The report doesn’t really provide much evidence that copycat murders are an actual issue. There aren’t actually that many if these incidents, and of the ones that occur I haven’t seen any evidence they were inspired by their predecessors. As a general rule, some combination of mental illness and strange political views seem to be the cause.
I think the whole fear of “copycats” is just another example of the urge people have to pin these incidents on some flawed social institution. Some people like to blame the violent videogames, or lack of religious instruction in schools, or whatever.
And some people want to blame the news media. Cries of encouraging “Copycats” gives them a mechanism. That by reporting these incidents “wrong”, the media is creating the next mass murderer. I think people making that claim need to come up with some actual evidence that showing a killers face, or using his name or whatever has actually inspired another murderer.
I am curious as to what may be on “inside video”…do theaters have lobby/door cams? I cannot imagine that they don’t. I’ve been in food for an LONG time and these days everybody but small “Mom and Pops” have some type of surveillance.
Last Cafe I managed was in a building where the other occupant and my landlord was a bank. We had the best monitored parking lot in the area. (I know a Bakery/Cafe is not a movie theater!)
Shooter supposedly dyed hair bright red. That would stand out on camera along with any of his swat gear he was wearing. Somebody noticed him going in!
I know the victims and bystanders interviewed on Media are in shock but my golly, they pick some whack jobs to interview…over and over, the same people.
I go to that one all the time - maybe every other week - and I was trying to rack my brain when I read this. I can’t remember. I think it really was an emergency exit, though, but not the type you use just so you can bypass the crowds. The theatre is big and not hard to get out of when a movie ends. The parking lot wraps around most of it but I’ve never used the side exits to get to my car. Maybe other people do, but I suppose we’re all trained to go through the lobby or side exit doors at the end of the main halls.
I saw a news story in the local paper that 50 people have called the local theater (here in South Carolina) they interviewed because they were concerned about safety at yesterday’s movie showings.
WTF did these 50 people ASK on the phone? “Uh, do you have Bat-Masked-Gunman-Repellent-Spray available for guests?” “Is this guaranteed to be a gunplay-free showing?” What possible security questions could you have that the teenage kid who answers the phone at the AMC Googleplex can possibly answer to your satisfaction?
Also, why is anybody interviewing the New York City police commissioner about this, and why does the New York City police commissioner think that the Joker has red hair? Even my dad knows the Joker has green hair.
Maybe not how it interests you. It was shown at about 8am in the morning on CNN and it was basically…“Well we know there were probably military in the audience…it’s possible that one of them may have acted heroically, right? Stay tuned as we continue to cover this horrible tragedy and speculate glurge.”
Funny thing is…yesterday I went to see the New DK movie, took in a bottle of Gatorade with 0% hassle. Also no apparent “heightened security”. I guess I could have answered my own question above if I would have looked for “lobby Cams”.
When is there a better time to discuss gun control than when the consequences of opposing it are exposed so dramatically? At other times, it’s easy for opponents to withdraw behind the same old pretenses and the same old fantasies, and that makes them impossible to reach. But, on these not-so-rare occasions when reality breaks through those walls, that’s when you have a potentially teachable moment. Do note, for instance, the deafening quiet from the anti-gun-control faction about this latest in a long string of events. Eventually, we may get to the point where such events of mass murder by heretofore “law abiding citizens” are actually prevented. It may be the only way to get to that point. Why would you oppose that?
I actually think that the immediate aftermath of a tragedy is a horrible time to propose and discuss potential legislation. That’s how we wound up with the shitty PATRIOT Act. It’s hard to think rationally when you’re seeing dead bodies on TV and emotions are running high.
Disagree completely. What situation of high emotion led to the passing of the Affordable Care Act (which faced fairly heavy opposition, much of which was emotion-based)? Good laws get passed all the time without some precipitating incident.
Passing laws quickly in the heat of the moment because everyone is upset about a tragedy is a bad idea and has great potential to lead to shitty laws being passed.
Only if the laws are conceived and written hastily. That was definitely not the situation with ACA, and, after all these decades of consideration, would not be with a comprehensive and effective gun control law.
Do you have a better idea for preventing mass murders? Or is that topic itself easily dismissed as too emotional?
I don’t think that mass murders are a common enough problem in our society that we have to come up with legislation specifically designed to prevent them, actually. They get a lot of press because they are very shocking, but they’re really pretty rare.
Also, I know I kind of put you on the spot with my question about the ACA but seriously, suggesting that it was passed because as a nation we were overcome by our emotional grief about Ted Kennedy seems a bit silly.
Most surveillance footage isn’t monitored in real-time, is it? On most police procedural shows I’ve watched, like “The First 48,” the police look at the footage after an incident has occurred. And a guy with bright red hair might get noticed, but people wouldn’t have a reason suspect him of anything. People walk around in the street with colored hair all of the time. Although they would certainly remember him after the shooting.
Also, I don’t believe he wore his S.W.A.T. gear into the theater. I think it was in his car with his weapons and he put it on in the parking lot.
A. I’m so glad to hear you think there’s an acceptable incidence rate of mass murder in our society. Is your limit the current rate, or would you be willing to accept more?
B. We don’t need legislation specifically against *mass *murder, because as you know, there are far more one-off ones that would also be prevented by a decent, effective, well-enforced gun control law like the rest of the civilized world.
C. What are some of the things you think could go wrong if we stopped being an embarrassment to ourselves and actually followed through? Things that are worse than the current rate of mass murder, which you have just told is acceptable to you?
:dubious:
You asked what emotional event finally *precipitated *passage, after an incredibly long gestation period. Well, that was it. It wasn’t because the forces of reason finally won out, but because the veneer of reason over the forces of opposition was revealed to be what it was, and because of the, yes, emotional desire of Kennedy’s fellow progressives to finish his life’s work.
Not that you have to graciously accept an answer you didn’t think existed, of course.
