The way I look at it, if a murderous lunatic has their heart set on indiscriminately killing people, all the gun control in the world ain't going to stop them.  They'll make a bomb, use a car, sh*t you can run through a mall with a samurai sword and kill loads of people before getting gunned down by the authorities or gun-wielding citizen.

I tend to think there really isn't much ya can do about the lone lunatic, not without unintended consequences making all of the society the lesser for it.  The police state has grown in leaps and bounds over the last 50-60 years, killing each other remains.

And like Slayer said, it's very very rare (thank goodness).  Never a good idea to react in haste to such rare, though unimaginably horrible, tragedies in ways that effect us all, all the time.  9/11 shoulda taught us that.

I am all about the second amendment, but I am not down with large quantities.  Need a couple to defend yourself, cool, I got one myself.

And I also think we need to start holding the people who's guns end up in criminals hands.  I get it, they get stolen, but owning a gun to me is a huge responsibility. And beyond maybe a yearly exemption of 1, if your gun is used in a crime by a criminal, you get that privileged revoked or get slapped with a huge fine.  Something so that beyond the HD weapon, the rest are locked tight.  Make legal gun owners have some accountability when their guns fall in the wrong hands.

Every illegal gun on the street was legal at some point.

We need to reduce the number of guns IMO, but not at the expense of people who want to protect themselves.  I like love the Constitution, but I don't like that the second Amendment to some supersedes my inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  there has to be a common ground in which the Constitution is respected as well as inalienable rights we all have.

But as far as this and other rampage shootings, there ain't no law that's gonna help.  The Constitution allows all of us that right and unfortunately there is no way to predict who is capable of this kind of carnage.  Rarely are felons the ones behind the triggers.

This is the work of one deranged person. No gun law would have prevented him from acting. He would have robbed or stolen one or made a bomb and potentially killed more people. His apartment was filled with booby-traps and explosives.

Federal gun laws already preclude the mentally ill from possessing firearms.

Section 922(g), a part of the amended Gun Control Act of 1968, forbids gun possession by nine classes of individuals: felons, fugitives, addicts or users of controlled substances, the mentally ill, illegal and non-immigrant aliens, the dishonorably discharged, renouncers of their citizenship, those subject to court orders for harassing, stalking, or threatening intimate partners or their children, and those convicted for misdemeanor domestic violence.

Apparently, the shooter has confessed, he was a a graduate student in neuroscience and a recluse. He dropped out of school last month.

"The University of Colorado Denver-Aschutz Medical Campus can confirm that Holmes was in the process of withdrawing from the University of Colorado Denver's graduate program in neurosciences."

I'm more interested in what caused Holmes to do such a horrible thing, whether there were warning signs and whether, had someone been paying attention and sought help for him, this could have been avoided.

The gunman apparently entered through the back exit door. Where was security? This was a hugely promoted movie opening.

I recommend taking a day to reflect on the tragedy before bringing politics and guns into it. But as long as the discussion here is civil and free of blatant misrepresentations, you can discuss it. Please do not link to gun control groups and petitions for more gun control.

"You have the right person."

Waking up around 6 a.m. & getting ready for early walk with my dog (before the hot of the day) & turning on the radio to hear if the "world was still there" before going outside, I found that "the world" wasn't quite there.  In fact, for a minute, my mind thought it was listening to the first reports of Columbine again.