Aurora shootings

[nofi]

i agree with dave on this. one more thing to add is roadside memorials for people who died in car accidents. no reminder needed here if your family or friend was involved. i used to think this was a southern thing being the bible belt and all, but apparently its done all over the country. as far as overblown media coverage goes the old saying "if it bleeds it leads" still applies.  

[gweimer]

I'm just going to blame Andy Warhol.  Nobody should care if they are ever famous.

[Big_Stu]

i agree with dave on this. one more thing to add is roadside memorials for people who died in car accidents. no reminder needed here if your family or friend was involved. i used to think this was a southern thing being the bible belt and all, but apparently its done all over the country. as far as overblown media coverage goes the old saying "if it bleeds it leads" still applies.  

Not just the US. I'm in northern England & I pass a few of such tributes on a daily basis. One of which gets fresh flowers every week, 3 years after the event, a kid who was stoned & turned his car over.

[uwe]

This is Radio Unfree Europe:

What ever you think of the Amendment and whether people should have a hand gun or not at home, the fathers of the Constitution didn't have semiautomatics in mind. That is not a gun for selfdefense but an assault weapon for warfare, if that is sensibly covered by the Amendments than perhaps the private ownership of small nuclear bombs should be protected too.

The "good people need guns, because bad people have them already"-argument doesn't work here - drugdealers, organized crime and even terrorists don't hold shooting sprees in cinemas or schools, only nutcases and psychos do. And for them access to weapons like that is much too easy. That is as politically sensible as making cars and trucks available to children for driving because horses and horse carriages were once allowed for them.

[Bionic-Joe]

Thank God I live in the US. I know Europe has Massive gun restrictions and the crime rate statistics show it. I think Law  Abiding citizens have a right to keep and bear arms. WE should be able to have the same guns as the Military and I bet you the Founding Fathers or our great Country, had they the technology to have automatic weapons, would have included them. Why should Government tell me how to live? Don't I have a right to Protect my Family and my property?? Or should I just wait for the Goverment POLICE to protect me like they did in Colorado??? Yeah...Okay. Long Live the Second Amendment! God Bless the US!

[Pilgrim]

Dave, I also wonder about all the counseling and other opportunities that are announced after events like this.  
- Did we always really need them, but only have created this support over the past couple of decades?  
- Or perhaps are we as a people less stable and less capable of living through things like this and carrying on?

And why would someone react with anything but regret and sadness when something like the Aurora killings takes place hundreds of miles away? It puzzles me that anyone would need "counseling" for something which has no effect on them personally. It's almost like they're searching for a reason to need personal support.  I don't see why that would be needed...or why someone would pass emails around offering counseling to people in other locations.

I don't have an answer for the question I asked earlier. The event does prompt me to question my own makeup and look inside to see if there is anything to learn. When my dad passed, I had months of warning and I wasn't traumatized or grief-stricken. I was sad. When my mom passed, there was less warning but I felt the same way. For that matter, both my mom and my wife's mom (a very nice lady) both passed away during a year when i had a killer travel schedule, and I worked with both families to set the memorial services for weekends when my travel would allow me to attend.  This just made sense to me.

I don't understand why some people are grief-stricken and unable to function in situations which I don't think would affect me. But what do I know?  I've never had a close friend or relative killed in some accident or event that occurred without any warning.

I have been a reserve deputy and I've been at fatal accidents.  In that role, it's simply your job, so you turn off the personal reactions and deal with it.  In life, things happen and I need to deal with them. I'm not looking forward to the loss of friends or siblings (I'm 62), and I pray that I do not outlive either of my children.  But life goes on regardless.

This whole event is only slightly closer to home; it occurred 60 miles away, but it might as well have been 600.  I am not aware that I know anyone or relatives of friends of anyone involved in this.  I could just as easily be in LA or New York.  Even if I find that there is a connection, it's their family or friend, not mine.

There are many things going on around this...and perhaps the fact that I wrote this reflects some need on my part to make a small personal statement about it.  I'm not sure. I do know that I have things to do today and work to do next week, so life will continue...and my attention is on those things in my future, not on the past.

Meanwhile, I may use my own carry license and tote a compact 9MM just a bit more often than I have recently - but it's inconvenient and I'm not often in settings where I feel exposed.  As the old saying goes, "You pays your money and takes your chances."  We all do this every day.  Firearms is a subject I feel comfortable with having owned and used a wide variety of them.  I don't see the need for a debate about the various types, although there are a very few types that I would rather see withdrawn from public ownership.

[drbassman]

Boy Dave, you nailed it.  My wife and I just don't understand the need for the media to go crazy and the last thing we would ever do is let them anywhere near us or our family if we found ourselves in a similar situation.  People seem to need to be a part of these big events and the media feeds on it.  We are already finished with watching the coverage.  It's truly bizarre. 

As for gun control, that's the last thing we should debate here.  It's just too polarizing.

[the mojo hobo]

The second amendment has nothing to do with crime or the technology of weapons, it is all about the citizens having the right to defend themselves against the government, if the government oversteps it's powers.

[nofi]

Baz, in many states you can own what the military uses. but i see no reason to own a barrett .50 cal sniper rifle that can kill out to a mile, for example. for bragging rights or tiny dicks only i would say.

[Bionic-Joe]

What's wrong with owning a sniper rifle?? What if you see a nice animal from a distance and want to drop it??

[Bionic-Joe]

I really do think that people who are anti guns should post a big sign in front of their homes stating "Gun Free Zone".

[nofi]

whatever you shoot with that 50 cal. would be vapoized.

[Pilgrim]

I think the temptation to get into a firearm discussion HERE is similar to what we will see acted out in other media.

But gents, this thread will be closed soon if it continues. 

[Aussie Mark]

How does someone manage to smuggle a M-16 and a 12ga shotgun into a movie theatre on their person, in the middle of summer?

[gweimer]

How does someone manage to smuggle a M-16 and a 12ga shotgun into a movie theatre on their person, in the middle of summer?

I believe he came in through the fire doors after the movie had started.