Lone Gunman Kills at Least 12 (38 wounded) at Midnight Batman Screening

[Fanatic]

Sad news to wake up to today.

It looks like one man (approx. 24 years old) dressed up like Bane and entered the theatre about an hour into the movie. He dropped two smoke bombs and then opened fire from at least three different guns.

The gunman was arrested at the rear of the theatre without any resistance.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/20/us/colorado-theater-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

 

[Kin]

Where are you getting that he was dressed like Bane?

 

[Fanatic]

Where are you getting that he was dressed like Bane?

I just listened to an ABC correspondant on the radio as I was arriving at work.

 

[Kin]

I just listened to an ABC correspondant on the radio as I was arriving at work.

Ok. I haven't read that anywhere else. Just references to body armor and a gas mask.

 

[Fanatic]

I just listened to an ABC correspondant on the radio as I was arriving at work.

Ok. I haven't read that anywhere else. Just references to body armor and a gas mask.

It strikes me now like that might be speculative on the part of the reporter. Not sure.

Either way, bloody awful. Sad.

 

[Kin]

Anyways, I know it's a minor point in such a tragedy or a sign of how old I'm getting but I read that children under ten are among the wounded and possibly dead including a three month old baby.

Who the holy eff brings a child that young to the midnight screening of a movie? And a baby? You should be beaten with reeds if you take a baby to a matinee showing of the Lion King and you're taking a baby to a midnight screening of a movie full of murder and explosions?

 

[Fanatic]

Anyways, I know it's a minor point in such a tragedy or a sign of how old I'm getting but I read that children under ten are among the wounded and possibly dead including a three month old baby.

Who the holy eff brings a child that young to the midnight screening of a movie? And a baby? You should be beaten with reeds if you take a baby to a matinee showing of the Lion King and you're taking a baby to a midnight screening of a movie full of murder and explosions?

The baby actually makes more sense to me than the 6 year old that is feared dead (according to an eye witness account). They are both wrong in my mind, but comparatively speaking I think bringing a 6 year old to a midnight screening of a very dark and violent movie is rather twisted.

 

[Kin]

The baby actually makes more sense to me than the 6 year old that is feared dead (according to an eye witness account). They are both wrong in my mind, but comparatively speaking I think bringing a 6 year old to a midnight screening of a very dark and violent movie is rather twisted.

I'm not talking about the proper parenting perspective. I'm talking about the consideration of the people around you perspective.

 

[Fanatic]

I bought tickets for this movie 4 days ago. Somehow I think that about an hour into the movie it will be hard not to think about the victims in Colorado.

 

[Kin]

[rant]

You know, this is sad and everything but I am now as desensitized to Americans dying in mass shootings as I am to deaths in Africa from starvation, tribal warfare, Aids or Malaria. It's all sad but it all simply seems to be a by-product of those respective civlizations that happen with fairly regular frequency.  In Africa people die from those things every day and, every so often, some nut job in the states with access to weapons he should never have access to kills a bunch of people.

It's a horrible thing that I'm desensitized to either thing, really. Were I a decent person the situation in Africa would hit me like a punch in the gut every day and I'd spend my spare money buying Malaria nets for orphans instead of a season pass to MLB.tv. Likewise, I should probably hear this and go "Man, that's awful."

But this stuff happens. And just like in Africa I've kind of made my peace with it.

 

[L K]

Horrible.  Absolutely horrible.  And yet you have people that actually argue that having guns on anyone who has money is a good idea.

In 2010 13,000 homicides (rounded slightly up for ease) took place in the US, roughly 9,000 of them were gun related.  There are another 15,000 gun-related suicides/year.  That's just scary to me.

Compare that to Communist Canada with their government controls you gun regulation where we have <1000 gun related deaths/year and 80% of those are suicides.

 

[Stronger Than All]

Unbelievable.  I'm not really that shocked anymore when I watch the video footage of things like this, but I feel depressed instead.

And yeah bringing a 3 month old to a theater is ridiculous.  Get a babysitter, wait until they're older, or don't have kids.

 

[Kin]

Some sad tangentially hockey related aspect to the story but one of the victims was a young woman who did some hockey writing/blogging and whose last ever blog was a first hand account of being in the Eaton Centre during the shooting there recently.

http://deadspin.com/5927673/aspiring-sportscaster-killed-in-shooting-at-colorado-movie-theater

That's messed up.

 

[Fanatic]

This is from a Dark Knight comic. Connection?

http://p.twimg.com/AyPwV4YCQAA85Qn.jpg

 

[Kin]

This is from a Dark Knight comic. Connection?

http://p.twimg.com/AyPwV4YCQAA85Qn.jpg

Seems pretty tenuous. The way Batman comics are you could find a shooting in just about any setting imaginable.

 

[Zee]

Some sad tangentially hockey related aspect to the story but one of the victims was a young woman who did some hockey writing/blogging and whose last ever blog was a first hand account of being in the Eaton Centre during the shooting there recently.

http://deadspin.com/5927673/aspiring-sportscaster-killed-in-shooting-at-colorado-movie-theater

That's messed up.

That's insane.  You survive one public crazy shooting only to be killed in another unrelated one.

 

[Bullfrog]

This is very sad. Impossible to comprehend the motives for ruining the lives of and causing pain to so many innocent people.

 

[Bullfrog]

[rant]

You know, this is sad and everything but I am now as desensitized to Americans dying in mass shootings as I am to deaths in Africa from starvation, tribal warfare, Aids or Malaria. It's all sad but it all simply seems to be a by-product of those respective civlizations that happen with fairly regular frequency.  In Africa people die from those things every day and, every so often, some nut job in the states with access to weapons he should never have access to kills a bunch of people.

It's a horrible thing that I'm desensitized to either thing, really. Were I a decent person the situation in Africa would hit me like a punch in the gut every day and I'd spend my spare money buying Malaria nets for orphans instead of a season pass to MLB.tv. Likewise, I should probably hear this and go "Man, that's awful."

But this stuff happens. And just like in Africa I've kind of made my peace with it.

This is a sad statement, but probably one that applies to most of us. I wouldn't say I've mad my peace with it; more likely that I'm desensitized. And also thankful that none of these events has had an impact on my life so far.

 

[Fanatic]

 

[Fanatic]

Why?