Posted on 07/22/2012 9:00:38 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Every American student who's taken a civic class has heard Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.'s admonition that free speech under the US Constitution doesn't give you the right to shout "fire" in a crowded theater.
So the right to bear arms under the 2nd amendment - - written at a time when citizen militias might be needed to fend off the British or a foreign power intent on undermining the new Republic - - shouldn't mean someone has the right to barge into a crowded theater, open fire and slaughter people with powerful guns and ammunition obtained legally.
Yet we have allowed the NRA and allied wealthy conservative organizations with political and electoral agendas to distort legitimate gun ownership for hunting purposes into gun ownership without effective controls that jeopardizes public safety.
Bill Moyers has an eloquent essay about this, here.
The proof is the disproportionate share of the industrialized world's gun violence that afflicts the US, year-in and year-out.
These massacres bring concern for victims, but no remedial controls: the Aurora shootings came but five years after a higher death toll in a mass shooting at Virginia Tech, and Colorado did not toughen its gun laws after the Columbine school killings not far from Aurora...
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
I have seen the same defeatest comment on every thread.
It sounded like bleeting everytime.
Firefights suck no matter what, but they always suck more when one doesn’t have a gun.
Cops are tough around the unarmed and small pets.
I don’t doubt he would have run.
He couldn't even clear a jammed AR; who thinks he would have kept his wits while taking fire?
He couldn't even clear a jammed AR; who thinks he would have kept his wits while taking fire?
Agreed.... but to those who disagree. running in this case might have saved some but tell me that if your standing in the dark and hear a round go by or are even struck by a round that u would not take cover this man preyed on the weak BC he felt in control but if the playing field would have been leveled I believe not as many would have been hurt or even killed.
It’s no laughing matter, getting hit in soft armor with pistol bullets. I’ve seen photos showing ballistic putty behind the kevlar, with a crater about two inches deep and wide. IOW, you might not die, but you are sure going feel like you were shot. A novice like this guy, taking hits in his torso wearing soft armor, was probably going to stop shooting and run away when he knew (and he would know) he was taking effective fire.
It was a chaos. Had I a gun and some idea where it ought to point (at least the shooter was up on the stage, not in the audience) I could well have said Lord, use me and then shot all my bullets at him. Then ducked.
It was a gal down in the church in Colorado Springs a few years ago that ran towards the shots as the gunman came in the church. IIRC she was a deacon or something but was active in the church security. The uniformed guard (guy) on duty didn’t do much as I recall.
She killed - or at least stopped the guy before he could enter the sanctuary - although some people (a young girl?) were killed by the nut out in the parking lot.
BTW- on other FR threads they talk about the guy’s purchase of a “Tactical Vest” - which is nothing but a fabric vest with lots of pockets and straps to hang crap off of. So he may not have been armored.
To your friend the cop,
So much for the vow he took “TO PROTECT AND SERVE”
IIRC, reports say that after entering the theatre the regular way, he went back outside, propping open the fire exit and returning to his car for the weapons and body armor.
I wonder why this ever went to the smokey backroom. The discussion in here is more civil than in many a political thread. I think we all agree on what would be ideal here. We just don’t all agree on how.
So, yeah, it would definitely interrupt the train of thought.
Another freeper related how he once tried ducking out a fire exit to catch a smoke during a romantic movie with his girlfriend that he found dull. An alarm sounded and the house lights went on. Why wasn’t that S.O.P. here.
It would be ironic if one of these weapons turned out to be from F&F.
Unless he bought them at a Mexican flea market, I doubt it.
We should all agree that this man should be hung for wat he has done to this country the state of Colorado and the families of these victims but its not the situation I fear it is wats to come more “copycats” more “gun control”
Cheap theater!!!!!
They picked a cheap movie house to show a premium premiere in?
It’s sounding a lot to me like the fellow took an ultimate fantasy trip. He was going to be part of the movie. And do something very, very wicked. (I mean he could have gone up there with a paint ball gun or sumfin if he’d had some scruples left.)
Sure gotta make money some how
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.