bigfutz said:
Just read in the Greenville Schmews how Internet orders were how this (previously) law abiding citizen "got his hands on" magazines and 6000 rds of ammo. Unless we instate a Deparment of Future Grime (as in Minority Report), how can we prevent such atrocious crimes except than to monitor and/or regulate ALL firearms related purchases?
Yeah, and while we're at it, let's do the same for all gasoline purchases, all chemical irritant precursors (like chlorine, bleach), and matches. Right?
On one hand, this was obviously a tragedy. On the other hand, thankfully he chose to use an AR-15 with a 100 round mag. News reports are now saving that the weapon "jammed." This is not surprising -- those huge mags are not known for their reliability. The body count could have been much higher had he used standard 20 or 30 round mags which tend to be much more reliable, or if he'd just chained the doors to the theater shut and burned it down. The attacker had the smarts to rig his apartment with booby traps so I guess it is fortunate he didn't rig a public location to blow with similar explosive and chemical devices.
From a CCW point of view this would have been a tough problem. I regularly carry what I think of as a credible combat handgun (Beretta 96 or S&W M&P) with a reload and often a flashlight and I have some training beyond the basic CWP course, and I still think this would have been a tough tactical problem... Lots of bystanders, restricted movement, lack of cover/concealment, dark room with opponent in black, attacker wearing body armor and helmet, attacker with a long gun, tear gas, smoke in the room which will highlight any lasers or flashlight beams is pretty close to a "worst case" problem. The only way that scenario could get worse would be with multiple attackers and a "complex attack" (i.e. explosives/fire/bombs in addition to the firearms). STill, given a choice between (A) freeze and die or (B) flee and die, having an option to fight back is nice.
Luckily, even though Cinemark theaters has a "no weapons" corporate policy, in CO such policies have no force of law unless you're asked to leave (then it becomes trespassing). That's a big difference from SC where you have to honor the "victim disarmament zone" gunbuster signs, or NC where carrying in theaters is just illegal. I suspect that bad guys like this attacker are probably not deterred by what is essentially a minor charge when they're plotting mass murder but the good guys sure are.
The better solution would have been getting mental health intervention early. His own mother didn't seem surprised that he was the guy so clearly there was some awareness that he had issues. I would not be surprised to find out that he's diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. In an "emergency" situation it is possible to have someone temporarily added to the NICS prohibited person list pending a full evaluation so a family member, teacher, faculty advisor, friend, or other person in this troubled young man's life could have stepped in well before the attack to make it more difficult for him to acquire weapons and to help him get mental health assistance.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/g ... ics-index/
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