Thoughts On The Colorado Shootings

I haven't commented on the tragedy in Aurora for several reasons, not the least of which is that others have already done so more comprehensively and thoughtfully than I can. OldNFO, for example, posted his thoughts here, along with links to other bloggers commenting on the subject. Brigid gave us her usual insightful perspective here. Stilton Jarlsberg and his readers offer some comments worth reading here.

Nevertheless, I would like to make a couple of points. The first relates to the media vultures and political opportunists who, as OldNFO said, are dancing in the blood of the victims. The second point touches on the fallacy lunacy of gun-free zones.

In their disgraceful yet sadly predictable rush to judgement the political opportunists and their media lapdogs were already casting blame before the blood on the movie theater floor was dry. Brian Ross of ABC wins First Prize in the misinformed reporting category for falsely (and quite likely maliciously) linking the shooter to the Tea Party. Way to go, Brian. You're carrying on a long tradition of biased and inaccurate 'journalism.'

How bad was Ross' 'reporting?' It was bad that even Jon Stewart found it appalling: “What Story Does a Guy Have to Blow to Get in Trouble at ABC?"

Honorable mention goes to NBC correspondent Michael Isikoff, who is now blaming Bush for the killings. According to Isikoff, the AR-15 used in the Aurora shootings would have been illegal if it wasn't for Bush's lifting of the assault rifle ban back in 2004.

I'm sure someone intent on mass murder would have obeyed the law and not used an illegal weapon...

Once the left's attempt to blame conservative people and organizations failed, they turned their guns on ... guns. If it's not the right's fault then it must be the gun's fault, right?

"We have to face the reality that these types of tragedies will continue to occur unless we do something about our nation's lax gun laws," according to democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.

Based on what I know of my readers, I realize I'm preaching to the choir here, but stricter gun control legislation won't prevent tragedies like this. One thing that might have prevented, or at least mitigated, the loss of life in that Colorado theater would have been the presence of a legally armed patron or two. Of course, the very notion of private citizens being allowed to carry firearms is anathema to the left. For one thing, they contend that concealed carry laws are ineffective at best in a deranged shooter scenario.

"...film critic Roger Ebert rushed to decry America's "insane" gun laws in a New York Times op-ed. Within the piece, he pooh-poohed concealed carry laws by noting that no one in the theater shot back at the gunman.

Ebert is correct: no one shot back. What Ebert didn't bother to mention -- and probably didn't even know -- is that the Cinemark theater chain has a "gun-free zone" policy.

And who obeys rules and regulations? Law-abiding citizens; the type that get concealed carry licenses.

Who doesn't obey them? Criminals and lunatics.

Who's left defenseless against criminals and lunatics? The law-abiding citizens.

I guess that chain of logic is too difficult for liberals to follow.

I just wish we as a nation would put as much passion into remembering the victims, helping the survivors, and comforting their families and friends as we do pointing fingers and assigning blame.

UPDATE: Here's a link to an eerily similar situation in Colorado back in 2007. The difference? The shooter "encountered a law-abiding citizen who was armed:"

Jeanne Assam … said she “did not think for a minute to run away” when a gunman entered the New Life Church in Colorado Springs and started shooting.

“I saw him coming through the doors” and took cover, Assam said. “I came out of cover and identified myself and engaged him and took him down.” …

Murray was carrying two handguns, an assault rifle and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, said Sgt. Jeff Johnson of the Colorado Springs Police Department. …

...Assam’s actions saved the lives of 50 to 100 people.

In the words of Peter, Paul, and Mary, "When will they ever learn?"