78 responses to “James Eagan Holmes: No Warning Signs? Bullshit.”

1. Since the “gunman” referred to the possibility of explosives, how can anyone blame guns? This individual would have accomplished his horrible act without guns.

2. way to make this about guns. I am not a member of the NRA, I don’t even own a gun but this is about mental health. It is pretty sad you are ready to blame the NRA or someone else when it really comes down to the shooter. Maybe if someone there was carrying a pistol we would have a hero rather than a tragedy. Look at the Ft Hood shooting, it is being blamed on being too “PC” and not wanting to investigate the man because he was Musilm. Everyone wants to stick their head in the sand and never take responsibility. Why, cause it is easier to ignore and look past the issue rather then doing something about it. It is the way America is, blame someone else and pass the buck. It is sad but it is what the locust generation of the 60’s have taught us. Consume everything, destroy it and then leave the mess for Gen X. Now your kids are shooting kids up movie theaters, malls, etc. We have been cleaning up the crap for years, it is just something else we will take care of for you.

3. People are taking the mother’s comment out of context. When asked over the phone by CBS Action news if she was the mother of James Holmes, who lives in Aurora, CO, she said, “You’ve got the right person”. She then went on to say that she knew nothing about the event, and was in a panic needing to call the police to find out. Its amazing how taking a simple quote out of context is placing a completely different spin on a simple statement.

4. So, the Constitution be damned becuase a nut chose to use his rights to facilitate an insane, reprehensible and illegal act? Your knee jerk reaction is EXACTLY what one would expect from the bleeding heart.

5. Yet, 70+ people died in Norway, there was a gun-related massacre in Canada recently, both with strict gun laws. The Aurora incident is not about gun laws.

6. A nut is nut is a nut. People who own guns are not generally crazy as you imply. Mental health issues are difficult for society to handle..

7. Lady, I think you sound like a nutcase yourself. Gun laws dont stop criminals, they only stop law abiding people who obey them. Look how well gun control has turned out for mexico.

9. YOU CANNOT STOP CRIMINALS FROM GETTING GUNS. YOU CANNOT STOP THE INSANE FROM ACTING INSANE. TAKING AWAY OUR GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO DEFEND OUR FAMILIES AND OUR HOMES WILLNOT STOP THIS KIND OF ACT. I WOULD POSIT THAT AN UNARMED PUBLIC WOULD ONLY INCREASE VIOLENCE AGAINST THE INNOCENT.

10. Ms Drake: do you enjoy having a left wing pinhole view of the world?
    Remember, liberals have mental health problems too.

11. Mr. Holmes has mental issues take his guns away and he could have used bombs or knives to kill. Guns did not kill those people in colorado. A sadistic, mentally disturbed person did. Dont take this tradegy and turn it political! If you take the guns from American you do create something. You create North Korea and the old Soviet Union.

12. WOW! I figured this post would generate a response from people who love the NRA Kool-Aid, but y’all have surprised me.

13. First of all my prayers and sympathy go out to EVERY SINGLE FRIEND AND FAMILY MEMBER OF THE VICTIMS of this horrible tradgedy…..now I am a 10 year veteran of the Marine Corps as well as an Iraq veteran and I am here to tell you all that I have a collection of firearms as well as military items that I collect and I am a gun sportsman and I have been responsibly raised in the saftey and sport of firearm use and hunting and whoever said that anyone with a house full of guns needs to be worried you are obviously uneducated in this issue….I am not crazy or brutal or some war monger hoping for a robber to cross my path. We do need stricter gun laws but I am here to say that if Guns are outlawed then ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE GUNS! Gun safetly and mature people need to teach and be taught instead of being ignored and taught that guns are bad! I think its way too easy to aquire a gun but if you have ANY sense at all then you need to realize that there is more to these types of issues than whatever you read and decide automatically that you are a self declared expert on the topic. If people in that theater had a legal handgun and a permit to carry and conceal as well as the necessary education then I gauruntee that man would have been shot dead in self defense by someone or even by a few. Everyone has a right to bear arms as well as a right to defend themselves but once again I say IF GUNS ARE OUTLAWED THEN ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE GUNS AND THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY UNDENIEABLE FACT! If I think the man responsible for this should be given the death penalty hands down and don’t anyone dare say oh poor him….if there is abuse in his background and mental issues it should have been doccumented in the database prohibiting gun purchase…but guess what ….our government says no because its a private medical issue so blame the screwed up system as well….not the 2nd ammendment! If anyone would like to maturely have an adult discussion with me please feel free to email me at pittsburghbb@gmail.com

14. I can’t say that I agree with a lot of your very overarching generalizations. While I agree that mos people don’t need an “arsenal” I totally disagree with blaming it on NRA or anyone group of people. It’s the sad act of one sick person who is extremely disconnected from reality and disconnected from his heart

15. your argument is just stupid. if you think guns are to blame for this then you are an ignorant moron. do you really think a law is going to prevent a psychopath from obtaining a gun illegally and committing a massacre? there is a law against murder isn’t there? do you really think that law prevents people from killing? no. why don’t you use your brain before you spend your time writing an ignorant article with an implausible argument.

16. You are an idiot. We clearly need to ban movie theaters.

17. You are completely oput of touch with reality and no knowledge of history or the foundation of this country, the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness does not come from a gunless society, just ask the germans when hitler banned them, or the chinese when mao banned them or the russians when stalin banned them. The rights you mentioned are guarenteed because of the guns. If guns kill people then spoons make people fat so let’s ban spoons, cars kill people too, need to get rid of them as well. Wake the hell up…people kill people and will continue to do whether there are guns or not! It is a tragedy this happened and people such as yourself should be ashamed of using these senseless deaths to promote your commie bullshit!

18. You’re stupid. I don’t own a gun but that doesn’t mean I believe people shouldn’t have a right to bear arms. Saying that people shouldn’t have the right to bear arms because some psycho shoots people in movie theater is retarded. Besides do you really think that would stop people like James from killing the innocent?? I don’t think so.

19. I’m an idiot with a 165 IQ, MBA, and law degree ~ passed the bar in two states.

    It offends me greatly that none of y’all have a drop of compassion for the dozens of people who got shot or the families who love them. They went to the movies to have fun ~ not to die.

20. The Declaration of Independence was written on my family’s paper, Kevin. There’s a square in Philadelphia named for my ancestors.

    Sir Francis Drake defeated the Spanish Amrmada. Our ancestors were standard bearers in Julius Caesar’s army.

    History is in my genes. I am deeply disappointed that compassion for the loss of loved ones isn’t part of your own DNA.

21. I bet Dr. Petit in CT wishes he had an arsenal of guns when those two mutants on death row entered his home and raped and burned his little girls and killed his wife. People kill people. The weapons they use are incidental. I’ve been mugged twice and have witnessed a horrific murder on the streets of Astoria, NY (the weapon was a butcher knife, btw). My elderly aunt was raped by an intruder in her NYC appartment. With the pill epidemic, pharmacists getting murdered by drug addicts for opiates, etc., I think EVERYONE should have a gun. The cities/countries with the most legal private gun ownership have the lowest crime, i.e. Switzerland, etc.

22. If everyone in the theater was armed the guy would have gotten five feet before someone shot him and ended it. Just another excuse for liberals to blame guns. So predictable… Your freedom and right to be this ignorant was won by using a gun. All you do when you outlaw guns is have an unarmedpublicmagainst armed aggressors.

23. I’ll wait for someone to explain why my state (VT) consistently gets highly ranked for safety, yet has the second least restrictive gun laws in the country. No Concealed Carry permits are issued here – everyone gets that right when they get a driver’s license.

24. My heart is breaking apart after reading
    the story about Jessica Ghawi, and how she mentioned just how blessed she was to survive the previous incident, and then this. Cannot imagine the pain that family must be facing. You know the feeling of being so relived that your are safe, and only have to turn around again and accept the loss. I guess if its easy blame whomever you wish, but the truth is our nation all in all is growing farther and farther away from the very priciples that she founded on and with that comes punishment. This same type example was set bf us back in Roman times and look what happen to their empire. We need to get God back into our nation and I promise then WE will have no need to blame anyone.

25. Anne, also you should prove you’re not an idiot by you words. Listing your IQ and degrees means nothing. I too am a lawyer and I see a lot of stupid people with degrees in court every day. Hell some wear lack robes and sit on a bench.

26. Child abuse? He’s a member of an entire abused generation, of course he was an abused child. He drank the Kool AId. He worked his ass off. He did was he was told, and it was nowhere near easy. He was on his way to his PHd in Neuroscience. And he knew he was preparing himself for a world that had no place for him. Why don’t we literally strap young people to a cart, bleed them directly with tubes, and inject their lifeblood into old farts screaming “DON”T TOUCH MY SS AND MEDICARE BENEFITS, THE FUTURE BE DAMNED.” What species does this to their young? I’m only surprised that there isn’t a lot more of this going on every day. Guaranteed, it is going to become the new norm. We don’t get to by totally dysfunctional for decades and not have the wheels fall off. Well, this is what the wheels falling off looks like. It starts with the least connected, least hooked up among us saying F this.

27. Dan O, I’m sure there were plenty of guns in that theater. Several of the victims were military personnel.

    Yes, I know there are idiots on the bench. If you had checked out this site, you would know that one of them ~ a supreme court judge ~ pointed a loaded gun at me and threatened to kill me. This issue is deeply personal to me.

    Where’s your compassion? Where’s your empathy? The lives of hundreds of people were shattered today. I’m disappointed that you obviously don’t care about their welfare.

28. Anne – you can’t be serious. Do you honestly believe military personnel can just walk around armed in every state?

29. You have proven that you are an egotistical narcissist — wielding your IQ around like it has some correlation with success in the real world. With such a high IQ you must be aware that the only thing it proves is your success at taking IQ tests. Nice job. I lost a family member to a gun related violent crime. The gun means nothing. I blame complacency as a result of a society that promises absolute security. Guns or no guns, security is an illusion.

30. what about that fucking psycho doctor that was reusing syringes that he washed off??? death by doctors happens way more than death by guns..

31. His so-called mother should have opened her damn mouth and called the Polcie when he was acting suspicious. Or she should not have opened her legs atleast to puke this piece of shit. Not even the devil shoots a baby point-blank.

32. First of all, my condolences to the victims and families of this horrible tragedy. Second, arguing that guns are the problem here is just wrong. Banning guns more than likely wouldn’t have stopped this horrible event and does nothing to protect the law abiding citizen. Do you think criminals care whether they’re breaking the law? The answer is no. People have the right to defend themselves against deranged maniacs like James Holmes. It’s too bad Holmes didn’t find himself face to face with lethal force. Unfortunately, we can’t safe proof the world against the criminal and the insane, but we can try to protect ourselves from threats like this by exercising our second amendment right to bear arms.

33. You can’t blame this act on the NRA. It is not the weapon that is unsafe. Small arms are a part of history. We use them to hunt and protect our homes from crazy people like the nut bag that shot up the theater. People have arsenals because people like you bitch and moan and cause politicians to tax the hell out of ammo.

34. A typical liberal response. “I care more than you.” “I’m smarter than you.” “You’re all supposed to agree with me.” Waaaaa!!!! How is it that the media is full of clueless windbags that ignore facts and reality?

    If this country was about taking personal responsibility, there would have been plenty of people that would have stopped this lunatic within seconds of his insane assault on the innocent, but instead we want somebody else to protect us.

    Look at Switzerland and see the high gun ownership percentages, and the low criminal shooting rates. That’s because EVERY PERSON is trained to handle a gun as a youth. Our liberty DEPENDS on our checking the control of the government’s power over the people.

    That’s why we have the right to bear arms. And that SUPERSEDES the unfortunate incidents that will happen when someone uses a gun improperly to hurt others. My heart goes out to all those people that are left to pick up the pieces, and I am too stinking mad to tell you my thoughts on this coward whose smug photo is now all over the internet, and who is left alive.

    I pray to God that people wake up, and stop this political correct BS, and start taking back what they’ve already given the government. Standing up for what is right yourself, and insisting it in others is the only way we will return to be the best country in the world again.

35. This is the most priceless award winning blog I have ever come across…..Not Mz Drake’s words but the responses! Kudos for giving it to her. She’s a space cadet. With people who have her thinking it makes me wonder…..What if someone came up to her with a gun to her head. A person comes upon this happening and has a gun. Would she tell the one who can save her life to shoot the guy who has the gun to her head or would she tell him not to because she wants to sacrafice her life?My guess is she would scream like a little girl and say SAVE ME! SAVE ME!

36. Anne, cocaine is illegal to possess, yet many in EVERY city sell, purchase and use it. Even if you got your libtard wish to BAN all guns, only criminals and law enforcement will possess them. Look at Chicago or DC. No guns and free of gun crime eh?? You live in capsule and are an idiot. What do you think the IQ is of the neuroscience student James Holmes was. Intelligence Quotient has nothing to do with it. You may be 165, but lack a whole hell of a lot of common sense.

37. MJ, I am sorry for your loss. I too blame complacency ~ people who should have known this guy was spiraling out of control and did nothing.

    I am passionate about this issue because a very high-ranking judge pointed a loaded gun at me and told me he could kill me and get away with it. He wasn’t kidding around. You don’t have to tell me that security is an illusion. I am well aware.

    This post has generated a whole lot of traffic and comments. It pains me that so few people care that 71 people got shot and 12 people are dead. That’s almost 1/3 of the people who went to see that movie. You can’t tell me that nobody in that theater wasn’t carrying a concealed weapon ~ it happened in Colorado ~ there were members of the military in the audience.

    Yet, I’m fairly certain that nobody who had a gun probably had an opportunity to use it to defend anyone and/or were concerned they’d shoot an innocent person in the darkness of the theater. This is just such an evil act that I think lobbying for guns is horrendously inappropriate.

    When people who don’t know me attempt to assail my integrity, intellect, or character, I know it is more a reflection of who they are than who I am. When they attempt to blast me , they reveal themselves.

38. I am overweight. It is my fork’s fault.

39. You are right – his mother should be arrested for treating this as a matter-of-fact. When good people do nothing about danger, they are part of the crime too – esp the criminal. I hear children being raped brutally and the idiotic neighbours hearing the screams and NOT calling 911. This James’ mother is one such case. He needs to be shot dead asap. Period.

40. Actually, Kitty, someone did threaten to kill me with a loaded gun. I looked him straight in the eye and calmly told him that he didn’t have the balls to pull the trigger. He didn’t. When he went to work the next day, I hid his damned arsenal of guns in the linen closet because I knew he was too lazy to try to find them. He was pretty pissed, but I was safe.

    I want to thank all the NRA Kool-Aid drinkers for the tremendous spike in my stats. The only thing that upsets me about your comments is that very few of you have a drop of empathy for the 71 victims and their families. Shame on you.

    So, “meow” to you, Kitty, Kitty.

41. Those members of the military in the theater were not only not on duty, they were on private property that has a policy forbidding concealed carrying of weapons. That effectively makes the theater and its owners responsible for the safety of all their patrons. If you believe every E-2 Air Force supply clerk is somehow granted special ninja powers when they join the armed forces, and can carry concealed in every establishment in every state, you’re sorely mistaken.

42. In response to your reply, I do have compassion for the people whose lives were shattered and I pray for them. It does not give me a right to blast gun owners and remove all of the guns. Your IQ and family history mean nothing to me, most people with high IQ’s don’t have a lick of common sense to them, you have displayed yours. Just because I defend my right to own a gun, carry a gun, and am the only one responsible for my and my families safety and protection does not mean I don’t have compassion for the families that suffered losses. All you have displayed is a chart about homicides in general and used it to attack gun ownership. Tyranny starts with the removal of guns from society, given your family history, you of all people should be beholden to the right of gun ownership. The police are unable to provide me with protection, all they can do is show up after and clean up like they did today. I don’t have the facts, but from what I understand is that movie theatre does not allow guns from legal conceal and carry holders, had they allowed it that psycho would not have been able to get a 2nd or 3rd shot off. I carry my gun with the sole purpose of protection for my family and self, I do not want to shoot a person but I am prepared to do so should the situation warrant it. You want to take all guns away and leave everyone defensless because of a psycho who killed people. Like I said earlier, why don’t we take everything away that could harm people, I can kill someone with a pen or pencil should we take that away too?

43. I’m a Brit living in the USA, yes Britain has crime but we don’t have MASS shootings of this nature. It has to stop now, it’s disgusting that obtaining a gun here is so easy and this seems to happen all too often! The laws have to change if we value human life over whatever else owning a gun may bring like the killing of animals for sport? Come on, it’s all barbaric and has to stop, period……… What’s next? Mass shootings at doctors appointments, our backyards, where the f..ck is safe to take our kids who are our future? So f..ing angry this has happened and pray hard for those killed, those wounded, those traumatized, the family of the killer and the killer himself, somebody has failed him somewhere but also, the law to obtain a gun has failed him……..

44. A bit late, but were you referring to Francis Drake the pirate and one of the early founders of the slave trade in the Americas? The same one who got his ass handed to him by the Spanish at El Morro?

45. Most Americans have tremendous empathy for the 70 people and their families devastated by this human tragedy. Do you shed any tears for the 30 million children murdered since Roe v Wade in America? Do you have empathy for the friends and family of the 70 million murdered by the communism that you embrace? Carol you are blessed with intelligence and the tenacity to complete two rigorous professional programs.
    In law school, if not before, you turned to the psychosis of socialism and Mr. Holmes turned to the sickness of homicide. Neuro Physiology/Anatomy coupled with the demands of learning about mental disorders took a heavy toll on the perp. He is institutionalized while you roam free, spreading attacks on natural needs for self preservation in a very dangerous world.

    I invite you to take a course at “frontsight” and continue your education.

    Remember who gains advantage from the Dark Knight in Aurora? Clinton had Waco and OKC, Bush had 9/11 and Obama has “Batman.” If James Eagen Holmes is guilty of mass murder, I want a public execution on ESPN/Pay per View.

46. To top all of this off, our 4th ammendment rights are now being violated, police are now illegally searching people before entering a movie theatre. I suppose you are in favor of this as well?

47. Anne, you seem to be making compassion for families mutually exclusive with the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Hating guns and the people that have them doesn’t make you more compassionate towards people who have suffered a loss. Neither does loving and owning firearms make you less compassionate toward people who have suffered a loss as the result of a violent act. I, personally, own some twenty firearms collected over many years, some of which I have never fired, most of which are in a collection because I love the history behind them. I hunt with about two of them. I target shoot with a couple of others. I’ve never shot anyone with one, never pointed one at a person, never threatened anyone with a firearm. And yet, I have compassion for the loss of these families. I’m deeply troubled by this, and it makes me sick to think what these people are going through. But I have a different take than you do. Had a few more people taken some NRA training and had just one carried a concealed weapon, how many lives might have been saved?

48. Everyone, you simply must agree with Anne or you ARE an NRA Kool-Aid drinker. Period. Oh, and because many of you have responded with indignation to her post instead of “compassion” for the victims, it means, as a matter of FACT, that you lack even an ounce of sympathy, and it does NOT mean that you are horrified and saddened by the terror perpetrated and that you are outraged that we live in a society that makes it increasingly difficult for ordinary folks to protect themselves.

49. “An arsenal of guns by definition is one hell of a warning sign that somebody has serious mental health issues.” “…nobody who knew James Eagan Holmes reported his bizarre behavior or cared enough to recognize the warning signs. There are always warning signs, but these tragedies happen because good people do nothing.”

    Okay. This judge that pulled a gun on you – I take it you were in a relationship with him? You refer to his arsenal – did you just hide it in the closet or did you report “his bizarre behavior?” Look, your poor choices in life and sick, twisted relationships have nothing to do with the NRA. Your comments are not about compassion for the people in Colorado. They have to do with your own guilt about seeing the warning signs back then doing nothing.

50. Sounds like your drinking your own “Kool- Aid.” This is pathetic, another person is really going to cry conspiracy over such a tragic misfortune. This has absolutley nothing to do with our gun laws. If the laws were more strict as you wanted, people would find ways to get their hands on guns just like they do drugs!

51. Ordinary citizens do not have any reasonable need for a semiautomatic weapon with a clip that holds upward of 30 rounds.

    Those who contend otherwise are just loony!

52. Guns don’t kill people; people with guns kill people!

53. Hear ! Hear, here. Hear this say’s eye ! You who have the capacity to monitor and track my g-d grocery shopping habits step by step, (“don’t really care for music, anyhow. Do you?”) Leonard Cohen. He purchased 6000 rounds of ammunition. If I purchased 6000 loaves of bread, I bet sum won of the municipitys would be thinking I must have a super large capacity sized freezer or be involved in providing foreign aide to ( What’s foreign about providing aide, is beyond me.) More than that, we need to revamp the educational requirements of our “Night Watchmen”, so to speak. At least enough to meet if not to exceed these 24 year old phd psyco’s who have ‘know stake’ in our communitys , other than that in which they endeavor to grind.

54. You are just blaming others for lack of compassion etc. without even a point – he was a mental that went on a rampage. There should be some way of finding out if a person own so much weaponry, yes, but you can’t blame all as deranged.

55. Anne, your post is full of logical fallacies and emotional appeals. I don’t find it appropriate. It’s too soon for you to use this for a political agenda.

    If you are trying to play chess with your pet issues here, you should consider not making the first move – you haven’t retained any moral high ground here, quite the opposite.

    IQ 165? LOL, very persuasive. You should always cite that when you’re trying to make an argument.

    Maybe you need to go read about the Dunning Krueger effect if you rate your competence at discourse and persuasion high.

    Strong fail.

56. If the NRA is not in support of allowing unlimited access to an arsenal by every citizen then it’s time for them to come tio the fore and help address this problem. As the experts on firearms it is incumbent upon them to offer some workable solutions to help solve the problem.

    My second point is that our mental health system is disfunctional and unable to protect the citizenery from patients suffering from dillusions of persecution or grandeur. The law says that a person cannot be committed until they actually demonstrate that they are a danger to self or others. All too often, the first incident is a well planned mass murder.

    Therefore it is incumbent upon the government to rebuild the mental health situation.

57. My post must have hit one hell of a nerve for y’all to spew such vitriol. There wasn’t one clever or original remark in the whole NRA lot.

    Thank you to the few brave souls of the thousands who read this post today for expressing your humanity and compassion.

    71 people were shot today. 12 people died. I would hope this would inspire y’all to lay down your arms for just one day to express sympathy for the lives that were destroyed by the insane act of a gunman. But, y’all must have been absent for the “thou shalt not kill” and commandment for us to love one another lessons.

58. You started this whole argument against the NRA and people who own firearms. YOU are the one that shows no compassion for the dead and wounded and their families. So stop using your stupid IQ bullshit and trying to say that others show no compassion when you are the one that brought up this fight. I can’t even believe that you would take this atrocity and turn it into a fight against the second amendment. Fuck you and your so-called “sympathy.”

59. wow. talk about a total FEAR MONGERING article. IF we all had guns, guess what? A gunman wouldn’t dare shoot up any place knowingly that they would have 100 people shooting back at him. Only takes one gun, one bullet to take out a madman. Wake the fuck up and get yourself a gun, protect you and your family.

60. First, let me convey my sorrow to the Colorado families whose lives are forever changed. My heart aches for you and yours. I pray that God will give you the strength to work through your grief. May you find the peace you need to survive, so that some day you are able to move through the devastation.

    Kudos to you, Wylie-Jack Brand for saying what 99 % of the bloggers were thinking. It is Ms Drake who drew first blood, and tried to use this senseless tragedy to promote her own auto-biography. Shame on her, and her dysfunctional life. I hope Ms Drake will review this emotional dialogue and realize that she, too, has mental health issues which need addressing… soon.

61. Prayers to all the victims and their families. This is not a gun control issue. Look at mexico. no guns allowed and so out of control and violent teachers are afraid to go to school becasue they are getting kinapped and shot for ransom. Gun ownership is a right. Maybe tracking of extreme gun purchases and ammunition purchases may help. I want my guns ( handguns) and I want a box of ammunition for each gun. But I don’t need 6000 rounds and a gas mask and smoke bomb cannisters. Do I need an ar15, nope I do not. But you can believe if I was in that movie theater I would have played dead and hoped to have gotten a few rounds off in his crotch, femoral artery area ( probably only safe place to shoot, close range without hurting bystanders) where I live two thugs pulled a gun on an off duty coast guard in a movietheater parking lot. Coastie 1, armed robber -0 That’s why we should have the right to bear arms.

62. Its not the weapon killing its the person holding it. If you attempt to ban the weapons it would create even more people trying to get them. Look at everything that is illegal then go check police reports and all the ppl arrested for possession. My heart hurts for all the victims families involved in these tragic acts of hate and violence. I pray justice is served in the courts and the coward behind the gun (operating it) gets what he deserves to the highest degree. A gun owner shouldn’t be labled a murderer. Thats like saying a person who owns a knife is a slasher, flash drive a hacker, etc. Had someone been carrying their gun and used it for what its rightfully meant for (in most cases protection) alot more ppl would’ve walked out of theatre 9.

63. I totally agree with eileen jackson, what the real problem is , is the lack of funding for mental health programs and access to them. Mix in a little meth and designer drugs, chinese bath salts and synthetic marijuana and you’ve got a recipe for murder and mayhem. In Miami we had a guy strip naked and bite a man’s face off, eyes and all until the police shot him. death by cannalbalism? And more women are killed at the hands ( literally strangled with the hands of the suspect) Ft lauderdale there was a women just recently that had gasoline thrown on her and her husband than threw a lit match and set her on fire. Mentally ill abusive people will hurt you no matter what their weopon of choice is. More women are killed by husbands, baby daddy’s and ex paramours than strangers. Do we outlaw husbands because they are the most likey to kill a women within child bearing age? I agree there were probably signs oif a mental breakdown in the suspect before he went on this rampage but without easy free or affordable mental health services what can be done?

64. An arsenal is needed to protect the right to life, liberty, and happiness from the likes of this blog’s owner, which is why the Founders put the following Amendment in the Bill of Rights: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

65. Wow, i hadn’t even read the comments before stating my own personal opinion. To see your reply to each comment by saying we have no sympathy is pathetic. For such an “intellectual” person you would think you would have a common sense arguement. I don’t own a gun, i don’t follow the nra but i do believe in self defense and the right to do so. Im not even political but even i can tell your own arguement is liberal fueled and lacks sympathy for what you claim to be the reason for this blog. Shame on you you. The comments of most other individuals however sound alot more educated and EMPATHETIC than your ver

66. You’re an idiot. Do you not realize that if we take gun ownership away from law abiding citizens we are only allowing bad guys and government to have guns? If everybody thinks that everybody is carrying people will be less apt to do stupid things like james holmes did. Wake up from your rhetoric. Get real. Grow up. And stop writing such stupid article. By the way I am a huge gun advocate, can you have completely insulted me with this article.

67. Why didn’t someone in the crowed drawn their concealed weapon and shoot back at the killer?

    Oh. That’s right. Cinemark has BANNED GUNS from their theaters! It’s sort of hard to defend yourself when the movie theater insists that only the bad guys have guns! I’m sure Cinemark is stunned that the killer didn’t follow the rules. Imagine that! I guess they’ll have to ban him from the theater for failing to obey that rule!

    For those with minds who can think: The world is a dangeorus place, made more so by companies like Cinemark who insist that any advantage in weaponry goes to the bad guy.

    Boycott Cinemark until they change their policies on the lawfult carry of firearms!

68. has anyone else noticed that he bought a ticket, went out an EMERGENCY exit, left it ajar and returned with his arsenal? where were the alarms sounding when he exited out the emergency door? usually that’s what’s supposed to happen isn’t it?
    reading this blog has been extremely educational for me. i am not a gun owner, i’m not an NRA follower…i’m a writer and a debater…and you, my dear, have completely lost your case. you have relied on your own emotional experiences to argue for you, but that backfired. you proved you are too emotionally involved in your opinion to ban guns. Everyone that has posted has not gotten emotionally involved in their opinions, clearly stated the facts and quite well actually. you turned into a mean school girl by saying “you’re mean and dumb and i’m smarter than you!”. you sound ridiculous. A lot of the posters have stated they are sympathetic to the victims and their families, yet you choose not to address that because then you will look dumb. first point in an argumentative rebuttal is to actually mention their rebuttal and argue against it. not keep repeating your own statements. that never wins an argument. as for my own personal opinion…this crime was pulled off by an insane yet extremely intelligent individual who’s weeks of planning were counting on being the only person in that theater with weapons or at least with the biggest ones. hence the bulletproof vest. he wanted to live. he wasn’t a columbine kid that knew he would live with remorse so chose to kill himself. he wanted and totally planned on living and breathing after he knew he had killed all of these people. he could have planned a better getaway. he was much smarter than that. but instead he chose to basically give up and live every day in prison thinking about what he did. what happens to a person to feel that way? i’ve been abused. i had a horrible childhood. i don’t feel that way. so what then? these people were defenseless. plain and simple and the truth. would having guns inside the theater been a good idea? not really sure that would be my top place to carry a gun if i owned one, but okay…true. in asking my friend that DOES carry and owns a carry and conceal permit…he would and does take one to the theater because he feels the dark inside the theater might persuade a criminal to feel safe to commit his crimes. whether it be a robber or a molester trying to grope your daughter…and yes, a good marksman might have been able to get a round off to a vulnerable area. but this guy was prepared. i dont’ think it would have been that easy to get him on the ground. the point i’m making is that we can approach this at every angle, it would have been hard to prevent. it happened in the matter of seconds, everyone was caught off guard, the smoke made it difficult to see or breathe, and he was well prepared and well armed. he came in to do damage and he wasn’t going to let anything prevent that. my only question was the alarm. my heart breaks when i think of the victims…the children…and their families getting that phonecall or watching the news after allowing their family member to watch the film with their friends. it’s not a time for you to say, i’m so sad for you…but if there hadn’t been any guns….or for anyone to say, if there had been guns…because we know that when we allow our children to go to the movies with their dates or their friends, we don’t say, sweetie, don’t forget mommy’s 9 mil on your way out. and Anne, that’s just heartless to keep bringing up your own political agenda. he was a criminal. he went to that theater to hurt people. if guns had been banned, he would have used his explosives to plant a bomb…and you and i both know that explosives can be made from household items. its on the news all the time. it would have happened. we can’t prevent everything. the only thing we can do is try. so the way you hid your judge’s guns, others try and arm themselves because they want to protect their families any way they can. you loved yourself enough to let survival kick in and hide the guns, regardless of his anger and the fear you had. this is their way of loving their families enough to protect them. and i’m sure you’ll come back with some witty remark about really, they need an automatic weapon to protect themselves?? well sometimes that may be the case. this guy was carrying an AR15 semi automatic weapon. and he was heavily protected. not to mention he had 2 glocks and a shotgun….shotgun alone can make a pretty big hole not to mention the type of ammo it had could have spread that damage far past the hole. so yes, in some cases an automatic is needed. you don’t take a knife to a gun fight. it is not a time for politics…of who is right and who is wrong. you would have won my respect if you would have just said you were grieving for those families. end of story.

69. While its a awful crime that happened and I am sure Im as angry and sad as you,You could not be more wrong….As 911 proved,all you need is a box cutter from any hardware store and the willingnesss to kill if your a nut job intent on killing a large anount of people..crimanals are smart,and some proof I can give you is inmates in prison making weapons out of toothbrushess,booze out of fruit and bread,making hotplates to warm their food in thier cells outta lightbalbs and foil..i could go on and on…my point is its not the guns that caused this,its the evil that men do.sadly theres not much we can do to protect us from sick madmen intent on killing us in places we should feel safe if they have any access to cars,gas,matches,lighters,household poisons,boxcutters and yes guns,but I feel safer having on of my own…and maybe,just maybe if one or more people were armed in that theather,maybe at least one of the victims would be alive today…i dout back in the days of the old west where most men wore guns on their hips would the death toll have been so high…just like drug addicts will allway be able to find illgal drugs a sicko who wants to kill will always be able to find or buy some kind of weapon whether they get it legally or not…..at least if we have the right to arm and protect ourselves we at last have a chance,or as a liberal would say,at least I FEEL safer….Brandon J.Yankowski…Chicago Il.and I dont own a gun,but I should be able to if I want to..ITS MY RIGHT in America,sadly,because of a few sick criminals,close minded biass librals,and clueless leftist democrates probley not for long

70. Rarely have I ever seen a more irrational, illogical debate. Ms. Drake, your logic is faulty at best. You do not know enough about this situation to insinuate fault on the part of anyone except the young man in custody. I am by no means a supporter of the NRA, but the fact that this young man went to the drastic measures of buying four guns in four different cities is further proof that if people want guns bad enough, they will find ways to circumvent the law to get them. You assume that anyone who doesn’t follow your irrational conclusions could not possibly have compassion for these victims. You have no basis whatsoever in that judgement. Writing like this is irresponsible and inflammatory, and is part of what’s wrong with this ill-informed, half-cocked nation today.
    As for the rest of you, most of you seem no more informed than Ms. Drake. Officials have purposely been tight-lipped about this case, and for good reason. Yet it’s obvious that in the lack of factual information, we just make some up. No one but the mother of this young man and the person who called her knows the context of her statement. Yet according to you all (including Ms. Drake), she obviously knew what he planned to do, there was child abuse involved, and somehow she should have had the pyschic ability to know that she would have a troubled child and should have refrained from “opening her legs” or “puking” him out. I have seen no reports that an infant was shot “point-blank.” It is unfortunate that an infant was injured, but who in their right mind would have expected 3 and 4 month old babies to be at a midnight showing of an action movie?? You insinuate some sort of wrongdoing in regards to the father being “escorted” from his home. That is a common practice when police want to question individuals. It’s obvious the family is upset by these events. Perhaps he needed to be escorted. This is why the justice system is flawed and guilty people walk away on technicalities, while innocent people sit on death row. We convict people in the court of public opinion based on limited and often unreliable information and the insane rantings of Nancy Grace, and there is no longer such a thing as a fair trial. This is a sad, tragic event, and many of us want to understand the who, what, why and how. In times such as these, it is easy to become blinded with passion and anger, but Ms. Drake, as you point out the shortcomings of the right to bear arms, you represent everything negative and dangerous about the right to free speech and freedom of the press.

71. So if YOU choose to abdicate responsibility for YOUR own safety, but not being armed, that’s fine – but how dare you advocate for disarming ME and other armed people, and prevent them from saving themselves (and tangentially, of course, from saving YOU), when senseless stuff like this happens?

72. The author of this article is obviously upset and not thinking clearly.

73. The killings really bother me.
    I’m also bothered by people that step on American rights. This country was built with guns. Has been held togather with guns. And will stand as long as people like you do not get your way.
    Criminal do not want us to have guns.

74. Yesterday would have been Alex Sullivan’s 27th birthday. It was the day he died. Sunday would have been his first wedding anniversary. His bride is now a widow.

    This post has been read by over 5,000 people, and it must have intimidated the hell out of the NRA. Wow! Y’all are crazy as hell.

75. well said during the bush era the law banning these assault weapons expired, the NRA and the republicans have blood on their hands. Good for you !

76. Melaie,

    Thank you for your comment. It is #75, and I think it is time to wrap it up. I am deeply grateful to you for your compassion for the families ~ especially the family of Alex Sullivan ~ which is what this post was all about ~ the families who are grieving.

    Sending hugs,
    Anne Caroline

77. Pingback: Aurora: Politicians Can’t Solve This One | The Socialist News·

78. I hope y’all take the time to read “Aurora: Politicians Can’t Solve This One.” It is excellent.

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