Shooting blame game cites guns, violence, poverty

By Michael Thompson

The shooting at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater that left 12 dead and another 59 injured is not the fault of the nation's strong Second Amendment, nor is it the result of violence in movies, poverty or lack of education, according to a number of experts and WND columnists who commented today on the tragedy that happened at a screening of the latest "Batman" movie.

Police have said James Holmes, 24, was armed with at least four guns – a shotgun, a rifle and two handguns – and while he surrendered without a fight when confronted by police he also left his nearby apartment booby-trapped with apparent explosives.

The suspect, a student of neuroscience, had painted his hair red and was wearing numerous pieces of protecting gear, including a gas mask.

Several of the shooting victims remain in critical condition.

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WND columnist Erik Rush, who is based in the nearby city of Fort Collins, said the blame need to be placed where it belongs – with the shooter.

"While the actions of the shooter here were abhorrent and atrocious, we have to remember that this was a lone, disturbed individual. Armed Colorado residents have actually saved more lives than were lost in Aurora, and it bears mentioning that one armed patron could have taken this guy out easily," Rush said today. "If anything, it's a good argument for looser gun laws, not stricter ones."

He continued, "The anti-gun zealots trying to make political hay out of this while the bodies are still being counted is reprehensible, but reprehensible is standard operating procedure for the political left. The left is fighting for its life right now, because a lot more Americans have gotten wise to their compulsion to control us. This is illustrated quite handily in their ongoing determination to abolish or subvert the Second Amendment."

One of those activists, CNN's Piers Morgan, had tweeted, "Horrendous details from this Colorado cinema shooting. America has got to do something about its gun laws. Now is the time."

Rush pointed out that the media tried to use the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona last year to demand gun control and immediately tried to connect the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, to the tea party or conservative politics.

The same thing happened today, when ABC linked the suspect to the tea party, then quickly withdrew the claim.

"With absolutely no evidence, the media narrative for the Loughner shooting last year became an example of 'right-wing extremism' though no link was ever found," Rush said.

Ted Baehr, of Movieguide®, said the Second Amendment will be just one of the attack targets because of the shooting.

"The shooting at the midnight showing of 'The Dark Knight Rises' will be blamed on many things," he said. "One reporter who called me this morning blamed it on violence in movies. Certainly, violence in movies, television, and video games has had a tremendous impact on society. Over 500,000 studies, capped by the latest Dartmouth University study, show that violence in the media influences susceptible youths to commit violence. That said, most people are not susceptible. Most are just desensitized or scared.

"Another reporter blamed it specifically on the Batman movies. Yet, 'The Dark Knight Rises' is nowhere near as violent as the last Batman one, and Batman himself tells Catwoman not to kill. The message of 'The Dark Knight Rises' is justice and self-sacrifice. The villains and the killers in the movie are the socialist left-wing Occupy Wall Street power to the people villain Bane and his compatriots, who are clearly shown to be wrong, evil, and bad, and who get their comeuppance. It would have been almost impossible for this killer in Colorado to have even seen the new Batman movie before the 12:30 screening," Baehr continued.

"Some people will blame it on guns, although countries that have tried hard to crack down on guns, like England, are now finding that knives and head-butting are out of control. Thus, it isn't the head-butting or the knives, but the fact that people, who, as the Bible says, don't know the loving God who gave us a way of salvation through Jesus Christ, are stewing in the juice of their own wickedness," the leader in Hollywood family fare continued.

"Some people will blame poverty, or a lack of education. But James Holmes, the alleged killer, is getting his doctorate in neuroscience and came from an upper middle class family!"

While "every possible reason" will be explored, including "maybe the fact that Holmes was a Democrat and hated the anti-socialist message of the movie," Baehr said.

But he said the tragedy simply is attributable to evil.

"This is an evil act committed by an evil person, who did not know the truth of Jesus Christ that would set him free from such wickedness. The answer is not more laws, the answer is not to banish movies, nor neuroscience programs, nor weapons that can be used to protect, but rather to get the Word of God out. Because 'faith comes through hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ (Romans 10:17).'"

WND columnist Matt Barber agreed, although the horrific nature of the attack injected a touch of sarcasm into his commentary.

"Clearly, what our nation needs is more 'separation of church and state.' If those obnoxious, right-wing Bible thumpers would simply quit bellowing about the need for revival – a return to the deeply-held Judeo-Christian principles embraced by our Founding Fathers – America would be a much better place. Secular-humanism; that's the ticket! We need more reliance on man and less on God," he wrote.

Turning serious, he said, "One of the victims killed was a 3-month old baby. Another was 6. … Like most decent Americans, I am sickened today – mournful in a way words cannot describe. Please join me in the coming hours, days and weeks in, yes, praying for the victims, their families and the state of our lost union."

But he said no one should be surprised by such violence.

"If we're honest, we're not surprised. We've become almost numb to such reports – desensitized to what, only a few short decades ago, would have been unimaginable. Although no one is to blame for this man's objectively evil actions but he alone, those actions are, sadly, a dreadful sign of our desperate times. "

He said, "I submit that our culture of death derives from somewhere far beyond just Hollywood. The 'theater of cruelty' spans from sea to shining sea. Just one example, though a big one, is America's ongoing capitulation to the horrific abortion violence carried-out under cover of man-made law each day – an equally evil phenomenon.

"Beneath the euphemistic banner of 'reproductive choice,' hundreds of women elect to have their own babies slaughtered in the womb daily. Children – those who dodged the abortion bullet anyway – aren't stupid; they're just young. From this, they can only deduce that, according to our culture, human life is cheap and meaningless," he said.

"So why are we surprised when people like the 'Batman killer' act accordingly?"

He said, "We as a nation – as a people – have turned our backs on God. We have rebelled against Him and have forgotten that it was He and He alone who gave us 200-plus years of prosperity, unprecedented in world history. We have left Him, so why are we surprised He's leaving us? We have said, 'We don't need you, leave us alone.'

"And so He has."