Tragedy in Aurora during Dark Knight Rises midnight showing

[Jonathan_Leack]

In case you don't already know:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nati ... 7749.story

I was shocked to find out about this when I woke up this morning and opened Reddit where it makes up 20% of the front page. Every time a tragedy like this happens, I can't help but think to myself, how in the world can someone do such a thing?

Well, the truth is that he did it for the fame just like the Columbine killers did. I believe we need to stop releasing the information and names of people who do these shootings. Propelling them to the public eye by throwing them on the front of magazines and other media is exactly what these mad killers want.

 

[daverabbit]

Events like these have always saddened me to the core but this one has me particularly shaken for some reason.

 

[danielrbischoff]

Events like these have always saddened me to the core but this one has me particularly shaken for some reason.

Same, what an absurd atrocity. What's worse, so many people were in packed theaters last night, just like this one. It could have happened to ANYONE, ANYWHERE.

 

[De-Ting]

Why go outside, eh?

 

[MattAY]

^ Exactly!...Ritalin anyone?

It is horrible that it's happened in a cinema, probably one of my favourite and most relaxing places around.

 

[danielrbischoff]

And no one sitting there thought to themselves "What if some walks in right now and...."

It's just so abhorrently senseless. The guy doing it wants the attention, pure and simple. What a fucking asshole.

 

[Mod-Chip]

But seriously, that is some messed up sh!t.

 

[Wes]

And once again a tragedy has occurred because the second amendment (which the NRA reads aloud after praying to baby Jesus) says it's ok for you to own a gun.

Why aren't guns banned or at least a lot harder to get than they already are? Why is it yourright to own a gun? It's so backwards that marijuana is more illegal than a gun in the US. I mean honestly, who looks more dangerous to you?

These two

Or these two

I really didn't want to bring pot into this. I'm just using it as an example.

Banning guns or adding very strict laws will not prevent all shootings from happening. But if it helps prevent people like this psycho from acquiring a gun then what the hell is the government waiting for??? Like seriously? Oh we can't upset all the gun nuts in the NRA? Why the hell should we value their opinion so much when they're part of the problem?

 

[Longo_2_guns]

I'm gonna be respectful and not make a joke until tomorrow.

 

[danielrbischoff]

Agreed Wes. One of the many things I hate about America.

Like seriously, how did this kid get ahold of chemical irritants and fucking automatic weapons?

NRA: "Because of hunting and our rights...."

Yes, you need to smoke the deer out before you pump a full clip into him.

 

[C_nate]

Wes, let me start off by saying that I understand what you are trying to say and I believe there are waaaayyy too many guns produced and sold in the US. However, simply making something illegal doesn't make the problem go away.

A quick example is to look at where I live. Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the country and up until recently there was an outright ban on handguns in the city. This did not prevent, deter, or even slightly slow down the hundreds upon hundreds of shooting deaths that occur here every single year. We made the news recently with this depressing tidbit:

The Daily pointed out in a Friday column that more Chicago residents -- 228 -- have been killed so far this year in the city than the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan - 144 -- over the same period.

And since you brought up weed I'll use that in making my point as well. It is still illegal but how many people do you know that can get it (and do) whenever they want it? Point being that if enough people want something, someone, somewhere will supply it. Illegal or no.

I think about the gun issue a lot since every weekend I read about how many people died in shootings only a short drive from where I live. To me it is an intractable problem because of the culture surrounding it. Guns are cool. Media is a great example of this. On TV you can't show a tit or say fuck but you can show a guy get gunned down and then spend the next half hour figuring out who did it. Same thing with movies. You gun down dozens of bad guys but otherwise keep it clean? PG-13. You do the same thing but say fuck a few times or show some breasts? R. It is mind boggling, bat-shit crazy to me and I will never understand it.

Even more crazy is when something like this happens, a bunch of people will say that the answer is: Even more guns! "If only everyone in the theater was packing heat then there could have been an old fashioned old west shootout and lives would have been saved" is what they will (kind of) say.

I honestly don't know if there is a good or even workable solution to the problem anymore. It's just too ingrained in our society.

 

[intoTheRain]

i'm sure if guns were illegal this kid would have thought twice about obtaining them illegally before he killed and wounded tons of innocent people. :roll:

i live in Canada, where it is a pain in the ass to get permits for guns, and there are hundreds of laws for them. you cannot simply walk down to wal-mart and buy an automatic weapon like in the US, or whatever goes on down there.

yet still, any friend i have, or anyone i know of that want's to play with AK's, M16's, whatever, has them. and it wasn't much trouble to obtain at all.

i think the US could make them harder to obtain, it might cut down on in the heat of the moment murders.

but anything as pre meditated as this will not simply stop happening because guns are hard to obtain.

 

[Green_Lantern]

He didn't have automatic weapons...But nice try.


I don't see what something like this has to do with gun control either. What does a man, who was going to get weapons whether they are illegal or not, have anything to do with my ability to own and operate a firearm. It's cool though, even though the homicide rate in the US is at one of the lowest points its ever been at the last few years (not just homicide, crime rates in general) all gun owners are bad.

 

[intoTheRain]

also, the cost to implement gun control in the US after they have allowed people to run around willy nilly with them forever would be astronomical. they've wasted enough money on stupid shit and have enough problems as it is, there is no way they'd even think about gun control at this point, when at best it may save a few hundred lives a year.

 

[UghRochester]

This was pretty sad. I'm usually not shaken like this like daverabbit said.

 

[madster111]

And once again a tragedy has occurred because the second amendment (which the NRA reads aloud after praying to baby Jesus) says it's ok for you to own a gun.

Why aren't guns banned or at least a lot harder to get than they already are? Why is it yourright to own a gun? It's so backwards that marijuana is more illegal than a gun in the US. I mean honestly, who looks more dangerous to you?

Australia has very strict gun laws. It's very hard to purchase a gun legally and you're not allowed to carry it on your person. It's easier to get high explosives than a semi-automatic rifle and you want a pump action shotgun? Too bad.

Meanwhile:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/five-sydney-s ... 1x48m.html

And i'm roughly 4 phone calls and $1000 away from being able to purchase an illegal handgun. Not a shitty chinese one either, i'm talking a .40S&W Glock.


So yeah. Making it harder for people to legally get guns doesn't help shit in the way of gun violence.

If the US tried to implement stricter gun laws, they'd do it the same way Aus did it. (The most retarded way possible)
You're not allowed a pump action shotgun, while a lever action is fine. You're not allowed a suppressor, so you can go deaf bitch, and an AR-15 is banned while you can roll with a .338 Lapua ex-australian army rifle - the same rifle that is known to be lethal at ranges of over 2km.
Want a .45ACP? No way, that's too lethal.
FN Five-seveN, the gun that's almost been banned in the US numerous times because it can get through body armor?
Totally cool.

 

[NickKmet]

The problem with gun laws is that they rarely do anything to stop the real problem, which is the illegal acquisition of guns. While laws should be in place to stop somebody like this from getting a gun, most laws do little but make it harder to obtain weapons legally.

A better solution would be to put more programs in place designed to halt black market weapons trafficking. Easier said than done though.

 

[Jonathan_Leack]

I'm a proud owner of firearms and I really think those of you who want guns banned need to step back. Even if guns were 100% outlawed in the United States as they are in Europe illegal firearms would find their way into the system, and the government would have nothing preventing them from doing what they please—ready about the Patriot Act.

By the way, our government has been caught smuggling weapons and drugs into America INTENTIONALLY to try and push legislation—look up the Mexican Drug War. I don't trust anyone but myself and my family, and you shouldn't either.

 

[intoTheRain]

nice to see the majority of people here understand at this point gun laws are pointless and accomplish nothing except pissing money into the wind.

mind blowing how some people actually still think it's the answer.

 

[Lien]

Even if guns were 100% outlawed in the United States as they are in Europe illegal firearms

huh... they aren't! you can own guns in France for both hunting and protection. Not every country in Europe is like England...
But still, we don't go out promoting it and yelling "IT'S OUR RIGHTS!" like they do in the states... nor does one walk around in public in their holsters like i saw in malls in this country.
Seriously, that's F*** up! What's wrong with you yanks!

If you ask me, i think fear is the leading source of gun shooting.