Dressed to Kill

Would someone legally carrying a concealed weapon have been able to stop James Holmes from massacring 12 innocent movie-goers and injuring dozens more at the cinema in Aurora, Colo.?

 A pro-gun, gun-owning, Second Amendment advocate friend says, “Probably not.”   The problem, he says, is that Holmes was dressed to kill.  He was not only armed with the latest assault weapons, but clad practically head-to-toe in the latest bullet proof armor.  In addition to the chest protector, which covered him to his chin, he was also wearing a bullet-proof (begging your pardon) crotch protector, leggings and combat boots.  He was also wearing the latest in bullet proof helmets, which left only a small portion of his face exposed.

Once he got back into the theater, also wearing a hazmat suit and gas mask, he released a canister of gas which not only asphyxiated the audience but obscured any clear shot of him.  Holmes had his “performance” well-planned.

More information has been released about Holmes.  According to a report in the UK Telegraph, emulating his idol, late actor Heath Ledger, he told police that he’d taken 100 mg of the prescription drug vicodin, the same drug on which Ledger overdosed and died.  Vicodin side-effects can include euphoria, paranoia and, in rare cases, hallucinations.

“He described his fascination with altered states of mind in a lecture to other students, and dosed up on prescription medication before the atrocity, it emerged on Sunday.

“The first video footage of the suspect showed him as an awkward, nervous 18-year-old giving a talk at a science summer camp in San Diego on "temporal illusions". It also emerged that in the days before the attack, Holmes, a cannabis smoker, joined a dating website seeking women for ‘sexy times’ and also tried to join a gun club.

“The University of Colorado said it was investigating whether he used his position as a

neuroscience PhD student to order materials that he used to booby-trap his apartment.”

Other reports say that he was refused membership to Denver gun club due to bizarre behavior.

As soon as the furor has died down, gun control advocates will use this tragedy as ammunition to argue for further gun control and repeal of the Second Amendment.  Their energies would be better spent criminalizing drugs.   Still, if they insist on decriminalizing and even legalizing drug use, that’s all the more reason for citizens to legally own firearms in order to protect themselves.

Concealed carry has a good reputation:

·         Concealed carry laws have reduced murder and crime rates in the states that have enacted them. According to a comprehensive study which reviewed crime statistics in every county in the United States from 1977 to 1992, states which passed concealed carry laws reduced their rate of murder by 8.5%, rape by 5%, aggravated assault by 7% and robbery by 3%.(4)

·         Guns are used 2.5 million times a year in self-defense. Law-abiding citizens use guns to defend themselves against criminals as many as 2.5 million times every year—or about 6,850 times a day.(1) This means that each year, firearms are used more than 80 times more often to protect the lives of honest citizens than to take lives.(2)
http://gunowners.org/fs0404.htm

Concealed carry would not have helped in this particular situation, but it has helped in millions of others.  Meanwhile, we shake our heads and say no one could see this coming.  But, while there are few details due to the ongoing investigation, those that have surfaced indicate clear warning signs.

This was a young man who enjoyed experimenting with “altered states of mind.”  Unfortunately, since the Sixties, this has not only become an accepted part of our culture (think Woodstock), but it’s celebrated and about to be legalized, even as owning a gun for self-protection becomes a criminal offense.  He smoked pot and who knows what else.  He had Batman paraphernalia and was clearly a fan of the demented fictional character, The Joker.  Note the distinction between the character and the actor who portrayed him in 2008, Heath Ledger.

Our future is almost as scary as Gotham City.  Drugs being legalized, the lunatics will run the asylum.  Society will have only two choices to arm themselves or become a police state, with children having to go through metal detectors and possibly pat-downs at the local cinema just to be able to watch a movie, where the lunatics will be free to get high on their drug of choice. 

But it’ll be okay because even if you can’t carry a firearm into the theater in case one of the lunatics takes into their head that they’re the villain up on the screen, Swat Teams will be stationed at every exit in case of trouble.

And someone can always send up the Bat Signal.