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Posted: Jul 22 2012 01:10 pm

Michael Moore said it in Bowling For Columbine.

Posted: Jul 22 2012 05:07 pm

Feel free to blast me for being a liberal for this, but a big part of the problem in the US vs. Canadian gun crime difference is the greater wealth disparity and the fact that our poverty rate here in the US is almost three times what Canada's is. Syd's right when he says that gun ownership isn't the problem in and of itself. But crime is usually carried out by the poor, so that's where I think the real problem comes from.

Posted: Jul 22 2012 05:14 pm

Most violent crime is carried out by the poor because they have nowhere else to turn. That's the way of street life, kind of like mob warfare without the money or organization. Very few steal out of necessity, they steal because they see something they want and they get it.

This guy was just criminally insane, and if you take it in the right light, at least with this tragedy, it will be of great scientific use if they can study this guy's brain patterns or history. We didn't get that with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (Columbine).

Posted: Jul 22 2012 05:19 pm

Right. Which goes along with what I said earlier. If we're having a real conversation about gun rights, it needs to be about gun crime in its normal sense. These randomized acts of spree violence are a different creature entirely, and not one that has a political solution.

Posted: Jul 22 2012 07:19 pm

I live in Colorado, about an hour away from where this tragedy struck. Sad, just fuckin sad.

2011 SNES Champ Joined: Dec 04 2006 Posts: 1929

It happened in the US, so for once we shouldn't see that "not guilty because insane" bullshit.

As for gun control, in Canada you need to pass a safety and regulations test to get a firearm license, and there's a waiting period of at least 28 days if it's your first firearm.

I don't understand how owning guns could be useful, but I don't live in the US either, so maybe I don't get it.

Posted: Jul 23 2012 06:08 pm

Urbanites usually don't. They tend to see guns as tools of violence, where those of us with a more rural persuasion simply see them as tools. Urbanites usually don't have to hunt, shoot animals attacking their livestock or defend themselves when the only cop in a 30 mile radius is off duty. It gives you a certain perspective.

2011 SNES Champ Joined: Dec 04 2006 Posts: 1929

I've lived in a rural area. My father had 3 guns and sometimes shot small animals that would keep eating or destroying the crops.

But those were rifles, not pistols, and those I'm pretty sure are way more popular. I haven't seen many people defend their livestocks with pistols though. Or ever had to defend against any animal, because they're in the middle of a big city.

So, I still don't get it Sad

Posted: Jul 23 2012 08:20 pm

This happened only an hour and a half or so north of me, even closer to where the Columbine shooting occurred. People around here are taking it pretty hard. One of my coworkers went off on a customer that joked about it, because he knows people that were in the theatre at the time of the shooting.

Posted: Jul 23 2012 11:40 pm

You don't EVER joke about four things (no particular order):

1) Grandparents
2) Cancer or someone with Cancer
3) Child Sex Abuse
4) Murder/Mass Violence.

Posted: Jul 23 2012 11:43 pm

Shut up, Dorn wrote:

You don't EVER joke about four things (no particular order):

1) Grandparents
2) Cancer or someone with Cancer
3) Child Sex Abuse
4) Murder/Mass Violence.

I agree with number 3 but the others are fair game, you just have to not be really dumb and know just when to joke, otherwise it can be bad.

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

@om*d wrote:

Shut up, Dorn wrote:

You don't EVER joke about four things (no particular order):

1) Grandparents
2) Cancer or someone with Cancer
3) Child Sex Abuse
4) Murder/Mass Violence.

I agree with number 3 but the others are fair game, you just have to not be really dumb and know just when to joke, otherwise it can be bad.

And yet, I've heard jokes about number three. Kind of saddening.

Posted: Jul 24 2012 12:23 am

Drew Linky wrote:

@om*d wrote:

Shut up, Dorn wrote:

You don't EVER joke about four things (no particular order):

1) Grandparents
2) Cancer or someone with Cancer
3) Child Sex Abuse
4) Murder/Mass Violence.

I agree with number 3 but the others are fair game, you just have to not be really dumb and know just when to joke, otherwise it can be bad.

And yet, I've heard jokes about number three. Kind of saddening.

If not infuriating.

Posted: Jul 24 2012 12:00 pm

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

Yeah, I can't sum it up any better than that picture.

But I thought the issue was clear at this point--the gun was illegally obtained, so gun control is not the issue at hand.

And yet, I see numerous people on Facebook arguing this point. It's frustrating.

Posted: Jul 24 2012 03:04 pm

Uhm, Drew...

Posted: Jul 24 2012 09:03 pm

Nothing is off limits to joke about. There are, however, forums that are appropriate for certain types of ideas. For instance, I can't tell my grandma an old lady rape joke...mainly because she's dead and her ears have decayed. Rimshot. Most jokes are based on a need to offset the very real existence horrible ideas or situations. Jokes are most of all a coping mechanism.

Title: an horse Joined: Feb 26 2012 Posts: 170

Bale went and visited the surviving victims in hospital. I think that is pretty cool.

I was talking about this with my partner a bit, she hates all the super hero movies because she thinks it polarizes good and evil too much. I think that's an interesting topic. With people becoming more dissociated from reality because of drugs, T.V. internet and then movies like this being more 'based on realism, than say 1960's Batman. I've felt this way about the Kick-Ass comic books (especially Kick-Ass 2), as they tend to delve in to the effect that kids have reading about heroes and villains and then acting out these fantasies. The vest and gas mask the guy was wearing, was that because he thought he'd be shot at or theatrics?

There's also a lot of talk of 99 and 1% and conspiracy theories of Illuminati and Bilderberg. I wonder if a lot of the more suggestible people are starting to polarize more, and start thinking in a more us - vs - them mentality. The new Rainbow Six game's villains are 'Sovereign Citizens' who want to steal from big corporations to give it back to the people. They're the bad guys. The media is becoming saturated with this sort of thing.

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

Fighter_McWarrior wrote:

Uhm, Drew...

Well... fuck.

Joined: Aug 04 2009 Posts: 2515

Lasher wrote:

There's also a lot of talk of 99 and 1% and conspiracy theories of Illuminati and Bilderberg. I wonder if a lot of the more suggestible people are starting to polarize more, and start thinking in a more us - vs - them mentality.

Well that mentality birthed modern France!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution

I presume you are talking about that part in the film.

Also the Bale thing was really nice of him!

Posted: Jul 25 2012 01:54 pm

I do kinda feel like this film had some political overtones that I'm not really that fond of. I still liked the movie, but I see your point, Lasher

Banned Joined: Sep 13 2008 Posts: 3129

Shut up, Dorn wrote:

You don't EVER joke about four things (no particular order):

1) Grandparents
2) Cancer or someone with Cancer
3) Child Sex Abuse
4) Murder/Mass Violence.

3 is awful, but the jokes do exist.

also the other things get joked about all the time.
Hell, if South Park doesn't turn this incident into a Coon episode I'll be surprised.

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

Ok, yes.

Posted: Jul 25 2012 05:27 pm

In to say Christian Bale kicks MAJOR ass for doing that. I hope it made their days a little brighter.

Posted: Aug 06 2012 09:38 am

So apparently hospitals are alright with Christian Bale coming to visit their patients (granted that was just for the Aurora victims), but Batman is turned away? If they're worried kids will be scared from a psycho like the one in Aurora, I'd think someone dressed like Cletus Kasady would freak them out a lot more.

From: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/07/batman-impersonator-s-appearances-canceled-after-colorado-shooting-78302.html

Lenny Robinson, a Batman impersonator who visits hospitalized children across the country, has found himself without a lot of gigs after the shootings in Colorado.

Robinson says the hospitals are worried he'll scare children instead of bringing a bright spot to their day.

For years, Robinson has been spreading a message of strength and hope to those in need.

Robinson is probably best known as the "Route 29" Batman after police pulled him over for only having a Batman license plate. When they found out he was heading to Georgetown Hospital in his Batman-themed Lamborghini, he was not ticketed.

Monday, the Maryland man visited a hospital in Indianapolis.

"Everybody is just lifted into a much higher spirit, and you see tears turn to smiles," Robinson said.

His cross-country tour started six weeks ago when he picked up a custom made Bat Mobile in British Columbia, Canada. While heading east to his home in Maryland, he's made more than a dozen stops.

But something unforeseen and unforgettable happened along the way.

On July 20, a dozen people attending a midnight showing of the latest Batman installment were gunned down. Fifty-eight others were injured.

Robinson was in Idaho at the time.

"My heart broke, and I felt such sorrow," he said.

In the wake of the tragedy, Robinson said administrators at hospitals in St. Louis and Chicago called off his scheduled visits, fearing his presence may upset the young lives he's trying to brighten.

Robinson added, "I want to be a person to help resolve situations and help do things that are good...if my appearance would be the opposite then I'm not doing what my mission is all about."

He says he understands and respects the cancellations.

"... it's not about me, and it's not about Batman. It's about the kids that are in the hospitals fighting 24/7 for their lives."

He says since the Colorado shooting, no one during any of his performances has brought up the incident.