More details emerge about Colo. shooting suspect
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AURORA, Colo. (AP) - Shooting suspect James Holmes applied to join a Colorado gun range last month but never became a member because of his behavior and a "bizarre" message on his voice mail greeting, the range's owner said Sunday.
Holmes, 24, emailed an application to join the Lead Valley Range in Byers on June 25 in which he said he was not a user of illegal drugs or a convicted felon, said owner Glenn Rotkovich.
But when Rotkovich called to invite him to a mandatory orientation the following week, he said he heard Holmes' voice mail greeting that was "bizarre - guttural, freakish at best."
It identified the number as belonging to "James," so Rotkovich said he left a message.
He left two other messages but eventually told his staff to watch out for Holmes at the July 1 orientation and not to accept him into the club, Rotkovich said. His comments were first reported by Fox News.
"There's something weird here," Rotkovich said he concluded.
Holmes is being held without bond on suspicion of multiple counts of first-degree murder after a shooting rampage minutes into a premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" early Friday that left 12 people dead and 58 wounded. He is scheduled for an initial hearing Monday and has been assigned a public defender.
The gunman's semiautomatic assault rifle jammed during the attack at the Aurora movie theater, forcing him to switch to another gun with less firepower, a federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press. That malfunction and weapons switch during the shooting rampage might have saved some lives.
As the investigation into the massacre continued Sunday, the University of Colorado said it was looking into whether Holmes used his position as a graduate student to order materials in the potentially deadly booby traps that police said they found in his apartment.
Holmes got deliveries over four months to his home and school, authorities have said. The university is looking into what was received at the school to assist police with their investigation, said spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery.
The suspect was described as a budding scientist, brimming with potential, who pursued a graduate program even as he planned the attack with "calculation and deliberation," police said.
Holmes' apartment was booby trapped with jars of liquids, explosives and chemicals that could have killed "whoever entered it," Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said, noting it would have likely been one of his officers.
Investigators spent hours removing the explosive materials Saturday.
Inside the apartment, bomb technicians neutralized a "hypergolic mixture" and an improvised explosive device containing an unknown substance, said James Yacone, an FBI special agent. There also were containers of accelerants, creating "an extremely dangerous environment," he said.
Oates said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he had never seen a booby trap as elaborate as what was found in the apartment.
By late Saturday afternoon, all hazards had been removed from the apartment and residents in surrounding buildings were allowed to return home, police said.
The exception was Holmes' apartment building, where authorities were still collecting evidence. Authorities covered the windows of Holmes' apartment with black plastic to prevent anyone from seeing in. Before they did, a man in an ATF T-shirt could be seen measuring a poster on a closet that advertised a DVD called "Soldiers of Misfortune." The poster showed several figures in various positions playing paintball, some wearing masks.
Police left the apartment building carrying a laptop computer and a hard drive about 8 p.m. Saturday.
President Barack Obama left Washington for Colorado on Sunday to visit with the families of victims. The city of Aurora planned a vigil to remember the dead and wounded in the shooting later in the evening.
Congregations across Colorado prayed for the shooting victims and their relatives. Churches sent out social-media appeals for neighbors who wanted to join in remembrance. Elderly churchgoers at an aging Presbyterian church within walking distance near Holmes' apartment joined in prayer, though none had ever met him.
Among the dead was a 6-year-old girl and a man who died on his 27th birthday and a day before his wedding anniversary. Families grieved and waited at hospitals, which reported at least seven people still in critical condition as of Sunday.
While authorities continued to refuse to discuss a possible motive for one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history, details about Holmes' background as a student and would-be scientist trickled out.
He had recently withdrawn from the competitive graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Denver, where he was one of six pre-thesis Ph.D. students at its Neuroscience Program to be funded by a prestigious grant from the National Institutes of Health. The program of 35 students is dedicated to training outstanding neuroscientists and academicians who will make significant contributions to neurobiology, the university said in a statement.
In the first year of the five- to seven-year program, students take classes and complete three, three-month research rotations in the labs of different professors.
Professors who worked with him either did not return calls or declined to comment, saying police and university officials had told them not to speak to the media.
At one point in the year, Holmes was engaged in research about RNA and was to present a paper May 8 about RNA Biomarkers, according to a class schedule. It was unclear if he presented the paper.
Holmes recently took an intense, three-part oral exam that marks the end of the first year. Those who do well continue with their studies and shift to full-time research, while those who don't do well meet with advisers and discuss their options, including retaking the exam.
University officials would not say if he passed, citing privacy concerns.
The university said Holmes gave no reason for his withdrawal, a decision he made in June.
Individuals who commit acts of mass violence often have suffered some kind of loss and aren't able to bounce back from it, said Barry Spodak, a behavioral threat assessment consultant who has worked with the Secret Service and the U.S. Marshals Service.
"Individuals who carry out acts like this of mass violence tend to perceive themselves to have suffered significant losses or failures and the people around them have generally been worried about their ability to deal with it," Spodak said.
Spodak has not spoken with Holmes or been involved in the investigation. FBI behavioral analysts from Quantico, Va., were assisting in the investigation, FBI spokesman Dave Joly said Sunday.
Holmes was not allowed access from the institution after his withdrawal, which was "standard operating procedure" because he was no longer affiliated with the school, Montgomery said. Holmes had no contact with university police, she said.
In a resume posted on Monster.com, Holmes listed himself as an "aspiring scientist" and said he was looking for a job as a laboratory technician.
The resume, first obtained in Holmes' home state of California by The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, paints a picture of a brilliant young man brimming with potential: He worked as a summer intern at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla in 2006 and mapped the neurons of Zebra finches and studied the flight muscles of hummingbirds while an undergraduate at the University of California, Riverside.
He also worked as a cabin counselor to underprivileged children at a summer camp in Los Angeles in 2008. In a statement, Camp Max Straus confirmed Holmes had worked there for eight weeks. The camp provided no other details about Holmes but said such counselors are generally responsible for the care and guidance of roughly 10 children.
Ritchie Duong, a friend who has known Holmes for more than a decade, told the Los Angeles Times that in high school he liked to play cards and video games. They both attended undergraduate school at the University of California, Riverside, where they saw each other once a week to watch the TV show "Lost."
Duong last saw Holmes in December when they met for dinner in Los Angeles and saw a movie together. His friend seemed fine, he told the newspaper.
Academics came easily to Holmes both at high school and at the UC Riverside, Duong said.
"I had one college class with him, and he didn't even have to take notes or anything. He would just show up to class, sit there, and around test time he would always get an 'A,'" said Duong, 24.
Holmes was being held in solitary confinement for his protection at a Denver-area county detention facility.
During the attack early Friday, Holmes set off gas canisters and used the military-style semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun and a pistol to open fire on the unsuspecting theater-goers, Oates said. Holmes had bought the weapons at local gun stores in the past two months. He recently purchased 6,000 rounds of ammunition over the Internet, the chief said.
The gun that jammed had a high-capacity ammunition magazine, according to the federal law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the investigation. Police have said that a 100-round drum magazine was recovered at the scene and that such a device would be able to fire 50 to 60 rounds a minute.
The federal official spoke on condition of anonymity to in order to discuss the investigation, said the disabled weapon
Holmes also bought an urban assault vest, two magazine holders and a knife for just over $300 on July 2 from an online supplier of tactical gear for police and military personnel, according to the company. Chad Weinman, CEO of TacticalGear.com, said his company processes thousands of orders each day, and there was nothing unusual in the one that Holmes placed.
The Batman movie, the last in the trilogy starring Christian Bale, opened worldwide Friday with midnight showings in the U.S. "The Dark Knight Rises" earned $30.6 million in the midnight screenings, and, according to industry estimates, roughly $75 million on that day as a whole. That put it on track for a weekend total of $160 million.
That amount would surpass the $158.4 million debut of "The Dark Knight" in 2008 and give "Dark Knight Rises" the third-highest domestic weekend opening ever after the 3-D films "The Avengers" with $207.4 million and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" with $169.2 million.
The shooting was the worst in the U.S. since the Nov. 5, 2009, attack at Fort Hood, Texas. An Army psychiatrist was charged with killing 13 soldiers and civilians and wounding more than two dozen others.
Across the street from the movie theater, a man who placed 15 crosses near Columbine High School after a 1999 massacre there has returned to Colorado with 12 crosses for the victims of Friday's shooting.
Greg Zanis, of Aurora, Ill., began putting up the 3 1/2-foot-tall crosses Sunday on a hill across the street from the Century 16 theater.
___
Associated Press contributors to this report include Mead Gruver, Thomas Piepert, Kristen Wyatt, Steven K. Paulson, Ivan Moreno and P. Solomon Banda in Aurora; Dan Elliott, Colleen Slevin in Denver; AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle in New York; M.L. Johnson in Chicago; Brian Skoloff in Salt Lake City; Monika Mathur and Jennifer Farrar at News Research Center in New York; and Alicia A. Caldwell and Eileen Sullivan in Washington.
Holmes, 24, emailed an application to join the Lead Valley Range in Byers on June 25 in which he said he was not a user of illegal drugs or a convicted felon, said owner Glenn Rotkovich.
But when Rotkovich called to invite him to a mandatory orientation the following week, he said he heard Holmes' voice mail greeting that was "bizarre - guttural, freakish at best."
It identified the number as belonging to "James," so Rotkovich said he left a message.
He left two other messages but eventually told his staff to watch out for Holmes at the July 1 orientation and not to accept him into the club, Rotkovich said. His comments were first reported by Fox News.
"There's something weird here," Rotkovich said he concluded.
Holmes is being held without bond on suspicion of multiple counts of first-degree murder after a shooting rampage minutes into a premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" early Friday that left 12 people dead and 58 wounded. He is scheduled for an initial hearing Monday and has been assigned a public defender.
The gunman's semiautomatic assault rifle jammed during the attack at the Aurora movie theater, forcing him to switch to another gun with less firepower, a federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press. That malfunction and weapons switch during the shooting rampage might have saved some lives.
As the investigation into the massacre continued Sunday, the University of Colorado said it was looking into whether Holmes used his position as a graduate student to order materials in the potentially deadly booby traps that police said they found in his apartment.
Holmes got deliveries over four months to his home and school, authorities have said. The university is looking into what was received at the school to assist police with their investigation, said spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery.
The suspect was described as a budding scientist, brimming with potential, who pursued a graduate program even as he planned the attack with "calculation and deliberation," police said.
Holmes' apartment was booby trapped with jars of liquids, explosives and chemicals that could have killed "whoever entered it," Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said, noting it would have likely been one of his officers.
Investigators spent hours removing the explosive materials Saturday.
Inside the apartment, bomb technicians neutralized a "hypergolic mixture" and an improvised explosive device containing an unknown substance, said James Yacone, an FBI special agent. There also were containers of accelerants, creating "an extremely dangerous environment," he said.
Oates said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he had never seen a booby trap as elaborate as what was found in the apartment.
By late Saturday afternoon, all hazards had been removed from the apartment and residents in surrounding buildings were allowed to return home, police said.
The exception was Holmes' apartment building, where authorities were still collecting evidence. Authorities covered the windows of Holmes' apartment with black plastic to prevent anyone from seeing in. Before they did, a man in an ATF T-shirt could be seen measuring a poster on a closet that advertised a DVD called "Soldiers of Misfortune." The poster showed several figures in various positions playing paintball, some wearing masks.
Police left the apartment building carrying a laptop computer and a hard drive about 8 p.m. Saturday.
President Barack Obama left Washington for Colorado on Sunday to visit with the families of victims. The city of Aurora planned a vigil to remember the dead and wounded in the shooting later in the evening.
Congregations across Colorado prayed for the shooting victims and their relatives. Churches sent out social-media appeals for neighbors who wanted to join in remembrance. Elderly churchgoers at an aging Presbyterian church within walking distance near Holmes' apartment joined in prayer, though none had ever met him.
Among the dead was a 6-year-old girl and a man who died on his 27th birthday and a day before his wedding anniversary. Families grieved and waited at hospitals, which reported at least seven people still in critical condition as of Sunday.
While authorities continued to refuse to discuss a possible motive for one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history, details about Holmes' background as a student and would-be scientist trickled out.
He had recently withdrawn from the competitive graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Denver, where he was one of six pre-thesis Ph.D. students at its Neuroscience Program to be funded by a prestigious grant from the National Institutes of Health. The program of 35 students is dedicated to training outstanding neuroscientists and academicians who will make significant contributions to neurobiology, the university said in a statement.
In the first year of the five- to seven-year program, students take classes and complete three, three-month research rotations in the labs of different professors.
Professors who worked with him either did not return calls or declined to comment, saying police and university officials had told them not to speak to the media.
At one point in the year, Holmes was engaged in research about RNA and was to present a paper May 8 about RNA Biomarkers, according to a class schedule. It was unclear if he presented the paper.
Holmes recently took an intense, three-part oral exam that marks the end of the first year. Those who do well continue with their studies and shift to full-time research, while those who don't do well meet with advisers and discuss their options, including retaking the exam.
University officials would not say if he passed, citing privacy concerns.
The university said Holmes gave no reason for his withdrawal, a decision he made in June.
Individuals who commit acts of mass violence often have suffered some kind of loss and aren't able to bounce back from it, said Barry Spodak, a behavioral threat assessment consultant who has worked with the Secret Service and the U.S. Marshals Service.
"Individuals who carry out acts like this of mass violence tend to perceive themselves to have suffered significant losses or failures and the people around them have generally been worried about their ability to deal with it," Spodak said.
Spodak has not spoken with Holmes or been involved in the investigation. FBI behavioral analysts from Quantico, Va., were assisting in the investigation, FBI spokesman Dave Joly said Sunday.
Holmes was not allowed access from the institution after his withdrawal, which was "standard operating procedure" because he was no longer affiliated with the school, Montgomery said. Holmes had no contact with university police, she said.
In a resume posted on Monster.com, Holmes listed himself as an "aspiring scientist" and said he was looking for a job as a laboratory technician.
The resume, first obtained in Holmes' home state of California by The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, paints a picture of a brilliant young man brimming with potential: He worked as a summer intern at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla in 2006 and mapped the neurons of Zebra finches and studied the flight muscles of hummingbirds while an undergraduate at the University of California, Riverside.
He also worked as a cabin counselor to underprivileged children at a summer camp in Los Angeles in 2008. In a statement, Camp Max Straus confirmed Holmes had worked there for eight weeks. The camp provided no other details about Holmes but said such counselors are generally responsible for the care and guidance of roughly 10 children.
Ritchie Duong, a friend who has known Holmes for more than a decade, told the Los Angeles Times that in high school he liked to play cards and video games. They both attended undergraduate school at the University of California, Riverside, where they saw each other once a week to watch the TV show "Lost."
Duong last saw Holmes in December when they met for dinner in Los Angeles and saw a movie together. His friend seemed fine, he told the newspaper.
Academics came easily to Holmes both at high school and at the UC Riverside, Duong said.
"I had one college class with him, and he didn't even have to take notes or anything. He would just show up to class, sit there, and around test time he would always get an 'A,'" said Duong, 24.
Holmes was being held in solitary confinement for his protection at a Denver-area county detention facility.
During the attack early Friday, Holmes set off gas canisters and used the military-style semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun and a pistol to open fire on the unsuspecting theater-goers, Oates said. Holmes had bought the weapons at local gun stores in the past two months. He recently purchased 6,000 rounds of ammunition over the Internet, the chief said.
The gun that jammed had a high-capacity ammunition magazine, according to the federal law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the investigation. Police have said that a 100-round drum magazine was recovered at the scene and that such a device would be able to fire 50 to 60 rounds a minute.
The federal official spoke on condition of anonymity to in order to discuss the investigation, said the disabled weapon
Holmes also bought an urban assault vest, two magazine holders and a knife for just over $300 on July 2 from an online supplier of tactical gear for police and military personnel, according to the company. Chad Weinman, CEO of TacticalGear.com, said his company processes thousands of orders each day, and there was nothing unusual in the one that Holmes placed.
The Batman movie, the last in the trilogy starring Christian Bale, opened worldwide Friday with midnight showings in the U.S. "The Dark Knight Rises" earned $30.6 million in the midnight screenings, and, according to industry estimates, roughly $75 million on that day as a whole. That put it on track for a weekend total of $160 million.
That amount would surpass the $158.4 million debut of "The Dark Knight" in 2008 and give "Dark Knight Rises" the third-highest domestic weekend opening ever after the 3-D films "The Avengers" with $207.4 million and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" with $169.2 million.
The shooting was the worst in the U.S. since the Nov. 5, 2009, attack at Fort Hood, Texas. An Army psychiatrist was charged with killing 13 soldiers and civilians and wounding more than two dozen others.
Across the street from the movie theater, a man who placed 15 crosses near Columbine High School after a 1999 massacre there has returned to Colorado with 12 crosses for the victims of Friday's shooting.
Greg Zanis, of Aurora, Ill., began putting up the 3 1/2-foot-tall crosses Sunday on a hill across the street from the Century 16 theater.
___
Associated Press contributors to this report include Mead Gruver, Thomas Piepert, Kristen Wyatt, Steven K. Paulson, Ivan Moreno and P. Solomon Banda in Aurora; Dan Elliott, Colleen Slevin in Denver; AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle in New York; M.L. Johnson in Chicago; Brian Skoloff in Salt Lake City; Monika Mathur and Jennifer Farrar at News Research Center in New York; and Alicia A. Caldwell and Eileen Sullivan in Washington.
I am not about trampling on people's 2nd amendment rights, but this guy bought 3000 rounds of .223 ammo, 3000 rounds of pistol ammo, and 350 rounds of shotgun ammo through the internet. I just have to say that if you buy more than two boxes of pseudo-ephedrine at the drug store in a 2 week period, the DEA will be knocking at your door. Why can't there be some kind of tracking system with the ammunition by the ATF that could raise a red flag?
I say let him out on $1 bail and let him go until the trial with no police protection.
What really surprised me is that there was nobody in the theater with a CCW who returned fire. I know when it happened there was confusion, but once everybody realised what was going on, a citizen with a handgun could surely have at least slowed him down, if not taken him out. I am so saddened for all of the victims.Â
 @Gottadance That would probably be a sure death wish, the guy was up-armored, had a 12 guage shotgun, 2 glock pistols, and an AR-15 firing in rapid succession. Besides, people don't normally go to the movies by themselves, it's usually with a loved one, I would think that a person would be too busy fleeing the theater than making a sure target of your loved one next to you (probably clinging to your arm) as you return fire.
@Gottadance I Started out thinking the same thing. I have since changed my mind. I and two of my close friends (all who CC, including the wives as well), were discussing the scenario, and 'what if we were in that theater? What if, all 6 of us, who are all armed pretty much all the time were in a row in that theater?' .  We all pretty much came to the conclusion that, as CC'ers, we would have taken cover on the floor first. Given the darkness of the theater, the smoke he created, and the general confusion, we pretty much agreed that returning any sort of meaningful, aimed fire, would have been impossible under the circumstances. By the time such a opportunity to return any fire had opened, in our media described version of the events, the shooter had left the building, and the attack was over. Now, not being there, and arm chairing it, means we are making some gross assumptions, but just imagining the scenario for us, would have resulted in us all three making these decisions, and in this order 1: taking cover to protect our lives 2: make sure our loved ones are safe, and have taken cover (floor?) 3: Check our friends, are they safe, and 4: do we need to take action to insure 1-3. To be honest, I am not going to risk my life unless 1-3 are threatened directly, and speaking in generalities here, I am going to say most CC'ers would follow the same.Â
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It is exceedingly rare, and the province of the movies, that the hero emerges to protects the sheep. The popularity of such movies as Batman validates this assumption.
As you start your week, think about the possibility of yourself or a loved one being killed by a stranger who purchased several guns legally. And thank the NRA and their cult followers for the freedom to fear for our lives in the hands of crazy people who are legal gun onwers. Your legally purchased gun either at home or in your car will not save your children in schools, cafes or movie theaters. I guess our freedoms include the freedom to die by gun or riffle and semi-automatic weapons. Thank you NRA, my family and I are really pleased that you have our backs. Not!!
@Socialjusticeforall
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You are absolutly correct, which is why i am an advocate for expanding Conceal Carry permits to everyone, everywhere. Imagine how the world would be if at any time, someone who entered a school, theater, post office or office building knew that, by opening fire, they would face several armed individuals ready and willing to protect those under their supervision? I suspect the casualty numbers of such attacks would dwindle to nothing, if not disappear all together.  With the exception of the Ft Hood shooter, our deranged killers always, ALWAYS seem to seek 'soft, unprotected' targets.Â
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I really Wonder what whould happen if there was no such thing as a 'soft, unprotected' target?
@Socialjusticeforall First of all my thoughts and prayers go out to the families may your loved ones be celebrated and RIP .
Now as to your comment about the guns . If the fellow didnt have the guns  he might have just walked in the back door with two cans of gas and blown the whole place up killing everyone . Stopping the sale of guns wont stop CRAZY PEOPLE  from killing .Â
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 @Socialjusticeforall So it's the NRA's fault now? Maybe I should resign my membership, I didn't know it made you crazy!
My main thought about this is that schizophrenia often sets in in males in their 20s. If he was away from home, dropping out of school and not keeping many social connections, it is possible that it could have gone more or less unnoticed. Perhaps the pattern of schizophrenia is just a coincidence and he is totally sane, I just have a very, very hard time comprehending someone being capable of planning such a thing without there being something very wrong in his brain.
I'd really like to know how an unemployed (that's what I gather from the coverage thus far) could afford 2 Glocks (at about $500 each, and an AR-15, about $1,000 or more, depending upon accessories) AND a whole lot of tactical gear (not cheap), AND all the chemicals and accessories to booby-trap the apartment. I think there's a lot we DON'T know. This whole scenario just doesn't add up to "random mass killing by seemingly normal guy gone beserk".
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@mccwife I heard on the news this morning that he has spent 11,000.00 in the last several months. That sure is alot of money for a college student.
and I almost forgot - this guy had NO criminal history whatsoever, just a stupid speeding ticket from 2011...and then out of the blue he plans and executes a mass killing and then gives himself up to the cops with no resistance AND warns them about the apartment?  And then he lawyers up and becomes uncooperative once he gets to jail? None of this makes sense.
@mccwife Can you say "False Flag"?
We need a restrictive amendment to the 2nd amendment that states how many guns and types of guns private owners can hold in their possession. We need that so a citizen will not be capable of gunning down so many people in an ambush like what happened in the movie theater. A private citizen does not need to own an assault rifle for personal protection or any firearm capable of holding a clip or magazine larger than 10 shots. This is also a technology world and keeping track of personal guns sales needs to be mandated. The tracking would be by a national database system. Each owner purchasing the gun would have their drivers license scanned into a computer keeping track of the type of gun bought. Then if the same owner tried buying another gun somewhere else, they would be check in the computer and denied purchase of another gun if that gun were the same type already owned. The amendment to the amendment would also state that private ownership would be only two guns each.
Maybe a great idea ? But keep in mind if someone is CRAZY  nothing will stop them from finding a way to kill nuts  is nuts  no way around it .
@longarmofthelaw a better idea would be to outlaw murder of any kind. no types of murder would be legal. Passing such a law would have prevented this, and all future murder.
 @longarmofthelaw A) He didn't have an assault rifle, he had a watered down look alike. B) Restricting the number of firearms has no affect on situations like this. If the dude carried 75 weapons into the theatre instead of 74 would he be more dangerous? No he would just need a bigger wheel barrow. C) Who are you to say what a private citizen needs for protection. Every situation is different. While its not likely they would need it but it won't hurt. D) The registration of weapons has like impact on what people do with them. It only helps determine who did it after the fact. In this case the guy was caught right afterward and they didn't need to look up a single firearm to see who did it. Either way its an after the fact situation that won't prevent much, though if we get some thug off the street for one crime then they would not be able to do another. That is the only real use this might be its not worth the risk of having providing the government with a list of every home to visit should they decide to do something really really bad. I know tons of people that do a lot of different things with firearms and your "2 guns each approach" would infringe that  a lot. You want to take away a fundamental right and replace it with your arbitrary idea of what is right when you don't even that what you suggest is ineffective. We don't have a gun problem in the US we have a criminal problem. Focus on the problem not the tool used in crime. Then you will have actual results that make a real difference.
More laws restricting our personal freedoms are not the answer! If that reasoning worked then we should have more laws restricting how many cars you can own because they kill more people then guns.Â
 If laws are going to change things for the better how about changing the laws that govern our elected and non-elected officials. Letâs start with campaign reform and making lobbying illegal, stop treating corporations to the same rights a citizen. Change the way our county is mismanaged, reallocate some of the funds to help the struggling people get back up and you would have less people going under and going crazy!!!
Maybe the media can deny the monster the attention his so craves by stopping using his name and picture.
I read on article that said the shooter had taken 100mg of Vicodin before the incident. That's what they gave me after I had a c-section and even at the smallest dose it still messed me up. How could he function on so much?
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I wonder if he had a drug addiction that messed him up in the head. Could it explain why he dropped out of his graduate program? I've heard that prescription pain killers can really eff someone up...
While I do want this guy punished to the full extent of the law, I do think there is valuable information to be gained by finding out the why and motivations in to such an act. But after that, a date with a needle or whatever Colorado has on hand is fine by me.
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 @Schmiml Whatever reasons he gives will never be enough for the mother of that little girl, or the other victims and their families. I see nothing to gain by his explanations.
@Gadsden Believe me, I know that. I don't think there is any answer that could be satisfactory in this, or any other crime that is like it.
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 I merely point out that if we can learn anything that can help prevent another tragedy like this,it would be nice to know. And as I said--then do whatever they want to him.
 @Schmiml I do understand your point, and you are right. IF there is anything to gain from his testimony/confession then yes, it would be valuable. I just think it doesn't matter what he says, it will never make sense and we will never understand it.
Just give him a shot and put him to sleep !
Just put him to REST !
someone in prison will put him to rest because there are fathers of 6 year old girls in prison.
A quick once-through of this story and a 100-level class in psychology tells you everything you need to know about what happened here. Here's a kid who has never struggled academically in his life. He breezes through classes, scoring A's with little or no effort. Then, all of a sudden, he finds himself in a competitive and challenging graduate program, isn't passing muster, and for the first time in his academic career faces failure. He's obviously not used to asking for help, and may even be incapable of it. So he does the one thing that seems to make some sort of twisted sense to his psyche: he commits a brazen act of violence that he knows will get him the help he knows he needs but can't ask for.Â
 @Mikeftm We had this identical situation happen at my college. A straight A student left college, moved here and started working for Boeing. He discovered that not everything just came to him and he actually struggled instead of sailing through. He committed suicide. As a result the college brought in a teacher that had real world experience and he brought reality to the classes so students knew what the real world was like and were better prepared for it.
This guy doesn't deserve to breathe another breath. Give him to the victims families and be done with him.
I know this is not a popular way to look at this but part of me is glad he did not get ofted or decide to oft himself.
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Maybe we can actually gain some insight into what his mindset was before doing this and maybe just maybe we can stop more of these from happening.
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As well he can now sit around thinking about what he did.
He won't cause tax payers a lof because
someone in prison will put him to rest because there are fathers of 6 year old girls in prison.
 @sunnysandiego Yes, if he was killed instead of apprehended we would not be able to question him. In my opinion, even if he explains why he did it and what he was thinking, it doesn't matter. It will never make sense.Â
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What insight could we gain to stop more of these? He bought guns, ammo, and tactical gear? Well that will narrow it down to millions of people, and nothing illegal. He checked the single and not an NRA member boxes on his Gun Club registration, so did I.
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Yes, there may be explanations given by this monster, but I doubt anything constructive can come out of it.
 @sunnysandiego Who knows what drives someone to that extreme?  I have suffered losses that would drive some people insane, yet others bear much more than I have.  There is no predicting, or preparing for such a tragedy.
 @sunnysandiego Maybe when we understand how sane people think and decide, then we can move on to the insane. Until then, categorizing as simply crazy will have to do until this evil creature is removed from the earth.
 @LockesChild everyone starts out sane and some go insane.  Studying what happens to the sane when they go insane to the point of wanting to kill another is a bad idea?  I don't think it is.  But hey that's just me.  So many are filled with hatred they are unable to see this as an opportunity to possibly save lives in the future and to me that is sad.
Can anyone help me as to why semi-automatic weapons are legal? Their purpose seems to be only mass killings, obliterating your target, or something equally sinister.
 @Rentonmark Semi-automatic weapons, i.e., rifles and pistols can fire as fast as you can pull the trigger until the magazine is empty. Fully automatic weapons or a fully automatic setting on a weapon that can be fired in a 3 round burst per trigger squeeze or fired continuously without releasing the trigger until the magazine is empty. Fully automatic rifles are illegal to own by a person unless a tax stamp by the ATF and it has to have been made prior to May 1986 according to the National Firarms Act. With that being said, it is perfectly legal for someone without a criminal record or judged mentally ill to on a semi-automatic rifle that has a barrel atleast 16 inches, rifle overall length of 26 inches, and not converted to fully automatic in most states, some other states such as California requires the rifle to have a non-collapsable stock and bullet button magazine release with a 10 round magazine installed which would need a special tool to remove it.
 @Rentonmark Considering how many MILLIONS of semi-automatic weapons are in the US and that statistically almost none have been used for mass killings I would say your point is a little, ok a lot , weak.
because the government wants votes and is too afraid to tackle issues with gun legislation. They may make promises for change but especially when it is gun legislationm they will never follow through. This is what i feel need to happen.
We need a restrictive amendment to the 2nd amendment that states how many guns and types of guns private owners can hold in their possession. We need that so a citizen will not be capable of gunning down so many people in an ambush like what happened in the movie theater. A private citizen does not need to own an assault rifle for personal protection or any firearm capable of holding a clip or magazine larger than 10 shots. This is also a technology world and keeping track of personal guns sales needs to be mandated. The tracking would be by a national database system. Each owner purchasing the gun would have their drivers license scanned into a computer keeping track of the type of gun bought. Then if the same owner tried buying another gun somewhere else, they would be check in the computer and denied purchase of another gun if that gun were the same type already owned. The amendment to the amendment would also state that private ownership would be only two guns each.
 @longarmofthelaw You my friend are what is called a moron. We already did that and guess what smart guy crime went up(assault weapon ban of 1994). Ban expired and guess what crime went down. Look it up. "Assault rifles" are used in less than 1% of crimes, so how are they the bain of society?
I am with rentonmark !!!.... NONE of my semi-automatic weapons here at home have ever killed anyone nor will they EVER unless they put my life or those I love in mortal danger!!!.....Guy runs out of my house with my TV let him go,...... guy comes after me or my loved ones then I donât want to have to reload, I will unload a clip into his chest!!!
Why penalize us law abiding citizens for someone who is crazy? If they were illegal he would have simply acquired one illegally, because we all know how prohibition works out now donât we?? It leaves us law abiding citizens without the means to protect ourselves.
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Focus on the real problem like why people are cracking in our society!! Everyone starts out precious and innocent until something goes horribly wrong!! 99% of us out here are perfectly loving, generous, kind people who want to love our lives in peace. But if a crazy person comes after me I want to be able to defend myself and my loved ones!!
What I meant I am with Gadsden, I am missing that edit option with this new commenting forum!!
 @Rentonmark None of my semi-automatic firearms have ever been apart of mass killings, obliterating anything other than paper targets, or anything sinister what-so-ever.Â
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 @Rentonmark Can anyone help me as to why murdering people is legal? Oh wait, its not. I wonder why it happens then? For that matter why are cars legal, they kill more people than guns murder per year, why not make them illegal? So you take away the gun but you have other killers that have killed many more people without using guns like Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgeway or John Wayne Gacy. I am pretty sure strangulation and being stabbed to death and down right torture to death is illegal but it still happens. And each of the people I mentioned killed at least 2X more people and maybe reaching 10X more people. Please realize that a fixation on an inanimate item is not going to solve anything, people will still get killed. Focus on the human issues and then we can have a chance of no one getting killed even if nuclear weapons were legal.
@Rentonmark I think you mean automatic weapons. The majority of pistols are semi-automatic.
So let me get this straight...has really WASN'T influenced by Rush Limbaugh or the Tea Party?
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Hear that? It's the sound of 10,000 Capitol Hill residents stamping their petulant little feet in disappointment.
 @Mumblix GrumphÂ
Yeah he was a member of Occupy wall street movement.
@wynooheeman @Mumblix Grumph I heard that too but it's unconfirmed -- and my name isn't Brian Ross and I don't work for ABC News.
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Don't expect the media to report on that though (or that he was a registered Democrat) - even if it's proven beyond a doubt. Doesn't fit the narrative.