# No thanks, I'll take my chances with the psychopath. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 23, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135 "2012-07-23T14:22:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/221 "2012-07-24T00:23:39Z")
> [@Mewl\_Dear](#): > > Scene one: the joker pops up throws smoke bombs and starts firing. > Scene two: morg the mighty jumps up and starts return fire. > Scene three: every sane person with a gun in the theater shoots morg the mighty. > Kind of a short movie. You suffer from the same basic misunderstanding many other people suffer from here. The object isn’t to jump up, but to conceal yourself. Those of you who jump up get a nice body bag to wear to your debut on the coroner’s table. But, feel free to follow the crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/222 "2012-07-24T00:25:20Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > You suffer from the same basic misunderstanding many other people suffer from here. The object isn’t to jump up, but to conceal yourself. Those of you who jump up get a nice body bag to wear to your debut on the coroner’s table. But, feel free to follow the crowd. _What of the other armed citizens in the theatre that see you crouching down and shooting?_ ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/223 "2012-07-24T00:32:20Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > _What of the other armed citizens in the theatre that see you crouching down and shooting?_ If they can escape, I assume they would do that and get their family out. If they can’t, then I hope they don’t have to attend the funeral of a loved one and wonder whether they could have made a difference or not. If you don’t understand this, then perhaps you should just resign yourself to being a victim and accept that that’s where your future lies. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/224 "2012-07-24T00:32:38Z")
> [@dngnb8](#): > > 300 people were in 4 theaters. He shot in 1 theater (1 bullet penetrated the wall injuring 1 person in a adjoining theater) Was the theater that small? Only 75 seats per screen? That’s like 3 rows at your average megaplex. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/225 "2012-07-24T00:41:34Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Was the theater that small? Only 75 seats per screen? That’s like 3 rows at your average megaplex. That was my thought as well. It’s like it was shown in some guy’s home theatre room. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/226 "2012-07-24T00:50:57Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > If they can escape, I assume they would do that and get their family out. If they can’t, then I hope they don’t have to attend the funeral of a loved one and wonder whether they could have made a difference or not. If you don’t understand this, then perhaps you should just resign yourself to being a victim and accept that that’s where your future lies. You are just going to fucking ignore the question and pretend that it’s just going to be you, Our Hero, versus the bad guy. Let’s give this one more try, gunpowder-for-brains: _With all the darkness and flashing lights and smoke and panicking people running around like chickens with their heads cut off how do the other armed citizens in the theatre know that you, crouching down and taking aim, are the good guy and the one that looks like a S.W.A.T. officer is the bad guy when you start exchanging gunfire?_ ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/227 "2012-07-24T00:58:34Z")
When I first saw on FB there was a ‘shooting tragedy’ in Aurora, I thought it was a gang shootout. Relieved to hear it wasn’t, but really? Because not everyone who carries does it legally. For all we know (and let’s consider the neighborhood…sorry), there WERE armed men in the building but they aren’t going to say anything. Hell, maybe someone was licensed to carry and ran like a squealing pig. I’m sure he doesn’t want to be the new NRA spokesperson. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/228 "2012-07-24T00:58:56Z")
I’m not seeing any solid support for shooting back. That being said, I would much rather I were armed then not in that situation. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/229 "2012-07-24T01:01:20Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > You are just going to fucking ignore the question and pretend that it’s just going to be you, Our Hero, versus the bad guy. > Let’s give this one more try, gunpowder-for-brains: _With all the darkness and flashing lights and smoke and panicking people running around like chickens with their heads cut off how do the other armed citizens in the theatre know that you, crouching down and taking aim, are the good guy and the one that looks like a S.W.A.T. officer is the bad guy when you start exchanging gunfire?_ I still think the casualties would be equal or less then just letting the gunman shoot people like fish in a barrel. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/230 "2012-07-24T01:07:06Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > You are just going to fucking ignore the question and pretend that it’s just going to be you, Our Hero, versus the bad guy. > Let’s give this one more try, gunpowder-for-brains: _With all the darkness and flashing lights and smoke and panicking people running around like chickens with their heads cut off how do the other armed citizens in the theatre know that you, crouching down and taking aim, are the good guy and the one that looks like a S.W.A.T. officer is the bad guy when you start exchanging gunfire?_ You haven’t understood multiple attempts to explain it to you. Once again I ask, is your obtuseness an act? ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/231 "2012-07-24T01:17:00Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > I’m not seeing any solid support for shooting back. That being said, I would much rather I were armed then not in that situation. > [@Lumpy](#): > > I still think the casualties would be equal or less then just letting the gunman shoot people like fish in a barrel. I’d agree with both of these statements. All things being equal, having a gun and not using it is undeniably better than not having a gun at all. In the unlikely event of a bystander shooting back, it’s equally unlikely that there’s going to be friendly fire, so saying that an armed bystander would _definitely_ make things worse seems like a bit of an exaggeration. Of course, that’s not what this thread is about. This thread is about all the dipshits the OP (and I) have heard saying dumb stuff like, “Man, if I’d have been in that theater with this glock 40 here, it’d be over before it started.” Those guys are idiots. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/232 "2012-07-24T01:58:49Z")
I’m trying to figure out whether using terms like “easy headshot” unironically and/or popping wood over the vanishingly rare occasions when an armed hilljack has managed to be a Hero For A Day correlates most strongly either to having Issues With Women, or to having a teeny tiny penis. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/233 "2012-07-24T02:05:05Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I got mine in Texas and nobody mentioned anything about the NRA. It was pretty much a joke though. We just went over the relevant laws and even a blind person could pass the shooting test. > > Assuming I still had my CHL and I was in the theater at the time, no, I probably wouldn’t try returning fire because the chance of missing and hitting an innocent bystander would be too great. Ha! When I took mine we got a free subscription to any NRA magazine we wanted, and right before that splendid offer the teacher said, laughing, “So raise your hands if anybody here voted Democrat?” I did, not just because I did but because fuck that asshole, and they looked at me like I’d gotten up and dropped trou and shit on the table. ETA - a real life example that I think many people haven’t considered - once I did something SO MONUMENTALLY STUPID - I was walking into a shooting range with my dad and I was preoccupied explaining something to him about, shit I don’t know, something totally inconsequential. And both of us like the STUPIDEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD neglected our ear protection for a fraction of a second before some guy firing one round at the other end of the range taught us in the most direct way possible why you never shoot without the earmuffs. An indoor range is probably acoustically very similar to a movie theater. It was like being punched in both ears at once by a crazy motivated assassin. I can’t even imagine what more than one shot would be like, and I only mean in terms of the sound in your head - forget the tear gas, the dark, the screaming people, the knowledge that you could die. The MERE SOUND of ONE HANDGUN ROUND is a physical blow and you will not do that twice. ---
**Author:** ![Curiosity\_Kills\_Her](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Curiosity\_Kills\_Her](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Curiosity_Kills_Her)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/234 "2012-07-24T02:07:45Z")
In regard to a CCW being some sort of competency test - All I had to do to get mine was show up with fingerprints and cash, and provide a signature. I didn’t get so much as a pamphlet on gun safety or state laws. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/235 "2012-07-24T03:06:25Z")
Maybe you automatically gained ninja firearm powers. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/236 "2012-07-24T03:36:01Z")
Not to worry, [a heavily armed citizen](http://dangerousminds.net/comments/police_seize_huge_arsenal_of_weapons_from_maine_man_who_saw_batman_movie_wi) is on the way to do, uh… something. > [@](#): > > After several 911 calls from alarmed motorists who saw him doing 112 mph on the Maine Turnpike in a Ford Mustang with the hazard lights flashing, Timothy Courtois, 49, was arrested Sunday night by state police in Biddeford, Maine with an unusual arsenal in his car. Police found an AK-47 assault rifle, four handguns and several boxes of ammunition. > > Also in Courtois’ car, police found newspaper clippings about the mass shooting Friday during a showing of the same Batman movie at a Colorado movie theater… ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/237 "2012-07-24T04:46:30Z")
There’s a very simple way to avoid shooting bystanders while still stopping the gunman. You use a hand grenade. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/238 "2012-07-24T07:56:31Z")
I’ve been thinking about this a little bit and my guess is that if I couldn’t get out then I would have tried to crouch down. If I had a gun I’d have it out, very close to me and only use it if I was found and the gunman was very close. No chance I try and shoot him beforehand. All this assumes I don’t instantly panic and soil myself. I’d say it’s 50/50. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/239 "2012-07-24T08:16:56Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > All things being equal, having a gun and not using it is undeniably better than not having a gun at all. No, it isn’t. The two are exactly the same in terms of outcome. > [@steronz](#): > > Of course, that’s not what this thread is about. This thread is about all the dipshits the OP (and I) have heard saying dumb stuff like, “Man, if I’d have been in that theater with this glock 40 here, it’d be over before it started.” Those guys are idiots. Yes, they are. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135/240 "2012-07-24T08:21:27Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Maybe you automatically gained ninja firearm powers. Grammaton Cleric Curiosity Kills Her is now a master of the Gunkata! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-thanks-ill-take-my-chances-with-the-psychopath/629135.md?page=13)