

Oslo.

[HewenttoJared]

Did bad parenting result in people who make a movies that have graphic violence? Did bad parenting result in a population of people that want to go see graphic violence? Did bad parenting result in a gun man that shot people at a theater who there to watch a movie about murder and torture? Or were you just talking about people who took their kids to see it?

Actuslly if you look at the links between violence in media and violence in an individual it breaks down in households that are more stable. Good parents + violent movies= no significant link.

[PennyQuilts]

perhaps... i was just thinking that the time, the noise, the crowds, the lines and all the other craziness that goes along with a new movie premiere isn't a great environment for a 3 month old.

-M

Oh, I agree! I was just thinking the same but a 6 year old shouldn't be up that late and really, that is a dark movie for a little one.

[jstanthrnme]

To those saying that someone carrying a concealed handgun could have prevented or at least reduced the number of individuals shot, did you not see or have you forgotten that the gunman had nearly all of his body covered in armor?

I personally don't see any way that this could have been prevented "in the moment".

[Questor]

Wow guys, some of you are sounding like you need to turn off the 24/7 political coverage. Everyone is just saying stuff, stuff they believe in, and no one is really commenting on what happened today. The facts are this kid was on the verge of becoming a neuroscientist... he was probably extremely bright, and it is difficult to imagine that based on this and other things said that there was such bad parenting involved in his life that it would drive the guy to doing what he did. The guy was dressed, head to toe, in body armor and was throwing tear gas and/or smoke bombs into the theater as he was walking in. I doubt any threat of armed resistance would have concerned him... in his mind he was probably well prepared. My generation and all of the generations coming after me have grown up completely saturated in graphic, extreme violence, and yet statistically we are the least violent generations since data has been being kept. Colorado is considered a very pro-gun state and on a scale of 0-100 gun control groups recently rated it a 15. Baby Boomers are still a large enough swath of the population that they include both parents and grandparents. We have no idea about the ages of the gunman's parents. Some people who talk big about defending themselves freeze "in the moment." Others do not.

So then maybe the answer lies in the one reoccurring theme of all these Dark Knight movies... the thing that the last Dark Knight movie was actually all about... that there are some just plain chaotic evil people in this world, who for whatever reason just want to watch the world burn. Maybe they are sick in the head. Who knows. Who cares. Given every opportunity in this world, they're still just plain bad. No amount of parenting, protecting, or lawyering-up will ever change that or will ever protect you from that.

[PennyQuilts]

To those saying that someone carrying a concealed handgun could have prevented or at least reduced the number of individuals shot, did you not see or have you forgotten that the gunman had nearly all of his body covered in armor?

I personally don't see any way that this could have been prevented "in the moment".

You're right that it hs been reported that he had on full body armor, of course. I'm not saying someone with a CC would have prevented this and I don't think anyone else did, either. But I do believe it could well have helped to limit it by virtue of being a distraction if nothing else. He had on body armor but that isn't a total armor and a lucky - and I do believe it would have been just luck - head shot could have brought him down. Being hit with a shot, even with the armor, would have hurt and likely have thrown him off.

I, at least, speculated that someone who spent this much time planning might well have avoided targets where he would be more likely to run into armed prey. People like this are clearly cowards, afterall. It seems like there are a lot of people who insist that CC is a horrible idea. They are welcome to their opinion but not everyone shares it. I think the idea is that it is better to go down swinging than to just be slaughtered without a fight.

[Jim Kyle]

I noted in an article on the BBC web site regarding Warner's cancellation of the Paris premier of Dark Knight Rises, that a trailer for another movie had included a scene where gunmen invaded a theater and began shooting members of the audience. Wonder if there's any "copycat" influence involved? It gives one to think...

[Roadhawg]

I was discussing why he might - or might not - have chosen the venue. But, yeah, considering the carnage, I think a patron firing back in the midst of a panic would have been the better scenario. The patron might have accidently shot one or two but who knows how many could have been spared - about 78 injured and 12 or so dead at last count. Not ideal but being in a movie theater with someone gunning down men, women and children with no push back doesn't strike me as the better option. At that point, your choices aren't safely sit there vs. run the risk of accidently being shot by a patron. Your choices at that point are probably being deliberately gunned down by someone actively trying to kill you and your family vs. perhaps accidently getting shot by a patron in a panic situation and a killer who would be far more likely to be going into defensive mode than he would have if no one fought back - thus a safer situation for most of the patrons. No guarantee but at that point, you are playing the odds to survive.

Once you have someone actively trying to slaughter everyone in huge numbers - including children - I think it is a little bit of a stretch to be more concerned that someone might get caught in a crossfire than that patrons sitting there might be the shooter's next victim. He didn't stop until he was ready and as I read the reports, the theater was quiet other than the dying once he stopped.

and somebody else who was carrying might think you're in on it and start firing on you and more innocent people caught in another crossfire, and if there were 3 or 4 then more would be dead and wounded than what we already have.

[soonerguru]

This should not be political. Yet the gun nuts cannot resist the opportunity to tell us the only thing we need more of in the US is more guns. Bull****.

[ljbab728]

It's ridiculous that posters are focusing on gun control issues when there are real people and real lives involved here.

http://news.yahoo.com/aurora-shootin...opstories.html

http://abcnews.go.com/US/colo-shooti...ry?id=16819751

There is plenty of time to have those debates later.

[soonerliberal]

As horrendous as this is, keep in mind there were 12 lives taken over just one weekend's time in Chicago alone two weeks ago. There were over 70 people shot in New York City in a one week period in June.

[Roadhawg]

As horrendous as this is, keep in mind there were 12 lives taken over just one weekend's time in Chicago alone two weeks ago. There were over 70 people shot in New York City in a one week period in June.

Not to mention the number of shooting right here in OKC this year.

[BBatesokc]

and somebody else who was carrying might think you're in on it and start firing on you and more innocent people caught in another crossfire, and if there were 3 or 4 then more would be dead and wounded than what we already have.

And yet, with all the legally carried guns out there does that scenario actually happen? Nope.

[Frustratedoptimist]

I agree with Chris Rock:
“Gun control? We need bullet control! I think every bullet should cost 5,000 dollars. Because if a bullet cost five thousand dollar, we wouldn't have any innocent bystander .”

[Roadhawg]

And yet, with all the legally carried guns out there does that scenario actually happen? Nope.

In a dark theater with tear gas in the room and mass panic you see somebody else shooting you wouldn't think they were part of it? Get real

[soonerguru]

And yet, with all the legally carried guns out there does that scenario actually happen? Nope.

You used to be one of my fav posters here, but the fact you are trying to politicize this massacre disgusts me.

[ou48A]

I agree with Chris Rock:
“Gun control? We need bullet control! I think every bullet should cost 5,000 dollars. Because if a bullet cost five thousand dollar, we wouldn't have any innocent bystander .”

WOW $5000 bullets.
Bullets aren’t very hard to make if you have even minimal skills and equipment.
I could make several a day and get rich making black market bullets.