I just don't understand what people get out of killing random people. :nope:

Just a nit to pick, but it was an AR-15 There is no such thing as an AR-15 Assault Rifle. The AR-15 only looks like an assault rifle.

Unless he illegally modified it, the AR-15 is Semi-Automatic fire only.

A tiny nit that makes no difference to the people killed or their families. :nope:

It is an assault weapon though, and frankly a semi automatic AR-15 is just as dangerous as a selective fire M16.

It actually puts it in the right perspective...calling it just AR is walk around.
They did not say it was MG.

It did have a 100 round drum magazine, hard to believe you can get a hold of something like that, but with the internet, anything is possible now days!

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20...-magazine?lite

The SF Chronicle was just full of calls for "sensible" gun control laws which is fine by me, but we already have those and they only work for the "sensible" people. We have all kinds of laws on the books and they don't stop anyone from breaking them whenever they choose to. I could buy one of those AR15's privately inside a day or two if I wanted one and outside of the current sensible gun control laws so how will more laws change that?

All I can say is Lange has it right, these folks, the victims families, the people sitting near the victims will be sitting alone at some point in the future and this will return, shock like this never leaves a person they carry it forever.

I can understand a man who lives 50 miles for the nearest neighbour needing a gun or rifle, but assault rifles, madness. It's laughable when look at films where a fella has a cellar with his own personal armoury like Tremors, I laugh myself. But the brutal reality is these young people where all just starting out on their lives, the adventure had just begun only to be snuffed out by a lunatic with a gun fettish. It's about time the dead and rotting hand is cut off and buried as far as assault rifles are concerned.

Strict gun control laws wont stop a determined person or criminal from acquiring an illegal firearm.The 100 round C-magazines are not illegal in most states you can walk into a gun store and buy one if they have them.

Now what is more interesting to me is the fact that he had a Kevlar helmet (conturay to popular belief they are not actually bullet proof) a Kevalr vest (legal to a certain grade) neck and leg protectors (not legal as far as I am aware).

If you are going to ban one type of firearm because someone might use it to cause carnage you might as well ban them all.A killer could kill just as many people with a bolt action hunting rifle.

I see no evidence that this person had a gun fetish it seems to me that he was a nutcase that wanted to kill and cause carnage and he used guns to do it.If he had no guns he would have made homemade bombs or something of that nature he actually did have some rigged explosives so if he made pipe bombs should we ban hardware stores from selling pipes and nails?

I most certainly have sympathy for victims of such events but to go and ban firearms because it happened solves nothing.If they did get banned the next crazed person would just acquire them illegally or find another method to cause carnage.

The only way to effectively try to prevent such things in public locations would be to have better security.In the old days they had an usher in each theater all the time and they where always checking to make sure that people where not going out the fire exits.That was what allowed this gunman to attack he was able to come in a back door and put himself in a controlling position.If he had been forced to come in through the front of the building he would have attracted unwanted attention and been forced to attack in the lobby when most people where inside the theaters they would have been alerted and been able to escape via the fire exits.The movie theater had easily exploitable security.

The authorities have neutralised at least three threats and are now inside the apartment:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18937726

@Neal...looks like the death penalty is an option:
http://www.examiner.com/article/deat...olorado-gunman

Like others, I've called this guy a nutcase. To do something like this you would have to be insane! But, how insane is he?

Look at the planning that went into this senseless act. From the outfit he wore, to the weapons he had, including the gas grenade, plus the explosive devices he planted in his apartment. That is some serious planning to pull that off. Someone who just snaps and starts shooting, usually doesn't do a lot of detailed planning like this.

Going to be interesting how his mental state plays out in court.

I think he might have slipped over time he earned a masters in 2010 and spent some time looking for work without success then he enrolled in a phd program in CO that is very demanding and he was not doing well in the courses and ended up with drawing from the course.

Seems like this Holmes was a fairly successful student and ran into trouble it is also possible that he had mental issues that people where not even aware of and the stress of his recent failures caused mental issues that perhaps he had been able to restrain over take him.


I am not saying that is an excuse and even if he has serious mental issues he can still know right from wrong.Just because someone is a "nutcase" does not mean that they cant plan a course of action in their mind the goal seems logical.I personally do not think that any person simply "snaps" it is a process that takes time months or even years and they might plan for a long time before they act before they have the complete will to act.

@Jimbuna just because a state has the death penalty does not mean that they will carry it out. California has death but no man on death row has been put to death since 2006.Compare that to Texas and Florida FL executed an inmate in April 2012.Texas put a man to death just a few days ago.Colorado last put a man to death in 1997.In some states it is really symbolic(stupid if you ask me) in ohters you actually will be dead man walking.Some in Florida and Texas have only spent 2 or 3 years on death row.

His actions may already prove in the end he wasn't actually insane :hmm2:

Colorado reinstated the death penalty in 1975 as Jim pointed out, but they\we have only executed one person since then, and we have 3 criminals currently on death row.
I predict this guy will get a death sentence, but whether it is ever carried out is questionable.

To qualify for the death sentence in Colorado you need only establish one of the following criteria. #12 certainly is in play here.

Colorado-
(1)The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, cruel, or depraved (or involved torture)
(2) The defendant knowingly created a grave risk of death for one or more persons in addition to the victim of the offense
(3) The defendant killed the victim while lying in wait
(4) The murder was committed for pecuniary gain or pursuant to an agreement that the defendant would receive something of value
(5)The defendant caused or directed another to commit murder, or the defendant procured the commission of the offense by payment, promise of payment, or anything of pecuniary value
(6) The murder was committed to avoid or prevent arrest, to effect an escape, or to conceal the commission of a crime
(7) The defendant has been convicted of, or committed, a prior murder, a felony involving violence, or other serious felony
(8) The capital offense was committed by a person who is incarcerated, has escaped, is on probation, is in jail, or is under a sentence of imprisonment
(9) The victim was a government employee, including peace officers, police officers, federal agents, firefighters, judges, jurors, defense attorneys, and prosecutors, in the course of his or her duties
(10) The victim was an elected or appointed official or former official of the federal government, or local or state government, and the killing intentionally prevented the victim's official duties
(11)The murder was committed against a person held as a shield, as a hostage, or for ransom
(12)The defendant used chemical, biological, or radiological weapons and/or the person intentionally killed more than one person in one criminal episode
(13)The victim was a pregnant woman and the defendant intentionally killed the victim, knowing she was pregnant
(14)The defendant committed treason
(15)The defendant's possession of the weapon used to commit the class 1 felony constituted a felony offense under the laws of the state
(16)The defendant intentionally killed more than one person in more than one criminal episode
(17)The defendant committed the class 1 felony against the victim because of the victim's race, color, ancestry, religion or national origin

What method is used in carrying out the death sentence?

lethal injection