# Isn't anyone going to Pit the Denver Batman killer? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 21, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919 "2012-07-21T01:17:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/61 "2012-07-21T17:32:49Z")
> [@The\_Surb](#): > > The news stations out here are jerking themselves silly over this. This is really an issue of demand. They wouldn’t do it if people weren’t eating it up. It’s awful what happened. I was going to go see the movie this weekend but I didn’t want to be distracted with thoughts of those poor people (I have a fear of mass murder in movie theaters that precedes this event.) That said, this shit has been happening for a long time. It’s probably going to keep happening. The odds of it happening to any random individual are statistically very small. The guy’s a fucking nutjob. It’s tragic. I don’t think there is anything beyond that we can say. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/62 "2012-07-21T18:21:20Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > . . . > > That said, this shit has been happening for a long time. It’s probably going to keep happening. The odds of it happening to any random individual are statistically very small. The guy’s a fucking nutjob. It’s tragic. I don’t think there is anything beyond that we can say. That’s the problem **Olive** , people are accepting this as a part of life. I don’t know all the facts regarding where this nutcase got teargas grenades, body armor, 3000 rounds of ammunition and 100 round magazines for an AR-15 assault rifle, but where ever he did, there should have been an alarm sounded in someone’s head. I may be premature at claiming an internet source here, but it seems the next logical step is examining the need of private citizens to possess this sort of combat gear. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/63 "2012-07-21T18:37:32Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Too soon. Not only did I LOL, but I did so loudly. I freakin’ cackled. > [@fumster](#): > > Spoiler Alert: Audience dies. Holy fuck. Stop it, you guys… I can’t… Anyway, up until now I was kind of glad we didn’t have a Batman shooter Pit thread because there are already threads about it, and it’s kind of pointless to start a new one saying “Killing is bad,” but here we are. I’m going to use this as an opportunity to repost this reposting of [Tom Tomorrow’s cartoon](http://thismodernworld.com/archives/7175) because it makes me oh so happy, and is perfect. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/64 "2012-07-21T18:43:04Z")
I realize its early, but did this guy give out any warning signals? As I recall, Klebold and his pal gave out plenty of warning signs-which were ignored. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/65 "2012-07-21T18:59:22Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > That’s the problem **Olive** , people are accepting this as a part of life. I don’t know all the facts regarding where this nutcase got teargas grenades, body armor, 3000 rounds of ammunition and 100 round magazines for an AR-15 assault rifle, but where ever he did, there should have been an alarm sounded in someone’s head. I may be premature at claiming an internet source here, but it seems the next logical step is examining the need of private citizens to possess this sort of combat gear. We could look at it that way. Or we could look at what it is about society that is allowing these people to get created in the first place. My knee-jerk reaction wasn’t ''omg guns!!!" but “omg, when are people going to learn that mentally ill people need supportive services?” I’m assuming he’s mentally ill. I don’t actually know. I honestly, totally and truly do not give a shit about gun control. But I feel like a lot of gun-control fantatics are focusing on the symptoms of the problem rather than the actual problem itself. ---
**Author:** ![gvozd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gvozd/32/7301_2.png) [@gvozd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gvozd)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/66 "2012-07-21T19:30:19Z")
Edit: Wrong thread, sorry mods. I am sorry. Next time I will post with a brain. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/67 "2012-07-21T19:41:49Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Or with four stocky guys dressed up like the Beagle Boys, using nothing but their fists. Point being, _don’t make the Batman villains be any more dangerous than a character actor from the '40s, and you won’t give the crazies anything to inspire them to reach new levels of horror._ We need an Adam West press conference, where he points out that if they’d made the Batman Trilogy the world’s been clamoring for, with the BIFFs and the POWs and Aunt Harriet, we would never have this trouble. I mean, c’mon, a kid dressed up as the Frank Gorshin Riddler? Now, it might be hard to get him to sit still for 3 hours, but his pal in the Burgess Meredith Penguin costume could poke him with his Tranquilizer Umbrella. Come to think of it, if I’d been in that theater, I’d’ve been shielding my kids with my body… but also annoying them by singing “Na na na na na na na/ Na na na na na na na na/ Bat…Man…” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/68 "2012-07-21T20:11:21Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I realize its early, but did this guy give out any warning signals? As I recall, Klebold and his pal gave out plenty of warning signs-which were ignored. I heard from someone (reliability factor -1, I know) that his mother was not surprised. If you commit mass murder and mom is nonplussed, that’s gotta be a sign. If what I heard is incorrect, my apologies to the killer dude. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/69 "2012-07-21T20:28:06Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I heard from someone (reliability factor -1, I know) that his mother was not surprised. If you commit mass murder and mom is nonplussed, that’s gotta be a sign. If what I heard is incorrect, my apologies to the killer dude. I got a whiff of that, too. It’s too soon to make assumptions about what the guy was thinking, but I’m guessing it’s a case of early adult onset of schizophrenia or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/70 "2012-07-21T20:30:28Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I heard from someone (reliability factor -1, I know) that his mother was not surprised. If you commit mass murder and mom is nonplussed, that’s gotta be a sign. If what I heard is incorrect, my apologies to the killer dude. Read the links given earlier. It’s BS. It is just in the standard script (see Onion story) that the media tries to whip up an “it’s the parents’ fault; they should have known” angle. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/71 "2012-07-21T20:38:29Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > We could look at it that way. Or we could look at what it is about society that is allowing these people to get created in the first place. Society doesn’t ‘allow’ these people to be created nor does it have anything to do with creating them. All societies will produce aberrant personalities. These monsters create themselves, it’s all their own work. What we really need is a way of identifying such personalities before they strike and that’s a hell of a tall order. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/72 "2012-07-21T21:17:48Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > It was a paper towel tube, dufus. That’s stupid. Everyone knows propping a door open with a paper towel roll is impossible. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/73 "2012-07-21T21:39:27Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Look, it’s all very well and good to sit here and make jokes about the event, but think about a three month old infant as one of the injured. What kind of a fuckhead brings a three month old to a midnight premiere of a Batman movie? That’s the kind of thing that spoils the movie going experience for everyone. Think of the good that can come from this tragedy though. Maybe parents will be less likely to bring their children to a midnight release! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/74 "2012-07-21T21:44:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Leaffan > This isn’t a question of gun control. > [@Princhester](#): > > And so it starts… And so what starts? I’m Canadian and am all for gun control. This was the act of one sick individual, just like Anders Behring Breivik and Noway has some of the toughest gun laws in the world, apparently. You wrongfully assumed I was on the 2nd amendment/NRA side of the fence; I’m not, but I don’t believe this had anything to do with gun control laws. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/75 "2012-07-21T21:52:32Z")
Point taken, **Leaffan** , but it _is_ kinda like “Beetlejuice;” invoke it (the G-C term) three times, and it shows up… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Dord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@The\_Dord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Dord)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/76 "2012-07-21T21:54:59Z")
> [@gvozd](#): > > Edit: Wrong thread, sorry mods. I am sorry. Next time I will post with a brain. very unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/77 "2012-07-21T22:00:01Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > We could look at it that way. Or we could look at what it is about society that is allowing these people to get created in the first place. My knee-jerk reaction wasn’t ''omg guns!!!" but “omg, when are people going to learn that mentally ill people need supportive services?” I don’t want him to be mentally ill or neurologically atypical or any other way of being “disordered”. I guess I want him to be a normal guy who just happens to be evil. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/78 "2012-07-21T22:15:31Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > We could look at it that way. Or we could look at what it is about society that is allowing these people to get created in the first place. My knee-jerk reaction wasn’t ''omg guns!!!" but “omg, when are people going to learn that mentally ill people need supportive services?” > > I’m assuming he’s mentally ill. I don’t actually know. > > I honestly, totally and truly do not give a shit about gun control. But I feel like a lot of gun-control fantatics are focusing on the symptoms of the problem rather than the actual problem itself. To me, the deal is that it takes the easy availability of advanced weaponry for the problems of a mentally ill person to become the problems of a whole bunch of other people too. Besides, you don’t think we libruls want a more mentally healthy society? Sheesh. We’re working for a country with less economic stress on common people, with universal health care, yada yada yada, but it’s taking longer than we hoped. But I’d also like to see it be a little harder for a single nutcase to shoot 70 of his fellow human beings, given the unfortunate persistence of mass shootings. In another forum, earlier today, another commenter did the old ‘shouldn’t you instead be doing something about the greater number of people killed by cars each year’ bit. From _Unsafe At Any Speed_ to air bags and beyond, we have in fact been working on that. Hell, we fight for mass transit and high-speed intercity rail which would get more people off the road and into a much safer means of travel, and we run into opposition all the way. It’s not like we’re not fighting for these things already. Besides, if we were to only fight against the most serious threat in the world, we’d be doing climate change and nothing else; screw unemployment or the economy or health care or anything else. That would be pretty ridiculous. So I think it’s right and fitting to address this problem we have, where one person can shoot 70 people in just a few minutes. If there’s something we can do to make that a lot more difficult if not impossible without revoking the right to possess firearms, we should do it. And it’s hardly a dereliction of some other, greater, duty to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/79 "2012-07-21T23:14:46Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Look, it’s all very well and good to sit here and make jokes about the event, but think about a three month old infant as one of the injured. What kind of a fuckhead brings a three month old to a midnight premiere of a Batman movie? That’s the kind of thing that spoils the movie going experience for everyone. I’m hearing now that the baby wasn’t injured at all, but rather taken to the hospital just to be checked out to be sure and then was released. Parents taking babies to the movies could very well be what made this guy snap though. But I hear the US now has separate family rooms in some theaters, so maybe it wasn’t so bad. > [@gvozd](#): > > Edit: Wrong thread, sorry mods. I am sorry. Next time I will post with a brain. Sure, like that’ll be the day. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919/80 "2012-07-21T23:22:54Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I don’t want him to be mentally ill or neurologically atypical or any other way of being “disordered”. I guess I want him to be a normal guy who just happens to be evil. Unfortunately mentally ill people is what we see in almost all the recent cases of mass murder, the sad reality is that it is very likely that there was almost nothing done to check his mental condition even after many red flags had appeared in his past or if they had, very little was done in the way of treatment as usually it is something that it is hard to get in the USA. BTW the much opposed ACA does help a bit towards a better way to deal with the inadequate system that we have now. > **[What's New Page - Doctors for America](https://doctorsforamerica.org/news/whats-new/)** > > Est. reading time: 1 minute Of course that is only half of what it needs to be done IMHO, the other half deals with improving the reporting and identification of people with problems that will get limited access to weapons; however, the last time I proposed that I got several gun rights people that opposed even that sensible idea. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-anyone-going-to-pit-the-denver-batman-killer/628919.md?page=5)