The Usual

The suspect in the killing of 12 people at a Colorado screening of the new Batman movie had colored his hair red and told police he was "the Joker," according to a federal law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation. Police say James Holmes, 24, was dressed in protective gear and set off two devices of some kind before firing from an AR-15 rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and at least one of two handguns recovered. A source said Holmes carried a magazine capable of holding more than 100 rounds and that his guns were purchased legally in the past six months.
Watch the latest now on CNN TV and follow updates on CNN's mobile apps and http://cnn.com/thisjustin. Anderson  Cooper will anchor "AC360" from Colorado tonight at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET. --CNN 

"Watch new blood on the 18-inch screen....The corpse is a new personality....Each day new dead."  Gang of Four

President Obama's visit to Aurora (and the other comments/visitations by other high and mighty folks) doesn't do a thing for me.  Of course, I'm not the victim. or a family member of a victim of the latest lunatic gun freak--maybe it does something for those poor individuals, but I doubt it.

Not to be cynical, but Obama isn't going to say anything which will rile up the gun owners, at least until after the election.  He's got some misguided notion that some of those who are single-issue opponents of any and all gun restriction are somehow going to vote for him.  It's true that his grade as President, from the point of view of the Brady Center, the one group willing to stand up and oppose indiscriminate sale of guns all over the country, is a flat "F"--which means he's done nothing to restrict guns, everything that he could do to support their sale--but, really?  Obama?  I don't think so.

After the election, when the next (inevitable) crazed lunatic with his cache of automatic weapons, infinite supply of ammunition, and whatever else he (I was going to say "he/she", but I will say that there has never been a gun-toting lunatic mass-killing woman, credit be to thy gender) can amass pops up and blows away a few or a few dozen innocent unarmed civilians, what will Obama say then, I wonder?  Will he have the guts to stand up and say "Enough!"  Will anyone in high office have the guts?  Again, I doubt it,  but in the meantime, I'd bet that paranoid gun nuts all over the country are stocking up (once again) right now, just in case.

What is needed is the equivalent of a credit bureau for guns--it doesn't have to be run by the Federal government, but it needs to have full participation--by law--of all gun dealers, gun show participants, and private sellers.  A nut case pops up--buying too much of the wrong weapons, with the wrong frequency, in the wrong places--he gets the equivalent of the "full cavity search, no-fly" treatment.   That would be my solution, along with reinstating rules found in all other civilized countries (or I should say, all civilized countries?)  that civilians may not bear arms in public without a license.  That's asking far too much, I know.

It seems that everyone is resigned to the fact that there will always be these odious, hate-filled, insane monsters that will emerge every so often in American society (it's running about once a year, if the minimum standard is double-figure deaths), and they will kill until someone brings them down, and nothing will or should be done to stop them. or at least make it more difficult for them to assemble their arsenals of insanity.  I have not given up to that extent yet.