by Jack Lee
The shooter, James Holmes (characterized at left in split personality), played high school soccer, he was a gifted student, extremely bright and he graduated with honors and went on to college. At UC Riverside he again graduated with honors in 2010 with a degree in neuroscience. He then enrolled at the University of Colorado to complete his PhD, but this where things started to go wrong, very wrong.
Something happened at this point in his young life and he dropped out. Prior to the shooting he had no police history and according to those who lived near him, he was quiet, reclusive, but otherwise fairly unremarkable.
His attack shows months of planning and preparation and at the same time he was having severe personal issues. You have to wonder why during this extended period of time that nobody, not even his parents, noticed something sinister happening or did they?
When he launched his murderous attack Holmes was dressed all in black. He was wearing a ballistic helmet, gas mask, ballistic gloves, bullet-resistant vest, leggings and throat and groin protection. He had carefully selected four weapons for his deadly mission, each designed to yield maximum causalities at close range. A Smith & Wesson .223 rifle (similar to military rifles used today) equipped with a 100 round drum magazine, a Remington 12 gauge shot gun, and a .40 cal. Glock handgun. A fourth handgun, not described, was found in his Hyundai.
Holmes had purchased the guns at local shops and more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition on the Internet in the past 60 days, this was at the same time that he dropped out of his PhD program. Prior to this he had no interest in guns and no overt hate for humanity or fanaticism of any stripe. His sudden change was to say the least, bizarre, yet nobody noticed?
While in his doctoral studies something happened, perhaps it was the stress of academia, a mental breakdown brought on by some latent psychosis, or even drugs, but at this point we simply don’t know. However, there is reason to suspect his parents knew he was in trouble and he was potentially dangerous.
When Holmes mother first heard about the shootings on the news she instantly thought her son might be involved. That is the first big tip off the parents must have known their son was having mental problems, but if they alerted police or tried to get mental health intervention, absolutely nobody is saying it.
In cases like this, someone close to the shooter had the last best chance to do something to stop a progression of events from it’s inevitable and disastrous conclusion. Unfortunately when we examine these infamous crimes these people all failed to act appropriately. In the case of several parents in a Washington school shooting – they became the first victims.
How do we prevent such things from happening again? I’m not sure, but I know one thing we should not do and that’s pass anti-gun legislation thinking this will solve the problem. The gun grabbers like Rep. Maxine Waters-D, shown left, will never pass up a good opportunity to get your gun.
Now, here’s why I say gun-grabbers accomplish nothing and now I am speaking as a retired homicide detective: When you look at the population of USA, the odds are roughly 90,000,000 to 1 that a deranged shooter would select a movie theater to unleash hot lead on the audience and kill 10 people. Okay, but what about those other mass shootings? The nature of those past (post office and school shootings) were of such unique circumstances that both statistically and practically speaking, anti-gun laws would have had zero effect, except of course to penalize the responsible owners. There are roughly 200,000,000 guns in the possession of a hundred million or more of completely responsible owners across America. From the perspective of cold hard statistics there’s nothing to be gained by restricting their gun rights.
Great Britain has some of the toughest gun laws anywhere and yet mass killing still occur, albeit on rare occasion. If the killer/killers don’t have access to a firearm they can easily devise something else and the proof is in the headlines. In every case, in countries and in American States, tough gun laws did not reduce homicides. One of the highest murder rates in the world is in Washington, D.C. and look at their tough gun laws!
Can we learn something from this sort of terrible event that might prevent a future tragedy? Yes and no. Sure, we can always learn something about this specific event that in hindsight would have prevented it. But, will the people who have the best chance of applying that knowledge have the wisdom and courage to do it? History says, probably not, there’s just going to be those tragic anomalies within a large society like ours that will happen, but fortunately very rarely.
The last thing we need to do is to unjustly punish the vast numbers innocent gun owners for the crimes of the extremely few who abuse them. We will not be safer for it, in fact studies show just the opposite.
If you believe in the concept that it is better to let a hundred guilty go free than to punish one innocent man, then you are obliged to leave the law abiding gun owners alone. Common sense says going after the good gun owners is always a bad idea and history supports it, but liberals who have no use for the military, guns or the Constitution will always try to capitalize on the emotion of the moment to pass new and more restrictive gun legislation.
“The gun grabbers like Rep. Maxine Waters-D, shown left, will never pass up a good opportunity to get your gun.”
Jack as usual your right on point with that statement.
People like Walters will not stop until they nationalize America piece by piece. Also I really take homage to the remarks by McCarthy D-NY toward the NRA, This is what she should have said about Holder and fast and furious, but it was not political beneficial to her and her party. Anyway heres the article, cut and pasted word for word:
July 21, 2012 by Tim Brown
Democrats: Never Let A Shooting Crisis Go To Waste
86 Comments
The smoke had barely cleared the air on Friday in Aurora, CO, following the shooting at The Dark Knight Rising Screening, when Democrats began busying themselves with how to politicize the situation and call for more gun control. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was one of the first, but the guys Im talking about were on Capitol Hill. Bloomberg is one mayor in one state. These guys decide law for all of us.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) told reporters on Friday that organizations like the NRA, of which I belong to, and other opponents of gun control have a simple way of dealing with tragedies like the one that took place early Friday morning.
They will wait it out, wait it out, wait it out, until people forget about it again, until another tragedy happens like last night, said McCarthy. We should be proactive before another tragedy happens.
There are ways of doing this without infringing upon anyones rights, she said.
OK, as I stated yesterday in a piece on this very issue, you cannot create more gun laws and not infringe on peoples rights to both keep and bear those arms. Mrs. McCarthy needs to be back at home as a wife and mother tending to her home, not whining about how people deal with things like this. She is emotional, as most Democrats are, and everyone knows that making decisions when you are emotional often leads to very bad decisions.
The Hill reports,
McCarthy and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) have worked closely together on a bill that would tighten restrictions on gun shows, where firearms can be easily bought by people with criminal records in some states.
Lautenberg, who introduced a measure banning high-capacity ammunition magazines following the Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) shooting, also called for legislative action on the issue.
We have to face the reality that these types of tragedies will continue to occur unless we do something about our nations lax gun laws, said Lautenberg.
Ill tell you what you need to do with the nations gun laws, trash them! The nation did just fine without them before liberals started imposing such nonsense on the American people.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg is just an ignorant man. Maybe he could tell us just how many laws need to be enacted that would have actually prevented Fridays crime. Which pieces of papered legislation would have stopped James Holmes from opening fire on the people in Aurora, Colorado? Not one law can stop a criminal from doing what a criminal is going to do. But these kinds of laws can stop law abiding citizens from exercising their Constitutional Second Amendment rights.
GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) argued correctly via his spokesman Jesse Benton:
Sadly, there are always bad actors who try to cynically exploit crises to advance their agenda, much like the statist elements who used the vicious attacks on 9/11 to ram through the USA PATRIOT Act and erode our Fourth Amendment protections.
We are likely to see this same kind of demagoguery done with the horrible tragedy in Colorado, but Dr. Paul and his allies are unwavering in fight to protect all Constitutional rights for all Americans, Benton said.
Because Democrats have the mind of creating a Utopia, they will constantly be running around trying to make sure no one is discriminated against (except Christians of course), no one chips a nail, gets in a car accident, gains too much weight or even dies (ok that last one might not be the case since they are pro-abortion). They want to take the place of the true Lawgiver, God, and they want to wield His power on the rest of us.
The only way to prevent or stop a shooting like this is to remove the restrictions on law abiding citizens to carry their weapons wherever they go to protect themselves and others.
Sadly, the theater has a policy in which they do not allow weapons to be taken in. Now that is private business, which is one thing, but it didnt stop Holmes from taking them in did it? It didnt stop the shooting did it? But one thing it did stop was law abiding peoples ability to protect themselves.
But their folly is known to all. A piece of paper with words on it, which they refer to as law, has as much of a chance of stopping a bullet as me jumping off my roof and actually achieving a meaningful flight.
As predicted. Just so I don’t have to listen to any more pious moaning and/or hair pulling, entreating prayers for the victims.
This is how you want it … that any freshly fledged psychotic should be able to lay his hands on vast quantities of armament.
And if any of you and/or yours happen to fall victim, you will stoicly suck it up, won’t you?
Yeah.
Some people actually have the capacity to realize that on occasion really terrible s*#t happens…even to them. They are able to grieve and then let go knowing that gun laws will not prevent killers from their murderous intent.
Our laws serve two purposes: 1) They act as the standard that we expect of our citizens, and 2) The serve as the marker for consequences when citizens choose to break the them.
A risk free world is impossible without divine intervention.
I do not believe anyone involved with Post Scripts understands why these things happen, I sure do not. However there are people out there in the public eye that will attempt falsely that correlation proves causation.
If I may speak for all of us four (Libby, Jack, Tina & myself)involved in this thread so far, I could only surmise that heart felt prayers are going out for the victims as well as the survivors and all family members for the useless loss of life in Aurora, and hope that some positive resolve occurs without further casting blame on a specific portion of American’s. In reference I would hope that the present leaders of this country could delay their wearily stumping until a proper grievance period shall pass.
I read how this guy was on unemployment. I also read he was getting a federal grant for his work in school (no details of how much that grant is). I read the guns and ammo used were over $6000. How did he come up with the money to buy the guns and ammo?
Law enforcement early on was and still are saying he acted alone. I find that a very odd thing to say before they even got into his apartment.
With all the laws and paperwork involved in buying guns, how is it this guy could buy 4 guns in a few weeks and the “system” didn’t take notice? I could be wrong but I think these were his first firearms he ever purchased.
Could it be maybe we don’t need more laws but a restructured bureaucracy? How about restructuring how we buy our guns and ammo? Until this happened, I had no idea you could by ammo online, this needs to end. If he had to go in person to buy ammo I think it would have put a wrinkle in his plans.
I am 100% pro responsible, legal gun ownership. I feel when you buy a gun you should have to show proof that you know how to use it safely and responsibly. I also feel we need some kind of controls in place to monitor the sales of guns and ammo. I think these things can happen and not infringe on the 2nd amendment. I know my ideas rub people the wrong way but things have gotten out of hand and need to be fixed.
These are a few thoughts I had on this subject and figured I would post them.
Toby, I’m not sure you want to stop the online ammo purchases. First, there is no way it would help prevent a crime, because tracing ammo is an after-the-fact event. Next, banning interstate sales is a restraint of trade between states and to set a precedent like that would have Constitutional problems.
California actually tried to do just that as a way of defeating gun owners,under the theory if we make it really hard to buy ammo, then maybe they can’t afford to buy high priced bullets here and many guns will become useless artifacts.
Diane Feinstien is already using this tragedy and going after guns. She is hot after so-called assault weapons and will be proposing legislation. Well, we were right….sure didn’t take long to turn this into something political.
Thank you for reminding me. Mitt Romney as governor of Massachusetts in 2002, signed into law what was described as “one of the toughest assault weapons laws in the country.” Romney also supported the Brady anti-gun Bill.
You can be sure I won’t be voting for him.
I want to stop people from buying thousands of rounds without ever actually seeing someone.Maybe if you want to buy ammo online the ATF should issue the buyer a card and a number after the ATF does a basic check on the buyer. Also that card will keep track of how much ammo you are buying and from who.
Why do you think this guy got his ammo online and not from a gun sporting goods store? I think it is going to turn out his method of payment had something to do with the school he was attending and or the federal grant money he was receiving. Sounds like he was getting lots of deliveries at school as well to his house.
I want to know how this stuff was paid for. I want to know what his mother knew and when she knew it. She seems to have known he was unbalanced, some back story on that would be nice.
The upside of this is it could have been a lot worse. He could have opted to use a bomb or bombs. He had homemade grenades along with other nasty things in his apartment. He could have walked out that back door and rolled in explosives not smoke. He would have taken out many more people. Could have been a backpack full of bombs and screws. He could have taken out the whole room and the one next to it.
I am not trying to minimize what this ass hole did, I am just saying it could have been much, much worse.
He had to have a place to build and try this stuff out, hope they find it.
My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims. I had friends who went to midnight showings here in the Fresno area, and I can’t help but be grateful that this didn’t happen to them.
I can’t imagine what would motivate someone to kill so many innocent people, and I don’t know how it could be prevented. Jack is right that this kind of instance is rare and unpredictable, and that if a psycho is extremely determined he will find some way to kill even with strict gun laws.
At the same time, I mostly agree with Toby (for once). I don’t know if I’d support a complete ban on online sales, but it does seem too easy for crazy people to get their hands on guns. Surely something can be done?
We are all trying to figure out what the right thing to do is to stop this from happening again, or if anything can be done at all. At the same time we run the risk of politicizing the tragedy. Let’s all try to walk that line carefully.
Toby: “I want to know what his mother knew and when she knew it. She seems to have known he was unbalanced, some back story on that would be nice.”
I to saw where she is said to have commented that “they had the right guy”. Seems like abc is at it again. Politico has her statement:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/07/holmes-mother-suggests-abc-news-mischaracterized-her-129835.html
Good ideas concerning purchasing amunition on the internet!
I also read an account this morning that the Smith & Wesson with all te round jammed or this would have been much worse…don’t know if that information is accurate.
I also read today that several young men shielded or attempted to shield others when the shooting started, including a boy of about ten who shielded a three year old girl.
Turns out his aftermarket 100 round magazine caused his AR-15 to jam. What possible reason does anyone need a 100 round magazine?
I was watching American Guns it is a TV show about a gun shop in Colorado (go figure). Anyway they had a guy who has a helicopter tour service. He wanted them to build a full auto AR-15 or M-16 he can mount on his helicopter so his clients can see what it is like to be a door gunner. So the guy who owns the gun shop thought it was such a great idea he went into business with the guy.
You want to be a door gunner? Join the #ucking Army! Oh and I believe their weapon utilized one of those 100 round magazines. I do not think I will be watching that show again.
I am kinda worried, it sounds like I am actually to the left of Chris on something and it bothers me. A disturbance in the force there is.
Toby those nut cases in Colorado have no imagination…paint ball gunner would make for a more attractive and fun filled ride from a money standpoint.
“I am kinda worried, it sounds like I am actually to the left of Chris on something and it bothers me. A disturbance in the force there is.”
LOL…no worries! You’re just revealing that you’re one of the good guys…centered and prepared to come to the defense of those who value peace and freedom. The Jedi Warrior is tough, well grounded, honorable…a gentleman whose heart is true.
It is sounding more and more like the MSM once again are playing with the facts and making them “fit” their story. Seems the mother was misquoted about her son.
It is also sounding like this pile of dung used federal grant money (tax dollars) to pay for the equipment used.
Was it a Fast and Furious grant? Are there no controls or oversight when it comes to how grant money if handed out and spent? I guess that is why he left the program, he spent all the money on murdering people. Or was that his project? The school is being very closed mouthed about this guy.