What makes a person do something like this

[hey_moe]

http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/07/20/14-killed-50-wounded-in-shooting-at-batman-movie/ I've talked about this before but killing groups of people is becoming a poplar thing in our country. To plan something like this and then execute it shows what is wrong with our laws. Why would somebody do this.

[SSI01]

My sixth sense is telling me there will be quite a bit more of this occurring in the not too distant future. Before I retired I and some others were looking at things just like this happening.

[arfyhun]

Quite simple. The loonatics are in charge of the asylum.....

[stansdds]

I think we are witnessing the breakdown of society, at least in the U.S. People here, middle aged and younger, tend to have a poor sense of morality and respect for others, poor work ethic and a sense of entitlement. They have spent their lives being exposed to immorality and violence through media and games. Two studies were recently published, the first indicated that children were adversely affected by viewing such things, the second indicated that girls as young as 6 years old are seeing themselves as sex objects. Society is decaying and the rate of decay is accelerating.

That's my opinion, I gave it free of charge so take it for what it's worth.

[papab]

I think we are witnessing the breakdown of society, at least in the U.S. People here, middle aged and younger, tend to have a poor sense of morality and respect for others, poor work ethic and a sense of entitlement. They have spent their lives being exposed to immorality and violence through media and games. Two studies were recently published, the first indicated that children were adversely affected by viewing such things, the second indicated that girls as young as 6 years old are seeing themselves as sex objects. Society is decaying and the rate of decay is accelerating.

That's my opinion, I gave it free of charge so take it for what it's worth.

Absolutely agree with you !
Rick

[boxcar]

.
.... Also agreeing with stansdds that we are in decline, much of the globe with us.
.... We planted the seeds of our own destruction years ago & are showing little remorse.

.... As arfyhun says: "loonatics are in charge of the asylum". Indeed... though the lunatics
.... really running the show are actually elitist people almost none of us know by name.

.

[Rami]

Hey_Moe and others,

Just remember, less than 1% of the people make 99% of the headlines. While I agree with the moral decay aspect of this argument, I can assert that the majority of kids I teach are decent, much like my generation or yours. The world has also changed...and each generation learns to cope and adapt in a different way than those before it.

"The breakdown of society" was likely a phrase also uttered by generations who witnessed student protests and violence over Vietnam, as well as the assassinations and racial tensions of the late 1960s.

This person who did this is undoubtedly mentally unbalanced, and was desperate for attention...something along the lines of any publicity is good publicity. Still, I agree that he should be held accountable for his actions, and mental disease should not be a consideration in his defense. He needs to be punished for this egregious and senseless act of violence.

[cheezyflier]

the guy was obviously insane. you can't blame the criminal justice system, or video games, or any of that other stuff. the man was batchit crazy, period, the end.

here in toronto thy are calling this "summer of the gun" almost 200 people victims of gun violence and it's only the 7th month this year, in a city where guns are near impossible to obtain legally. just 2 days ago, 20 people shot up at a bar-b-q here. just a month ago, 8 people shot up in the food court of the mall here in town. all of it related to jamaican and tamil gangs. with the carribean festival right around the corner, (a usual source of summer shootings) i suppose we can expect more people to be shot up.
these are the types of things i would attribute to a failure of criminal justice and police work, and a liberal gov't. the guy randomly shooting people in the theater is not the same thing. that guys just a crazy man.




This person who did this is undoubtedly mentally unbalanced, and was desperate for attention...something along the lines of any publicity is good publicity. Still, I agree that he should be held accountable for his actions, and mental disease should not be a consideration in his defense. He needs to be punished for this egregious and senseless act of violence.

i don't see how that makes any sense at all. the man obviously has no grip on reality but you want to treat him as if he is capable of having rational thought. someone like that needs to be separated from society because they're dangerous. but to punish someone for being crazy is crazy in itself.

[aircav1970]

I was just watching this story unfold on ABC News and they are reporting that this guy,a 24 year old named James Holmes was armed with 2 hand guns,a shotgun,a rifle and was wearing a bullet-proof vest along with a gas mask....I am curious....just how does someone get into a movie theatre with that kind of armament without being noticed? Last time I went to a theatre you couldn't bring in anything large enough to carry that kind of stuff....and how about the people sitting near him? No one noticed him "gearing up" for this?

A bit later this morning one of the media crews contacted the suspects mother in San Diego and after explaining who they were and why they called the first thing out of his mother's mouth was "You Have The Right Man"....says volumes about the suspects mental instabilities and prior concerns of his parents.It's a shame that something like this has to happen before anyone takes notice of someone like this.

[C2Aaircrew]

My understanding from news reports (witness accounts) this morning, is that he entered through an emergency exit. Starting with tear gas and then opening up on anyone who tried to leave. One witness stated that he walked up and shot a 3 month old child while in their mother's arms. Some of the rounds even went through the wall into one of the adjacent theaters. Several witnesses stated that at first they thought it was a publicity stunt as it happened during a scene when as the witnesses put it "the theater was actually rocking". But, this was obviously well thought out in advance. My prayers are for the families and swift justice.

Take care,
C2

[Daveroo]

my news show is saying this moring that someone got a "phone call" got up and popped the emergincy exit and left,then the door burst open and all hell broke loose........that was an account from a witness...but unconfirmed as yet

[Rami]

Hey guys,

A couple of things about this are really starting to disturb me.

1) Reports are coming in, and it seems that he had his hair and goatee painted red, declaring himself to be "The Joker." (I don't know if this will hold up, but it places the emphasis on him being deranged...)

2) It appears he gained entry to the theatre through the emergency exit, not the main entrance, therefore he was not noticed or screened. Either he was able to prop the door, or take advantage of some patrons using the doors as an exit to the parking lot.

It could also be something more nefarious....

3) I've heard varying reports (which are alluded to in this thread) that a patron in the theatre took a phone call, and instead of moving toward the main hallway, he moved toward or went into the emergency exit area. Though not definitive, this appears suspicious and suggests he may have had at least one accomplice.

It's moments like this that make me want to bring back the spectacle of public shame. We need to find the stocks, tar, feathers, and a good rope.

[Crusader]

From what I have read , Colorado reinstated the death penalty in 1975 . Yes , I know , he has not gone to trial yet , but if found guilty , they will drag his ass through the legal system for ten years until all of his appeals have been exhausted then execute him .Unfortunately none of us have the reasoning behind these sick bastards . Who knows . a whole lot of insanity and wanting national notoriety . It's anyone's guess !:mad:

Of coarse it will never happen but public hanging on National and world television probably would'nt even deter these sick dirt bags .:sniper:


Sorry , just venting my depression and anger over all of this .

Rich

[modelr]

I've been listening and reading about this, and the different ideas/guesses as to why he did this, and how he managed to do so much damage.

Think about this. There are more and more countries/states/cities banning guns, as well as public carry laws. And what have we seen?? More and more shootings, single, mass, etc. Why? Because ONLY the LAWLESS NOW HAVE GUNS!! "But what about the police??" Problem... This particular event was crawling with police!!! Didn't stop it. However, just one law-abiding citizen LEGALLY ARMED would have stopped this guy after his first or second shot!

We always hear about the old west, when it was legal for everyone to carry. In actuallity, those highly publicized "shoot 'em ups" were extremely rare, UNTIL the local sherriff, police chief, marshall, whatever, started making everyone leave their guns at home! Why? Because the bad guys KNEW no one was going to shoot back!! Same thing goes for today's society. In locals where the populace has won back their right to carry, gun violence has gone DOWN!, NOT up! Look it up. Common sense, people. And NO bleeding heart uses common sense, PERIOD.

Was this guy nuts? Some may say so. NOT ME. He planned this out, to the last 'nth. Anti-social, looking for fame in today's "shock and awe" culture, or something else in those lines? Your guess is as good as mine. But as mentioned, todays culture doesn't think twice about this. As Rami says, I believe it is only a small minority, but it is what's "pushed" by the entertainment media, which no longer has any morals, unlike thetimes when the older/middle aged ones among us were growing up. Movies and TV was high on societal mores, and we learned from them. Not any more. Now it's just the opposite. Respect for others is the biggest "no-way" now.

We get what we grow. If the weeds are allowed to grow in the garden, the good food suffers.

My opinion, given freely. Take it for what it's worth.

Don

[aeromed202]

I had started then abandoned several posts on this one not wanting to get booted. All I kept coming back to was how people like this arrive at this state and I seem to always wistfully wonder if the decay of the nuclear family contributed the most. I don't mean his particular situation exactly, but in general about these lost boys. I sort of think these types have always being generated but in years past would have been steered away from such violence and disaffected behavior by a parent that was in regular daily contact because that parent was a home maker. Now there's a phrase all but gone from todays lexicon. Just wondering.

[FAC257]

I actually typed out a complete thread and then deleted it several minutes ago. I'm trying to stick to my plan of completely avoiding threads like this but this particular subject bothers me. I have definte views on kids, guns, crimes and killings like these but I'll keep those close to the vest.

What did bring me back out of my topic avoidance hole is found in this photo:
69429

This was one of the photos you may have seen on the national news, during the Northern Illinois University shooting several years back. The young lady standing in front is my niece. The shooter was heading for and looking directly at her, after shooting the previous person. Someone made her get down on the floor to get out of the way. She doesn't know why he didn't shoot her next.

The irony is that my brother had just moved his family to that area, partly because he wanted to get them away from the potential for violence and crime in Miami. Going from an area with more relaxed gun laws to an area with tougher gun laws, did not make it any safer for his family. These nut case boys with guns doing something this aweful, can and will happen anywhere.

FAC

[Dain Arns]

In olden times they called it demonic possessions.
Modern psychiatry says it ain't so, just the mind gone bad, even though science doesn't fully understand the brain.
But times as dark as they are lately, I begin to think maybe the old folks were right... :kilroy:

[HouseHobbit]

Evil is just Evil.. Demonic or otherwise..

And this is truly EVIL!!

God Bless all those who were harmed by this senseless act..

[stansdds]

Evil is just Evil.. Demonic or otherwise..

And this is truly EVIL!!

God Bless all those who were harmed by this senseless act..

You said it!

As for the police protecting us from such events, the courts have been very clear on this subject. The police cannot protect people, they make arrests and take statements after a crime has been committed. That is the role of law enforcement.

If someone answered a cell phone call, went to the emergency exit and opened it for this miscreant, then there is an accomplice somewhere. That is, if that story is true. The media has been very quick to grab onto hearsay and rumors and disseminate it as fact. The whole story will not be known for a while, but since the shooter was not killed and is in custody, there is a good chance we will get the rest of the story.

[dharry]

Here is what I heard this morning.
It appears that the Neuroscience PhD student legally purchased 4 guns and 6000 rounds of ammo in the last 60 days.
Please tell me that a system that allows this is wrong. Does he not live within a modern urban environment and developed society supposedly protected by laws and law enforcement, not the isolated wilderness in the 1800's?

Society will always be made up of all types including people with sociopath tendencies; if it allows the ownership of deadly weapons, this kind of atrocity will reoccur.

So sad...

[cheezyflier]

i think the difference is, you equate (being from the uk) law and order with the concept of no one owning a gun. maybe the guy got past the measures we have to prevent things like this from happening. i don't know. i do know that it's not realistic to think you can stop all possible nutjobs. some of em are gonna squeak past somehow. look at ted bundy. that guy fooled everybody for the longest time.

[OBIO]

There are far far more people in the USA who own guns....many many guns and tons and tons of ammo for those guns....who do not go on maniacal shooting sprees than there are those who do. My father-in-law has nearly a dozen guns in his house....and he has shot not a single person. My brother-in-law owns close to 100 firearms, keeps them all in his house, has ample stocks of ammunition for all of them....and he has not shot a single person. I have friends and relatives who, if put together with all their fire arms, would make one imposing army of citizens. And not a single one of them have used their firearms in an evil or illegal manner.

I could go on here...but then I would be getting very political...and that I will not do.

Oh..I will say this....the laws of a society (any society) only effect those people who are law abiding. You can pass all the laws you want, criminals and thugs and deviants will continue to operate outside of those laws and still pose a great threat to those who do abide by those laws.

And law enforcement is not here to protect....they do not PREVENT crimes....they only come to work after the crime has happened. The cops never show up before someone is robbed, or before someone is raped, or before someone is killed. They only show up after the fact and then they try to figure out who did it and then try to arrest them. It is up to the individuals within a society to protect themselves and their homes.

OBIO

[Wing_Z]

You know, by this argument, it might be OK to allow anyone with a driver's licence to own a small tactical nuclear weapon because it is his right to do so... most of them won't be used on people.

Simple fact is that a nutter with a baseball bat will not do as much harm as a nutter with an automatic assault weapon.
If society ups the ownership ante, it must also accept the more serious consequences.
This guy legally obtained all the hardware.

(I also typed nearly a page worth of rant and deleted it, you can't help getting steamed up by stuff like this)

[Moses03]

Okay, this thread is heading into the ditch and it's days are numbered. What happened in Colorado is horrific and we should be thinking about the families that have suffered so much pain and loss.

[Naismith]

[QUOTE=stansdds;732502]You said it!

As for the police protecting us from such events, the courts have been very clear on this subject. The police cannot protect people, they make arrests and take statements after a crime has been committed. That is the role of law enforcement.
QUOTE]

1829 Sir Richard Mayne - "The primary object of an efficient police is the prevention of crime: the next that of detection and punishment of offenders if crime is committed. To these ends all the efforts of police must be directed. The protection of life and property, the preservation of public tranquillity, and the absence of crime, will alone prove whether those efforts have been successful and whether the objects for which the police were appointed have been attained."
I kinda think he was onto something there which the courts and succesive liberal attitudes have undermined. He was a barrister and joint Commissioner of the Metropolitan police at its inception in 1829. Now if that was good enough then as a code of conduct, why not now?

[hey_moe]

You know what I don't understand about this thread....we always have members that swing it the wrong way and F--K IT UP :angryfir:. It's closed now...Mike