Aurora, Colorado Theater Massacre

[ainsoph9]

Some of you may have heard of the massacre that happened on Friday. First and foremost, I wish to express my sympathies for the families of the victims as well as the victims themselves. Secondly, for those of you who have not heard anything about this massacre, I have links to various news sites, national and international, conservative and liberal, below. Reading some of the comments is very telling, if not disturbing, of people's mindsets on some of the sites.

N.Y. Times

USA Today

The Jerusalem Post

Fox News

CNN

The Huffington Post

Obviously, such a tragedy brings to mind multiple issues and much pain and sorrow. As such, I politely request that all comments be kept respectful and civil. For the sake of discussion, I wish to bring up some issues that immediately come to my mind. While I realize that such discussion may be somewhat premature, I feel that something will be lost if it is not discussed.

1. Mr. Holmes apparently came from a "nice" family and had a "decent" background until recently. What changed or happened to make him premeditate this senseless killing? Should any profiling (i.e., sex, race, religion, etc.) information be used against or for Mr. Holmes during the investigation by the authorities or media?
2. The issue of how he got the weapons and training to use these weapons and create bombs still has yet to come to light. Where did this all come from?
3. A related issue: many are bringing up gun control in political circles. Is this "appropriate" to discuss in this situation? If so, how should the discussion proceed? What should be discussed?
4. Likewise, political leaders and presidential candidates are making statements about this event. For example, Obama and Romney have stopped campaigning in Colorado. What should politicians do, if anything?
5. How do we alleviate the suffering of the victims and their families in the short term? How about the long term?
6. What is our responsibility as a nation? How about globally?
7. Media-wise, what is a responsible way to approach such a tragedy? Should the media cover it non-stop? Should other events be ignored as a result?
8. How should the public respond to the media coverage?
9. Many are bringing up the Columbine High School massacre, which occurred not far from this shooting. Is this relevant? Is it appropriate? Should something be done about it?
10. Why is it that the American media is covering this so heavily when other similar tragedies are ignored? (i.e., the killing of 5 Israeli Jewish tourists in Bulgaria in a bus bombing about a week and a half ago)
11. How should authorities respond to this shooting?
12. How should the movie industry respond? Is the movie industry responsible at all? If so, how, and what should it do in response?
13. Should the movie be kept off-screen and out of theaters out of sensitivity for the victims and their families?
14. Does this have any implications against the movie or the movie industry?
15. What can people everywhere on all levels do to prevent such things from happening in the future?
16. Why did the anonymous informant not stop Mr. Holmes or notify the police earlier?
17. How did the informant know this information? For that matter, who was he/she?
18. Judicially speaking, how should this case be handled by the police and the courts?

[Mystes]

Let's try to answer:

1. Mr Holmes was either crazy or got a lot of pressure do to the complexity of his course.
2. I heard that he purchased over 6000 mags from the net and bought the guns in a nearby store. There's a serious problem on how is done the gun-selling.
3. Gun control could have avoided this, perhaps. You know, if my neighbor just happened to purchase 6000 mags, a shotgun and a rifle, I'd be pretty perplexed on his sanity.
4. Politicians can't do anything in the case of a massacre. Though the government could still send some help.
5. Short-term or long-term, it's hard to deal with this. At least, for god's sake, cover the medical fees. Or it'd be pretty insulting.
6. Hard to say.
7. Media needs to cover what's getting our attention. But CNN has the habit of reacting too much and Fox has the habit of drawing conclusions too early.
8. Not much to say.
9. Not relevant really. It does however remind us that tragedies could happen one after another.
10. Hum, not wanting to be offensive, but people don't care about Israeli Jewish tourists being killed or that Indonesian mobs shot many people in a Hong Kong travel bus? (I don't remember quite well how this happened or its exactitude, though I remember that this happened and was mentioned in a little square in my local newspaper)
11. Be sure it doesn't repeat again.
12. This is the work of a murderer. He could carry this in a McDonald's restaurant, but doesn't mean that we should secure all restaurants. I might sound insulting here, but it is something that can't really be easily prevented.
13. Both way could do, but we should rather concentrate on the fact that it was "in a movie theater" rather on "it was during this or that movie", personally, since it could happen for many other movies.
14. Not sure what you really mean here.
15. Make sure that you don't get a shotgun that easily.
16&17, I don't know what exactly happened here.
18. Look at your law chart and your Constitution.

[shichinanatsu]

Spoiler! :

1. sometimes, "insane" episodes just happen - similar with how "insane" people apparently experience momentary lucidity. given the amount and type of weaponry he had, its pretty unlikely though since most would argue premeditation. i'd leave profiling to american disciples of the social sciences though; apparently Columbine is no longer a one-off.

2. i read an editorial in my nation's local broadsheet this morn (approx 5h from post time.) about this.. picture an individual buying 5-10 bullets/shells every other day/weekly/monthly, or even during hunting season/s. count the days/weeks/months/years and presto, you have Rambo. Read: current gun control scenario

3. its always tricky discussing the "right to bear arms", and what exactly it entails. but here's a thought, the arms trade is an industry, therefore money's involved

4. which politicians? legislators, members of the executive, or the judiciary? that aside, i'd go back to gun control, the arms trade and constitutional rights.

5. there's no shortage of support groups in the US of A, as far as what the rest of the world sees in mass media. long term, when anyone and everyone can say with all conviction: "Rest in peace, for it shall never happen again."

6. america should be an example.

7. always the razor-high-wire act of middle ground. a blackout would espouse paranoia, blanket coverage would reek of sensationalism

8. levelly, using as much grey matter as they possibly could and currently possess. not just for themselves, but for their growing children, and the grandchildren they have yet to meet.

9. back to (1).

10. i'd keep shut on this one, i try to be verbally civil on the web..

11. by keeping to the letter of their mandate. nothing more, nothing less.

12. implied causality?? i'd correlate this, but not conclude causation..

13. within reason, maybe.. but still NO. otherwise we'd victimize the cast and crew, who probably were just making an honest living in good faith.

14. maybe, back to (12)

15. refer (1) through (6)

16. i'd leave this to the authorities to figure out..

17. back to (16)

18. on record, just like any other criminal case.. but i guess that's pretty much impossible given the emotionally-charged atmosphere. still, that's why we have the legal system.

[Khaleel]

Before reading my answers, please, read this

Spoiler! :

1.Came from a "nice" family is already a profile. I will not be surprise if police found conections or / and material related with this case. Interesting point is, both crimes occur almost in the same day. Both shooters can have some similarities, they can say their 'motivations' are differents, but, they really are? Attention to their "cause", whatever this may mean.
2. Weapons. Internet. Bullets. Internet.
3. I am sorry Aion, i am not American. I mean, here having a toy gun is a crime. Our problem is with illegal arms caming for other countries (And drugs). 'Right to bear arms' is not frequent discussion in this cases. (See the first url)
4. Back to 3.
5. When you lost someone, little can be done. Arrest this guy in a cell for the rest of his pathetic and miserable life?
6. Unfortunately, it's a internacional problem. We are living in hard days. Crazy guys with guns and "ideologic ideas" suffering with attention need problems are anywhere.(Sorry, i don't how answer that question rightly, i presume there is not a '100% correct answer' like many questions here.)
7. Again. VERY HARD to say. Similar to shichinanatsu.
8. The public never react in a homogeneous way.
9. Again. Internacional problem. But, i think there more similarites to: Virginia Tech, Oslo and Realengo...Different countries, cultures and 'motivations'. Same problem.
10. I think if you read a bulgarian online nespaper, this is what is on the first page.
11. Improve the securites on cinemas.
12.
13. Same as Kira.
14. What the hell, Aion? D8
15. ...
16&17 There was an anonymous informant who knew the guy had explosives inside the house and poking 600+ bullets?
18. Treating such crimes as normal ... is unacceptable.

[Reader]

1. Hormones, stress. Most people who suffer from psychological disorders do so because of a "bad" background. Some, however, are simply born with a disposition, leading to a disorder waiting for the right stressor. Apparently, he quit attending his lectures before the massacre and was a loner. I guess that might be signs of such "devolvement". Though experts on the field will probably not be able to agree on a single theory, it's just such a complicated matter.
2. Went into a gun store, bought the weapons. Probably learned how to build the bombs from books, or possibly the internet.
3. I always get annoyed when politicians bring up video games after such a massacre. As far as events in the US are concerned, however, I do believe that discussions about gun control are absolutely necessery. Not because of the massacre, but in general. The problem is that the election is rather close and many Americans see the right to "keep and bear arms" as a fundamental one. This, in my opinion, is an absurd ideal left over from the frontier days. I'm not saying all guns should be banned. I'm saying that they should be much, much harder to get.
4. Try to enforce better gun control. Like that's going to happen. Show their sympathy towards the victims and their families. Not much more to be done, especially if you want to be re-elected. I am glad that Obama and Romney are not directly abusing this massacre for their campaigns, ceasing to campaign in Colorado was a good gesture on that end.
5. There's not really much to be done. Counseling. Support for those whose livlihood as been threatened. They lost love ones. It's hard for anyone to make that better.
6. As a nation, try to make it harder for people to access such weapons. Globally I have no idea, considering that American gunmen seldom go on rampages abroad.
7. It should not be covered non-stop and other events should not be ignored. Attention should be given to the victims rather than the shooter.
8. I suppose they should avoid reading overly much about it and to avoid paranoia.
9. I do not think that there is a connection between the shootings.
10. Because the bombing happened in Bulgaria.
11. The shooter's been aprehended.
12. It is not repsonsible. The movie does not generally call upon people to harm others.
13. No.
14. No.
15. Watch out for the early signs, make it more difficult to get guns (I'm repeating myself, aren't I?).
16. I had not heard of this.
17. No idea.
18. Try to keep the media coverage from being to intense. No death penalty.