Or maybe you could.
Sure. All those poor folk needed was crossfire in the dark.
Wish I knew how to post that face palm photo.
Let's look at a few facts:
It is never completely dark in a theater; there are dimmed overhead and/or floor lights, plus the movie itself adds light most of the time.
Unless someone had just entered the theater, their eyes would have adjusted to the dark and they would be able to see at least as well as the shooter (and likely better, given that he was wearing a gas mask).
The shots fired produce a muzzle flash; I would have no problem shooting at/very near to a muzzle flash, presuming that no one was in the way.
I have a Crimson Trace Laser Grip on my carry gun, which allows for VERY precise shot placement; ANY person (at least in Texas, and I presume elsewhere) who passes the CHL course has it drilled into their head that you only point a weapon (let alone fire it) at a target that you want to be destroyed (aside from the sheer common sense of the thing). An aimed shot at a relatively close distance by a trained CHL holder whose weapon has a properly sighted-in CTLG has virtually no chance of hitting an innocent by-stander (at least directly, no one can tell what will happen if the bullet passes through the perp's body).
In short, a responsible shooter could have EASILY downed this guy, and it would have been worth it to have had someone do it if it saved only one life. On top of that, I rather doubt that the evil perp would've bothered to show up armed if he knew that there might be 5 or 10 people present who could shoot back. But, this nation (as personified by you) has continually refused to understand that victim-disarmament zones ATTRACT sickos like this shooter, and that places with armed people generally don't experience this kind of incident (how many psycho shooters attack a police station, a gun show or the NRA convention?).
... love mine :<)
total agreement