Congressional advocates for gun control have been restraining themselves from tying the Aurora shooting to legislation in the first hours after a gunman opened fire in a crowded theater, killing 12.
The shooting occurred in the district of Ed Perlumutter, a Democrat, who focused on the person who committed the shootings.
“I am stunned and furious at the news of the shooting at the Aurora Century 16 Movie theatre this morning. Our heart and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the victims of this tragedy,” Perlmutter said. “Colorado is not a violent place, but we have some violent people. We are a strong and resilient community, and we will lean on each other in the days, weeks and months to come.”
“I’ve lived in Aurora almost all of my life and nothing like this has ever happened here,” said Rep. Mike Coffman (R-C0lo.), who represents the neighboring 6th District. “This was the type of violence that I would have expected when I served in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps but never here at home.”
Coffman said he would work with Perlmutter to ensure that Aurora has “whatever federal law enforcement resources they need to complete their investigation.”
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), whose husband was killed in a mass shooting in 1993 and who is one of the strongest gun-control advocates in Congress, alluded to gun-control as an “avenue” of prevention in her statement.
“The horrific nightmare of a mass shooting on innocent civilians in a crowded public place has, sadly, come true once again. I mourn alongside the people of Aurora for the many killed and injured and the countless family and friends whose lives, as a result of the consequences of this event, will be negatively affected for decades to come,” she said. “The shooter should be brought to justice and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But we as a nation should also not continue to ignore avenues to prevent tragedies like this from happening in the future.”
A strong advocate of gun control in the upper chamber, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), simply tweeted: “My prayers go out to the victims and families of the horrible tragedy in Aurora. This is truly a sad day.”
President Obama also kept policy out of it in his address to supporters in Florida before cutting short his swing through the swing-state.
“Even as we learn how this happened and who’s responsible, we may never understand what leads anybody to terrorize their fellow human beings like this. Such violence, such evil is senseless. It’s beyond reason. But while we will never know fully what causes somebody to take the life of another, we do know what makes life worth living,” he said before leading the crowd in Fort Myers in a moment of silence.
UPDATE: At 5:42 p.m., Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) tweeted, “#Aurora is another wake-up call. How many senseless tragic acts have 2 happen & lives have 2 be lost b4 enacting sensible gun control laws?”
“The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.” George Washington
Just look at crime rates in states where it is legal to protect yourself!
This will hopefully lead to at least trying to close stupid gun loopholes which make no sense. I certainly do not want to get rid of guns but there should be some controls. Having background checks and waiting periods should not be to much to ask for all gun purchases. Do we really need 800 gun shops in Phoenix where one can go and buy 20-30 semi automatic rifles and sell them shortly thereafter?
Is it to much to ask of a functioning society to have some controls on these weapons.
Here is 62 pages of mass killings by guns since 2005 within the US. Unless something changes this will continue
http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/pdf/major-shootings.pdf
How would a waiting period have prevented or stopped this incident? As far as we know, there wasn’t a precipitating incident, which caused the guy to blow, and the accumulation of stuff that the shooter had (gear, 4 guns on him and lots of ammo, booby traps at his apartment with lots more ammo) and the way he acted, apparently practiced, all imply that he’s been thinking about this a long time. Just adding on laws doesn’t neccessarily make everyone safer you know. If there’s no practical reason for the law, then it’s just harassment.
As for the 800 gun shops in Phoenix, as far as I know the guy didn’t drive there to buy his guns; they sell them in Colorado also. I know Arizona is evil personified with you guys right now, because of Arpaio, the Giffords shooting (though she was pretty conservative for a Democrat), and the state’s attempts to keep illegal aliens out, but really, what has that to do with the issue at hand? It felt gratuitous to me. What are you saying? Only a few wealthy people should have guns, not the masses?
David I’m not just talking about this or any individual instance. I’m saying that there are certain things that should be changed. I see no value on not being able for the government to collect data on gun violence but they can’t as Bush eliminated that database. I see no value in not having a background check of someone purchasing a gun at a gun show. I see no value in having a semi-automatic weapon for hunting. I don’t want to take guns away but also don’t want them easily distributed without checks.
If you think everything is fine well that’s your opinion.
The best way to control gun violence is to make a particular factor an automatic disqualifier for owning a gun: being a registered Democrat or having supported Democrat candidates.
This can be statistically demonstrated. The vast majority of gun crimes are committed in the highly Democrat areas of New York, Chicago, Detroit, etc. And many of those outside those regions are perpetrated by people who originated in those aformentioned areas. And of course, in this case, and in the case of the shooting of Gabby Giffords, the perps were registered Democrats.
Only a fool would deny the science…
“I see no value in having a semi-automatic weapon for hunting.”
Without referring to any source outside your own head, define “semi-automatic”.
You won’t like the real measures to control guns: the illegal weapons that Black and Hispanic men carry as a matter of course. Gun violence, is pretty much the story of Black, and Latino, and Muslim men … either conducting mass murders, serial killings, or various atrocities. Major Hassan at Fort Hood. Tyrone Woodfork at Tulsa (if Obama had a son he’d look like Tyrone Woodfork) killing an elderly White couple (with six at large accomplices). Omar Thornton massacring eight White guys in Massachusetts. Shaun Tyson killing two White British tourists in Sarasota Florida. The Whites and Asians shot by Andre Turner in Irwindale CA. The Beltway Snipers, Lee Boyd Malvo and John Muhammed.
Stop and frisk Black and Hispanic young men? I’m in favor, NYC has taken 20,000 + weapons off them, with just such racial profiling policies.
When a Muslim Man shoots up a military base yelling Alluhu Akbar! its silence from Liberals. When a Black man shoots eight White guys … Liberals respond by forcing the FBI to investigate if they were “racist” and “deserved it.”
What you are really talking about is disarming “the wrong sort of White person” so that the Black and Hispanic criminal element can prey upon them with impunity. After all, if they had moral worth by your world view, they would have not been born with original sin (White and not uber-rich to remove themselves from Black/Hispanic violence).
There. Fixed that for you. Now at least we’re honest. Open and above board. We all know Liberals can’t countenance the idea of sending lots of Black and Hispanic (Dem voters) to jail for a long time for gun crime, 99% of which is done by those groups.
True. Statistics from the CDC mortality database from 2009. Homicide victimization rates with firearm.
A) 200 million non-hispanic whites: 1.4/100k
B) 17 million asians: 1.3/100k
C) 48 million hispanics: 6/100k
D) 38 million blacks: 16/100k
The “progressives” care not one bit about gun control for group D, or even C. Only A. 14 murders for every million people every year, 1 per month per million. In any other context, this ratio would be dismissed out of hand as statistically insignificant. One in a million.
Then don’t use a “semi-automatic” weapon for hunting. That’s your right and I won’t try to deprive you of that right.
Do me the same courtesy and we’ll get along fine.
Do you see a value in encouraging terrorist bombers in America rather than lone gunmen? If people like this can’t get access to guns,they’ll just blow up the building instead. Senseless tragedies like this are GOING to happen. There IS no way to prevent it,even with draconian heavy-handed measures. Look at how successful TSA has been. Did you not see that news report where they were able to smuggle weapons past them,despite all the groping?
All gun control laws do is keep law-abiding citizens from getting guns. That’s all they’re able to do. I believe that you may even have the best intentions here.You probably really don’t want things like this to happen and are arguing in good faith.Do you think I,or any of us, WANT these tragedies to happen? Nobody does.
But gun control laws will not stop them. Nothing will. You have a choice,either deal with an imperfect system and evil people occasionally victimizing the innocent,or victimize the innocent yourself and become an evil person. MORE guns would have saved these people,not less. In fact,after the Lincoln assassination it should have become standard policy to carry a gun into the theater for one’s own safety.
Facing an armed movie-going public,this man would have either never attempted his insane stunt or would have claimed far fewer lives.
Oh, you mean like Eric Holder does through the ATF???
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg and Deputy Attorney General David Ogden held a news conference to announce the U.S.-Mexico Border Security Policy. March 24, 2009
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/MexicoBor&start=800
If Eric Holder did not know about the gun running tasks of the ATF, why did he give this speech in 2009?Attorney General Eric Holder at the Mexico/United States Arms Trafficking Conference CUERNAVACA, MEXICO ~ Thursday, April 2, 2009 http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-speech-090402.html
You didn’t state the obvious–If someone had been carrying in that theater fewer people would have died. I am sure some of those several hundred Mexicans killed by Fast and Furious guns would have enjoyed having a weapons for defense. Mexico doesn’t allow citizens to have guns. Of course, the criminals can get them. They always do. Why are there so many murders in gun strict Chicaco?
You do realize the vast majority of these episode take place in a “Gun Free Zone” and/or a state or locality with strict gun laws?
Yes that includes the Giffords shooting in Arizona, as Safeways post “No Firearms Allowed”
“Do we really need 800 gun shops in Phoenix where one can go and buy 20-30 semi automatic rifles and sell them shortly thereafter?”
Do we really need 800 book shops in Phoenix where one can go and buy 20-30 Marxist tracts and sell them shortly thereafter?
“Do we really need 800 gun shops in Phoenix where one can go and buy 20-30 semi automatic rifles and sell them shortly thereafter?”
The only individuals recently performing this type of dastardly deed were agents of the Department of Justice.
Gun laws affect only law-abiding citizens. By restricting access the only thing you prevent is the ability of the law-abiding to protect themselves. Anyone that is planning to break any other law can be expected to ignore gun laws as well.
The gunman in this case picked a theatre chain that does NOT allow legal firearms to be brought into the cinema. Huh, wonder why he selected that cinema? You don’t think it was because he was less likely to be confronted by multiple attackers, do you?
If that’s true, the survivors (and relatives of the dead) should all file multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the company for leaving them helpless in the face of lethal aggression by depriving them of their right of self-defense. The actual damages alone might well run them out of business. Get the NRA, USCCA and other other gun-rights groups to file briefs on their behalf. These hoplophobic businesses need to be held accountable for their asinine edicts. Do they really believe a homicidal maniac is going to look at their “No Guns” sign and say to himself “Damn, I can’t take my gun(s) in there. Guess I’ll have to go somewhere else.”??
Liberalism truly is a mental disorder.
“Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples’ liberty’s teeth.”
George Washington
Innocents Betrayed, The True Story of Gun Control!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=137bWHaAA1o
The ONLY control necessary at this time, is control of the ignorance and hatred spewing forth from the media and gun control advocates.
There needs to be legislation passed that requires this totally irresponsible speech to be punished by fine and imprisonment, with minimums for each phase.
From what I understand, this PhD student was devastated by the fact that he spent an enormous amount of time studying to become a physician, and was severely distraught because ObamaCare is going to rob him of his future as a doctor.
AND ALL THIS AFTER HE WAS SUCH A STAUNCH SUPPORTER OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY.
It is a simple verifiable fact that every mass shooting in this country was ended when the shooters were confronted with force at which point they were killed, captured, or took their own lives. That force can come from law enforcement or private individuals with the means to exert it. The media beats mercilessly over each and every high body count shooting, yet barely notices those that came to a swift halt from the presence of an armed individual.
Pearl river school, Appalachian School of Law, Colorado Springs church, Salt Lake City mall, all were limited to a few dead because the shooter was met with deadly force by someone armed or who was able to retrieve a gun from nearby.
Someone bent on violence will always find a way to obtain the means to harm people. If not guns then chemicals, explosives, or for that matter box cutters and airplanes. All gun free zones do is give a false sense of security to the ignorant and uninformed. Remember, both Virginia Tech and Fort Hood were gun free zones as was that movie theater.
Hi, there’s a style problem or some thing concerning web browser compatibility having said that I thought I should post to advise you. The style and layout look great nevertheless
First and foremost, I want to extend my condolences to the families of the victims in Aurora. Needless and senseless. A tragedy that I believe someone knew was just waiting to happen but didn’t step up.
I disagree with the gun control zealots. Until we learn how to control the mental stability of individuals, the nature of man’s violence will continue. How many innocent civilians were killed in Iraq because one group wanted to exert control and authority over another? Same thing.
Just last week a bus load of Israeli citizens were killed when an individual exploded a bomb. Same thing, one group or individual wanting to exert control and authority over others. On Tuesdays, Barack Obama decides who will live and who will die under the eye of his drone aircraft. How many civilians are killed? Going about their daily lives when a missile explodes. How is it that Obama has that authority? He doesn’t, he just takes it.
We are a sad nation today and a sad world. Evil exists and more and more, it seems to be prevailing.