Another day, another movie theater shooting in America: Nashville Edition. Open Thread

Canada. Seriously. Keep the guns down there! (or better yet, stop giving out guns, much better solution)

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Was there a time when movie theaters didnā€™t have sticky floors?

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Soon after they were built, I imagine. But they also used to have a little more time between showings to do cleanings.

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Itā€™s not so much copy cat as much as ease. Shooting people in a theater is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. Iā€™ve a feeling this will be the preferred method of mass shootings for the foreseeable future.

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Aye and thereā€™s the rub.

But the notion of a mental health evaluation for the criteria of ā€œlikely to harm self or othersā€ as a pre-condition for obtaining a firearm reliably generates howls of indignation that are even louder than the wails of those mourning their dead loved ones.

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Ah, lovely part of the world. Here in the Uk the same problem is happening. While the US gun apologists think we have a knife problem (erm, not really) we do have a growing gun problem with people trying to emulate the US way of thinking.

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iā€™m liking your post, not for the content which is a great sadness, but for the recognition of the phenomenon.

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We point to the UK as an example of a police force without guns! As we think our police do too much shooting!
I cannot imagine what it feels like to live in a place where foreseeably everyone is armedā€¦ against what? Is there a war going on I donā€™t know about?

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ā€œAmerica: What the fuck?ā€ My thoughts: weā€™re overstimulated on caffeine and junk food and junk lives; a steady diet of violent movies, video games, and sick tv shows where the hero, the guy weā€™re rooting for, is a bad guy (Dexter, Hannibal, True Detective, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Nurse Jackie.) I blame Postmodernism. When Bad Guys are Good Guys (or ā€œantiheroesā€), when we make our own realities and weā€™re all special little snowflakes and Nobody Else Matters, itā€™s a breeding ground for mental illness, confusion, depression, and The Horrorā€¦The Horror, as well as an increasing number of tragically confused little Travis Bickles and Jokers running around looking for a reason to lose their shiznit. Seriously: just think about it. If our enterainment is people hurting each other on the big screen in more and more creative / humorous / edgy ways, and ā€œheroesā€ being coldly and beautifully (?) brutal, and we LIKE it, isnā€™t the next logical step that of taking it to reality-level? A thing is what it is. We canā€™t unsee the horrors we embrace as entertainment: the only solution is to not see them, watch them, in the first place. I donā€™t think weā€™ve had any mass shootings at, eh The Muppets have we? Or The Bridges of Madison County? Letā€™s put it this way: if I even see it at all (which is doubtful, judging by the trailer) I think Iā€™ll wait to see Suicide Squad on DVD.

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Iā€™ve always wondered the same thing. Itā€™s hard to look to someone else ā€“ be it an individual, an organization, or a country ā€“ for ideas while chanting ā€œWeā€™re #1ā€. Itā€™s not that Iā€™m against national pride, but admitting to ourselves that weā€™re not #1 at everything is step 1 in finding a solution thatā€™ll get us closer to the top.

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Yet, when these events occur, people call police. Then, instead of one or two shooters, there might be dozens.

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Bingo!

I believe that is the gist of @Mister44 's post up thread.

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I canā€™t speak for Xeni, but Iā€™d settle for simultaneous film releases in theaters and via streaming services, so that I donā€™t have to choose between having the movie inevitably spoiled and being part of some unhinged asshatā€™s shooting gallery.

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Sometimes itā€™s not the floor thatā€™s sticky.

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That theory starts to break down when you note that lots of other countries are watching those same violent movies and TV shows, but no other first-world country experiences mass shootings on a regular basis.

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I thought Canada had a pretty large gun ownership culture already, but without all the mass killings?

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Come on up and claim your handgun!

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The pro-gun folks could not care less about a particular shooting death or shooting deaths in general. They donā€™t care. Ask them. Theyā€™ll either say it out right, or theyā€™ll get to it eventually.

Big part of the equation is a lack of affordable access to mental health professionals. Combine that with easy access to guns, itā€™s a miracle we donā€™t see more of these events.

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Theyā€™ve also got moose to keep them in check.

Like the old joke says:

Q: Where does an 600kg moose eat donuts?

A: Tim Hortonā€™s, eh?!!!

 

I forgot my point; Iā€™m so sorry.

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It is not the police. Outside of SO19 and the boys and girls who patrol the ports, there are still no police guns on the streets.

But the kids (by ā€˜kidā€™ I mean anyone under my current age, 44) in certain very urban areas are picking up guns. Mostly to shoot each other it has to be said. Why? Emulating the US, as expressed in TV shows and movies. This is purely my ā€˜reckonā€™ view on the world, Iā€™m not offering any evidence for it.

I will say that I feel very safe walking around most major city areas that could be considered unsafe. London, Leeds, Manchester. For a number of reasons:

  1. The most likely worst thing that could happen is Iā€™m beaten up. Yes, not good, but I live to another day.
  2. I can phone or approach a policeman in the knowledge he or she will help me as much as they can, even if they feel Iā€™m in the wrong.
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