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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Boston, MA

    Tragedy in Denver

    I'm sure you all are waking up and learning about the horrific attack at a Denver midnight screening of The Dark Knight.

    I guess in a way, I'm surprised something like this hasn't happened before. I was talking with a few friends a couple of months ago, and we all agreed that if terrorists wanted to stage something really big, they could do coordinated attacks at movie theaters - it's dark, everyone is contained in their seats, etc. This doesn't look like a "terrorist" attack, but it sure changes things. Movies are supposed to be an escape. A fun place to take your kids, or yourself to get away from the stress of the world. Then something like this happens.

    My first reaction was "well, I guess there will be metal detectors now at theaters," but then I read that this guy kicked in the emergency exit (though I'm sure all the actual details are not out yet, and maybe someone just thought that's how he got in). Regardless, you will be seeing movie theaters ramp up security and safeguards. Hopefully there won't be copy cat killers going forward, but odds are now that someone has seen how this can be done, there will (one day) be others.

    Now we'll get the debates over guns and access to them (which I will leave out of this discussion).

    A sad day for everyone. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Southern Pines, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Udaman View Post
    I'm sure you all are waking up and learning about the horrific attack at a Denver midnight screening of The Dark Knight.

    I guess in a way, I'm surprised something like this hasn't happened before. I was talking with a few friends a couple of months ago, and we all agreed that if terrorists wanted to stage something really big, they could do coordinated attacks at movie theaters - it's dark, everyone is contained in their seats, etc. This doesn't look like a "terrorist" attack, but it sure changes things. Movies are supposed to be an escape. A fun place to take your kids, or yourself to get away from the stress of the world. Then something like this happens.

    My first reaction was "well, I guess there will be metal detectors now at theaters," but then I read that this guy kicked in the emergency exit (though I'm sure all the actual details are not out yet, and maybe someone just thought that's how he got in). Regardless, you will be seeing movie theaters ramp up security and safeguards. Hopefully there won't be copy cat killers going forward, but odds are now that someone has seen how this can be done, there will (one day) be others.

    Now we'll get the debates over guns and access to them (which I will leave out of this discussion).

    A sad day for everyone. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.
    Good post, Udaman, and it is proper to avoid the issue of gun control here. This is clearly a nut case kind of thing, and that has not yet been classified as terrorism. We do things to combat terrorism, but with nut cases we simply wait until they do bad things. Sadly, that's all we can do.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham, NC

    More Senseless Violence...

    My thoughts & prayers go out to the victims & their families.

    Link to CNN details: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/20/us/col...html?hpt=hp_t1
    -Son of Jarhead

    The Duke fan formerly known as BuschDevil

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Quote Originally Posted by Jarhead View Post
    Good post, Udaman, and it is proper to avoid the issue of gun control here. This is clearly a nut case kind of thing, and that has not yet been classified as terrorism. We do things to combat terrorism, but with nut cases we simply wait until they do bad things. Sadly, that's all we can do.
    Thoughts:

    1) (From reading the article) What the h*ll was a 4 month old doing at that movie? Some people should not have children. That kind of loud action movie can damage a 4 month old's hearing. Ridiculous.

    2) Not sure if it is proper to avoid the issue of gun control here. The guy's Mom was basically not surprised by this whole thing. If this guy has been diagnosed with some serious issues, he should not be allowed to purchase firearms. If push comes to shove and we need to form a militia, we probably wouldn't want him as part of our little guerilla team anyway. People that are crazy don't always think things through. If he couldn't legally buy a gun, he may have been just as happy to start stabbing people in the theater. Such an incident, obviously, would not have resulted in the same consequences that we had today.

    3) I seriously doubt this will cause increased security in movie theaters. In fact, I would wager to say there is no chance that security is significantly beefed up. Such measures would require us to pay more to see a movie. In big cities, we already pay $12-15 a pop. I don't see consumers standing for an increase in cost, with today's quick access to fairly new blockbusters via Netflix/On Demand... and I don't see movie studios allowing a decrease in profits. Surely, the government is not going to step in and form a TSA-like organization for movie theaters. So, it would be up to the private sector to pay for more security. I think this situation is a random act of violence that happened to take place in a movie theater. Similar attacks have not prompted an increase in security presence in food courts and post offices.

    4) Kinda takes the fun out of seeing the movie, and along with Heath Ledger's death, pretty much puts a hex-like feel over the entire trilogy.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Southern Pines, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    Thoughts:

    1) (From reading the article) What the h*ll was a 4 month old doing at that movie? Some people should not have children. That kind of loud action movie can damage a 4 month old's hearing. Ridiculous.

    2) Not sure if it is proper to avoid the issue of gun control here. The guy's Mom was basically not surprised by this whole thing. If this guy has been diagnosed with some serious issues, he should not be allowed to purchase firearms. If push comes to shove and we need to form a militia, we probably wouldn't want him as part of our little guerilla team anyway. People that are crazy don't always think things through. If he couldn't legally buy a gun, he may have been just as happy to start stabbing people in the theater. Such an incident, obviously, would not have resulted in the same consequences that we had today.

    3) I seriously doubt this will cause increased security in movie theaters. In fact, I would wager to say there is no chance that security is significantly beefed up. Such measures would require us to pay more to see a movie. In big cities, we already pay $12-15 a pop. I don't see consumers standing for an increase in cost, with today's quick access to fairly new blockbusters via Netflix/On Demand... and I don't see movie studios allowing a decrease in profits. Surely, the government is not going to step in and form a TSA-like organization for movie theaters. So, it would be up to the private sector to pay for more security. I think this situation is a random act of violence that happened to take place in a movie theater. Similar attacks have not prompted an increase in security presence in food courts and post offices.

    4) Kinda takes the fun out of seeing the movie, and along with Heath Ledger's death, pretty much puts a hex-like feel over the entire trilogy.
    The problem is that this nut case purchased his arsenal legally. In this forum the debate stops there.

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