Aurora shootings

[Pilgrim]

Just in case anybody's wondering, I live about 60 miles north of Aurora, which is a Denver metro suburb.  I'm fine, and my daughter who lives in Denver texted me early this AM telling me she's OK.  It was a nice note to receive.

I am not aware that anyone I know was involved or had family or friends there.

It leaves me - and probably all of us - wondering what in the world is going on in the heads of some people. The double-whammy of Columbine a few years ago (maybe 15 miles from this event) and last night's multiple murders will probably haunt Denver for a long time.

[gweimer]

Glad to hear you aren't near Aurora.  My son lives about 15-20 miles west of there.  He finally sent me a little text after an hour or two to let me know that he was fine.  He's big on comics and movies, so it wouldn't have been unusual for him to be there, but I was pretty sure he wouldn't have gone that far. 

[nofi]

jeez, another bad gun day in colorado. i am so sorry to hear that. glad you and yours were far away. even as a gun owner i favor some type of gun control, which is all but impossible at this point. the gun lobby is just too strong. the nra is the fox news for gun advocates and in my opinion is a rabel rouser which will not bend to a modern interpretation of the second ammendment. but now i have made this a thread political so...

[Nocturnal]

Glad to hear that no one knows anyone directly connected to the story. I feel horrible for the families that will suffer from the actions of this idiot.

[Pilgrim]

We're just far enough into the aftermath that people are beginning to use the events to justify political viewpoints. Personally, I think that a discussion of how to reduce the chance of a repetition is well justified, but I doubt that there will be any rational discussion about firearms; viewpoints are too polarized.  I see (and have some degree of resonance with) both sides and don't see a solution.

One thing I can easily forecast is that movie theater exits (other than the main doors) are about to be equipped with flashers and alarms.  No longer will it be permissable to use the front exits except in emergencies. 

One story in the Denver paper (http://www.denverpost.com/) mentioned that in Israel, you don't enter theaters or restaurants without going through a scanner or pat-down.  I suspect we're about to move closer to that model.

[drbassman]

I thought about you Al, Colorado has had its fair share of lunacy over the years.  My wife and I cried when we watched the coverage this morning, which is divulging more details about the the victims who died.  This is a very sad moment and all we can do is pray for peace for the families affected.  They'll never get back what they lost.  The killer is a very disturbed person for sure.

[gweimer]

On top of everything, what I find particularly sad and disturbing is how the media have made a celebrity of the shooter, and his face is plastered everywhere, including FB.  Maybe the disturbed would stop trying to get their 15 minutes of fame if nobody exploited it.

[nofi]

everybody wants to know more about the crazy bad guy. its human nature. that's how it has always been and i doubt it will ever change because it sells.

[Pilgrim]

Some commentators and media outlets are minimizing the shooter's name and photo.  I've heard some reporters state that they would do that purposely to deny him additional attention.  I approve.

You can bet the more sensational the medium or commentator, the more they will use his name and image.  OTOH, you can expect legitimate investigation into his background and especially his actions over the past few months.

[drbassman]

I agree.  I think we should minimize the media's "celebrity creating coverage" of people like this.  Some folks are drawn to infamous people for some sick reason.  For example:  There are rumors that van der Sloot is going to get married behind bars in Peru after killing two women!  People are just nuts if that's true.

[Pilgrim]

There are rumors that van der Sloot is going to get married behind bars in Peru after killing two women!  People are just nuts if that's true.

That would put him in serious danger of breaking the old rule "Never marry anyone crazier than you are."

In his case, I approve.

[Denis]

Some commentators and media outlets are minimizing the shooter's name and photo.  I've heard some reporters state that they would do that purposely to deny him additional attention.  I approve.

I read somewhere once that in ancient Greece a killer like this guy was executed and all record of his existence was erased. I kind of like this idea on one hand though on the other total erasure might make people forget the horror of such things and do them again.

I'm glad no one here was a victim of the Aurora shootings or had a friend or family member who was.

[godofthunder]

 A sad, sad day in our history, humanities history. Mans ability to inflict pain on his fellow man never ceases to amaze me. I guess we really are not all that civilized. My heart aches for the families.

[Dave W]

It's a sad day for sure, and my heart goes out to all victims and their families, in the same way as any other senseless death such as an innocent person killed in a robbery or by a drunk driver.

That said, I just don't understand the wall-to-wall coverage and the obsession with public mourning of people we don't know. How did this come to be? I first noticed it after Columbine, when somebody on a mailing list I subscribed to posted a bunch of links to grief counseling for Colorado residents. I thought, why would anyone mourn more because they happened to live in the same state? Since when do people who are not involved in any way need grief counseling?

A couple of weeks ago, a divorced father in a town in the metro area here killed his three daughters by slitting their throats. Just a sickening crime. But it would not be any more sickening if it had happened in my suburb. Yet the local media swarmed all over the town, there have been dozens of stories and interviews about how the town is feeling, as if the town were a person, grief counseling, candlelight vigils, etc., and it sure seems like most of the people involved had no connection to the victims. Some people have a pathological need to feel a part of it even though they're not.

It wasn't always this way. I remember a time when you felt sorry for the victims and left the grieving to people who actually knew them.

As for politicians trying to make hay out of this tragedy one way or another, well, I hold most of them about one notch above child molesters and one notch below axe murderers, so nothing surprises me.

[rahock]

I have a CPL and it pains me that movie theaters, due to seating capacity, are one of the places you cannot carry. Although wearing a full bulletproof outfit, if someone could have hit this guy with a couple of high powered rounds, it could have a least knocked him down and provided and opportunity to dissarm him. Of course the law abiding gun carriers don't carry in a movie theater, so the bad/crazy guy wins again. The thing about this guy that puzzles me is all the precautions that he took to stay alive I can almost understand something like this as  your final act and result in your own death too. Why in the hell would you want to live through something like this . The fond memories of slaughtering a theater full of innocent people, while you serve out your two thousand year prison sentence I dunno .
Rick