THIS movie was recently targeted for the Rush Limbaugh hatred and paranoia treatment.

Paraphrasing… The bad guy is called BANE. Librulz won’t let anyone forget about Romney and, that capitalist firing machine (whoops, I mean that paragon of free market virtues), BAIN. Coincidence? I don’t think so… Geddit?

Absolutely – the story continues to develop, even the number of deaths has changed as attempts to save the injured fail.

I think it’s understandable that firearms debate would be brought up though.

They will never do it. They will never legislate effective gun control because the firearms lobby owns too many legislators. They need their “freedom”, you see. 100,000 are shot and killed or wounded each year in America. It is a savage, brutal country, unfortunately. Not the America of 30 or 40 years ago.

So what are you proposing?

Nothing to do with firearms … Depression is generally what all these folk have in common

what kind of folk Peter?

Maybe depression or delusional but with ACCESS to firearms. With such easy access its a no brainier to take one from daddy’s cabinet and simple start shooting people if sad, depressed or for some twisted kick. If he hadn’t a gun what are the chances these 10 victims would still be alive and buzzing after seeing a highly anticipated film.

I think its more people who have been maybe bullied in some form or just full of hatred towards society for a reason….. with acess to firearms. Dangerous people.

@Peter, nothing to do with firearms? Seriously? If he didn’t have access to those weapons in the first place this couldn’t have happened.

It’s the screwed up society we live in. In a word: capitalism.

Switzerland has the worlds highest per capita gun ownership and the lowest rate of gun crime.

As soon as there’s a shooting everyones gut reaction is to ban guns… But they don’t look at how society deals with depressed men..

How many of the dead or wounded in this incident were depressed, Peter?
There are 100,000 people per year killed or wounded by firearms in the US. 11,000 homicides. 17,000 suicides (your “depressed”, I suppose), 75,000 wounded.
Nothing to do with firearms of course….

@Francis I’m not 100% on this, but my uncle-in-law is Swiss and he spoke about this before. Every Swiss male is required to do military service, and is sent home with full military gear to form a massive reserve force should Switzerland ever need them. This gives the statistic of huge ‘gun-ownership’, but is not at all the same thing as amateur enthusiasts sitting at home with 4 guns and 6000 rounds of ammunition (as happened here). Incidentally, he also mentioned how they have a big problem with suicide using the aforementioned weapons.

Northeast?

Rhode Island
Gun deaths per 100,000: 3.5
Massachusetts
Gun deaths per 100,000: 3.6
Connecticut
Gun deaths per 100,000: 4.3
New York
Gun deaths per 100,000: 5.1

Probably stay out of the South

Arkansas
Gun deaths per 100,000: 15.1
Alabama
Gun deaths per 100,000: 17.6
Mississippi
Gun deaths per 100,000: 18.3
Louisiana
Gun deaths per 100,000: 19.9

Seeing that it was Colorado surprised me, on that note. Not that an area’s reputation is ever a guarantee, but that seems to be a progressive, peaceful kind of spot.

Why would it surprise you that it was Colorado haven’t they had a few shooting spree incidents? Colombine being one

America needs to grow up and bin the right to bare arms.

@Gearoid – historically I think it is a slightly conservative state that has turned slightly moderate in the past few years but definitely not a progressive state. They also have lax gun laws.

@John – Why would they need to completely get rid of it? By having even moderate regulations in many states it would help.

John what makes you think it was a religious person? Could have easily been an atheist nut, many of them around too!

Er, Columbine was caused by anti depressant drugs
http://www.ssristories.com/show.php?item=190
As was Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, Shane Clancy etc..

Brendan
I agree, but in fairness the Terry and Traveller cases were in court, so maybe that had something to do with it? Am I correct anyone?

You can kill far more people with a car and nearly everybodys got one of those. We won’t be banning those in the near future. It’s not about the guns, its about the individuals mindset. How many farmers in Ireland have a gun? Don’t see farmers killing people in rampages at the local mart. How many members are there of gun clubs in Ireland? Still not a problem. Canadians have almost as many guns per capita as their U.S. neighbours yet it doesn’t seem to be an issue there. It’s not the gun that’s the problem.

You’re correct. As long as Americans vote to keep guns then they must acccept the risk they or their children will be murdered by guns. “Those who live by the gun die by the gun”.

It might sound cruel but maybe our reaction should be, well you voted to keep guns lawful so accept the consequences.

Every American who voted or campaigned to keep guns freely available has more blood on their hands today.

An election promise like that would be pretty pointless. He wouldn’t win an election precisely because of a promise like that.

I’m not making a statement pro or con regarding gun control but only showing the process is not simple. Americans cannot directly vote to allow or disallow firearms although individual States can choose to regulate ownership how they see fit (subject to constitutionality) – gun control is not Federal. Citizens can vote for representatives who have a particular position – assuming they will stay with it post election.

The right to bear arms is an amendment to the constitution and can only be overturned by an additional amendment repealing it. It would require 2/3rds majority in both houses of congress to pass. It would then need to be ratified by a 3/4ths majority by the States to take effect. The President can advocate a position but he does not directly make law (a big misconception many people have about the US) – he signs the laws or vetoes the law – he doesn’t create the law. And yes I’m American and lived there for 39 years but now live in Ireland…so I voted with my feet.

How can I protect you?

Even thou I am absolutely shocked and horrified by this incident I too can’t help asking why was a 3 month old baby and a six year old child were at a film with not only a 15 rating BUT at a mid night showing.,. Rip to all the victims of this shocking incident …

Agreed .. And I’m a mum of two … Not a hope in hell they would have been out anywhere at midnight … Still very tragic regardless of the circumstances .

Its citizens are not armed to the teeth. Enough hype and more facts. They have the constitutional right to bear arms (note spelling – not ‘bare’ as some wrote above!). It is not a violent aggressive society. In fact in my travels through MA, NY, FL, AL, GA, MS, TN, KY, VA , and NC people were nothing but nice, outside of one drunk demanding a lift at a gas station and an Atlanta vagrant getting upset demanding to know why white folks wouldn’t give him money. A lot of the rural folk love hunting and firearms but there was no hint of using them outside of this. The tragic incident in the cinema and its likes are bound to happen in such a large population when all human societies have a propensity (whatever the figure may be) for mental illness. Sad but true. If I’m wrong, then there would be no gun deaths in countries like Ireland where you are denied your right to gun ownership. Patently and sadly, that is not the case as we know. It is something else and so time to think outside that “gun control” panacea. You can’t legislate for insanity in any country.

@gary No matter what the law there will always be illegal access to guns. But the rate of death by firearm in Ireland, high though it may seem to us, is very low compared to the USA at less than 1.3 per 100000. That’s just a third of the number in the US state with the lowest firearm death rate and about 15 times less that in Louisiana.

So it seems having no automatic right to bear arms and strict control of guns DOES work. I’d say we have the same number of people as anywhere else who are willing to kill someone, but they haven’t the easy access to guns which makes it so easy.

Niall I reject what you say. I am sitting having lunch over here in Vermont. I don’t see anyone around me who are violent, aggressive or armed to the teeth as you say. No one in my workplace is or anyone in my neighborhood. You are watching too many American crime shows I think.

Boy, boys, boys, the fact that nobody is shooting across your luncheon table doesn’t mean you’re living in a peacful, non-violent and well-adjusted society. It simply means you haven’t been shot at yet. And some of the states you mention have the highest number of shootings in the country (TN, KY, etc).
I have traveled across America many times by motorcycle, which puts you in touch with many more people than in a car or on a plane. Wonderful folks everywhere. Only a couple of scary incidents. Yet, 100,000 people get shot every year in America. Think about that. If they were dying in plane crashes, they’d do something. But noooooo. They need their “freedom”. They’re a nation in denial.

A constitution which was written in 1787 Gary! That argument is typical blind, ignorant American bullshit. This is a horrific case to be filed under all the other tragedies occurring annually due to that amendment, and undoubtedly coupled with the sick, twisted elements of American society – both need to be addressed as soon as possible.

Mentally disturbed he and the many thousands who commit these atrocities of murder every year in this culture which allows everyone to bear arms – but do the recipients of their gun violence not have any Civil Rights – not to be terrorized , robbed and shot at ?

I debated this point with a NRA – National Rifle Association Member in US a few years ago – it was the one question that he could not offer an explanation or plain yes or no to!

That sort of thinking scares me. I’d be much more likely to go to a cinema where I ran the (infinitesimal) risk of getting shot than one where I was guaranteed to have to succumb to an invasive search.

Whatever happened to having nothing to fear but fear itself?

Even simpler, ban all guns, drive all gun ownership underground, have no account of the total number of guns in circulation, leave the non regulation of the gun trade to the criminals and job done. It all goes away …..oh wait, that’s not right !

The alternative is to figure out why the US has orders of magnitude more of these shooting sprees than countries with similar levels of gun ownership (such as Canada) and fix the societal problems at their root.

Similarly with the SHM concert: we need to fix our own society so that nobody thinks it’s acceptable to get hopped off your face on drink or drugs and then bring a knife to a concert.

Airport security doesn’t make us safer on airplanes; locked cockpit doors and passengers who are prepared to fight back against hijackers make us safer on airplanes. More to the point, the sort of intelligence that detects terrorist plots before they come to fruition make us safer. Security theatre is designed to make us feel safer, but actually only makes us more afraid.