I was not going to write about the Colorado shootings. I'm tired of fighting about guns. My words are not even equal to pulling a hair out of the leg of an NRA member. Yes, the Colorado chapter on violence really means nothing. Sure 12 people were killed and so many others hurt, but so what? Read the Chicago newspapers for a few weeks and the numbers will be equal. The only difference is that the media has a new villain and the candidates have some good photo ops.
The media. They love these shootings. Today was the first day I actually watched CNN since the shootings. I was amazed at how they feasted on the courtroom video of the Colorado shooter. Mind you, the shooter didn't speak a single word for the whole 10 minutes he appeared in court, yet CNN was able to analyze his facial movements for hours. They brought in experts to see if he maybe he was on drugs or if maybe hadn't slept since the shootings. Of course, they had brought in an expert on the Columbine shooters. This interview was my favorite. He basically said that the media and the public shouldn't judge the shooter from the initial fragments of information coming out. He said only in time will we ever be able to draw a complete picture of who this guy is. Then he and the reporter began to speculate about the shooter. Pure media golden crap.
Facebook, as you can imagine, has been buzzing since Friday. I'll admit, I threw my two cents in as well. I kinda lost it when I saw some pro gun lady suggested that if only a citizen in the theater had been packing a gun they could have ended the incident sooner. I disagreed by taking the position that more shooting would have created more chaos and possibly more dead or injured. I have a cousin who is a copper in LA. I'll call her, Rambina. She is married to a LA cop as well. They are both the nicest people you could ever meet on this side of the law. Rambina pointed out that a highly trained person with a gun could, under the right circumstances, if they remained calm and cool, could pull off a take down shot. I agree with Rambina. But, do we really want to have professional armed guards at all movie theaters? The butter from the popcorn might make their trigger finger slippery. Or scarier, less than well trained shooters carrying guns all around us. No thanks.
The other side show that I found awkward was the shooter's family lawyer. She was making a statement on behalf of his family. I can only imagine the hell they are going through. This lawyer though was joking around with the reporters and laughing and basically having a good time considering why she was there. The whole event seemed like she was auditioning for a show on Court TV. Very odd.
I want to end this post discussing the victims. 12 people of many different backgrounds. From ages 6 to 51. They just wanted to see a movie they were fans of. Their were others there that helped other strangers to escape the theater and escape death itself. They will all be connected forever. They went to see a movie about a fake super hero only to become actual super heroes. Too bad this event will have many sequels unless we as a nation can agree that enough is enough.
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