[OldEagleEars]

There is much to think about here. Could an armed, trained citizen in the audience have made a difference? From what has been released about the demented individual responsible, I think it safe to say that any experience he had in a firefight situation was gained with a video game controller in his hand. In fact, there has been no evidence presented that he had even had training or range time with his little arsenal. Add that to the fact that he for sure is not a veteran of any armed conflict and can make this statement: Had anyone returned fire the shock of the bullets coming HIS way for a change might well have been a traumatic surprise to him as he probably never contemplated resistance from his targets. It might have disrupted his focus and chain of fantasy that he would have ceased fire and either left the theater or just stood there, making him a better target! Having bullets coming your way is a shock to the sane, even when they are expected (as they were in Vietnam). Here they might have shocked him into ceasing his fire, or it might have enraged him more; we will never know. All we know is that those poor people who died or wounded were unable to exercise the most fundamental instinct, that of self-preservation, because they didn't have a chance to fight back or have anybody there to fight for them.

[axxe55]

OldEagleEars, those are some very valid points you made and some i had not thought of. you have brought to light some things that we all need to consider and give some thought to.

i will stand by my original thoughts, and say whether armed or not, my first priority would be the safety of my loved ones first as i said before, i am responsible for them, first and foremost. now having them moved to safety and out of harms way, i can't honestly say i would engage the assailant or not. i just don't have an answer to that. but what you have said gives me reason to think about what action i would or could do in a situation like that. very thought provoking ideas you have brought up and thank you for bringing them up.

[Dizzll]

Funny as I went to a midnight showing here in Vegas to see the movie (at the exact same time a sthe shooting occurred). My girlfriend reached over and gave me a hug then rolled her eyes and said "really? you have your gun in a movie theater?" I said um I would shoot the place if I was crazy, look ho wmany people are here in a low light situation. Her and my other friends chuckled abou tit til the mmovie eneded and we all checked our phones. Bet she wont question it again no matter where I carry...

[Centurian22]

Originally Posted by Dizzll

Funny as I went to a midnight showing here in Vegas to see the movie (at the exact same time a sthe shooting occurred). My girlfriend reached over and gave me a hug then rolled her eyes and said "really? you have your gun in a movie theater?" I said um I would shoot the place if I was crazy, look ho wmany people are here in a low light situation. Her and my other friends chuckled abou tit til the mmovie eneded and we all checked our phones. Bet she wont question it again no matter where I carry...

We can open carry here in Maine, and just last month my wife refused to go to the movies with me if I open carried (don't have my concealed permit yet) because she is afraid of negative interactions. I wish I could say that this whole situation would change her mind but I doubt it. What it has done is pushed me to take a CCW class ASAP and purchase an XD9 as soon as possible there after.

[kdog]

To be honest, here germany it is said, that the people in the cinema thought it was something setup by the film company as a PR gag.
So nobody realy expected something that to happen. If oyu can exepect something like that at all!

Some might think, if there had been somebody packing a gun, he could have taken out the shooter.
To be honest, I wouldn`t so sure, if that would have been possible, considering the smoke and stress in there.
Also trying to take out a shooter in a dark and crowded room with lots scared and panicking people would not really be the best thing to try, unless you are trained to do somehting like that in such situations.

[70cuda383]

This morning the news said that his AR was equipped with a 100 round magazine, but the gun jammed, so he transitioned to another weapon.

guess that shows that the had little to no training, and no work with his gear.

in my opinion, only an idiot will use a massive, heavy drum magazine, knowing how equipment can fail, it doesn't sound like a good idea to me, to put 'all my eggs in one basket' with a super high capacity magazine, simply to save a few seconds on reloads, because as what happened here, either the gun jammed and he didn't know how to clear it, or the magazine failed/jammed and he couldn't drop it to load another.

Thank god though that his equipment failed or there would have been more dead.


between the rising number of armed robberies popping up here in central ohio area, and incidents like what happened in Aurora, tells me I need to go ahead and get my CCW License, despite the fact that my wife feels uncomfortable around guns. She says they do not make her feel safer, despite my attempts to teach her how to safely handle and operate a firearm. She's shot each of mine, but never more than about 2 or 3 rounds before she sets it down and says that she's done.

[Jpfisher1989]

Originally Posted by 70cuda383

This morning the news said that his AR was equipped with a 100 round magazine, but the gun jammed, so he transitioned to another weapon.

guess that shows that the had little to no training, and no work with his gear.

in my opinion, only an idiot will use a massive, heavy drum magazine, knowing how equipment can fail, it doesn't sound like a good idea to me, to put 'all my eggs in one basket' with a super high capacity magazine, simply to save a few seconds on reloads, because as what happened here, either the gun jammed and he didn't know how to clear it, or the magazine failed/jammed and he couldn't drop it to load another.

Thank god though that his equipment failed or there would have been more dead.

between the rising number of armed robberies popping up here in central ohio area, and incidents like what happened in Aurora, tells me I need to go ahead and get my CCW License, despite the fact that my wife feels uncomfortable around guns. She says they do not make her feel safer, despite my attempts to teach her how to safely handle and operate a firearm. She's shot each of mine, but never more than about 2 or 3 rounds before she sets it down and says that she's done.

I live in central Ohio

[ninjatoth]

I often wonder why there is so much restrictions on handguns in this country and none on these assault rifles.A handgun at best is nothing but a self defense "tool" capable of stopping 2-3 people at best,as where these rifles can produce a massacre..It just makes no sense to me...Am I wrong here?

[dog2000tj]

Originally Posted by ninjatoth

I often wonder why there is so much restrictions on handguns in this country and none on these assault rifles.

What planet are you living on?

[Rick1967]

Originally Posted by ninjatoth

I often wonder why there is so much restrictions on handguns in this country and none on these assault rifles.A handgun at best is nothing but a self defense "tool" capable of stopping 2-3 people at best,as where these rifles can produce a massacre..It just makes no sense to me...Am I wrong here?

The 2nd Amendment was not writen to protect hunters. Take a look at what has been happening in other countries. The people are turning against their dictators. They are being killed for it. If 100 years from now we found ourselfs in a situation like that, the founding fathers wanted us to be able to defend ourselves from such an outrage. We would not be able to defend ourselves with a bunch of Glocks and 1911s.