Notice that no one ever desires to shoot up good movies.

Kudos to the mom for calling it in. That would be a tough realization to come to about your own child - I'm sure a lot of folks would convince themselves it wasn't true until it was too late.

That mom deserves a medal.

I'm starting to dread the upcoming The Hobbit release ...

But maybe we'll luck out and the crazies for that one will try to use swords instead of guns.

So, if he only plans a massacre, does he still get his picture in the paper and a bunch of think-pieces about his psychology and motivations?

@5 Yes. Didn't you click on the link?

Why is he held on bond instead of remanded?

well, in his defense it was a twilight crowd.

Because guns don't kill people; people off their medication can by 300 rounds of ammunition to kill people.

@7 Because what's the worst that can happen?

This is because his name is spelled Blaec. Way to go, mom.

@7: Well, since he didn't ACTUALLY shoot dozens of people, the charges are not as serious.

today we had an offshore oil rig explosion, israel going to war, and a (narrowly averted) movie theater shootup. The news is on re-runs and I don't like it.

Originality fail.

I think it has to do with the vulnerability of movie-goers.

You're in the dark. Your attention is focused entirely on the screen. You're sitting perfectly still, with your torso and head completely exposed. In other words, you're a sitting duck.

Most psychopaths are interested in easy targets. That,s why serial killers are attracted to socially marginalized targets, outsiders, children, people without self-confidence or family connections, people who are physically or mentally easy to isolate and then harm.

Psychopaths of low-intellect are more prone to mass killings while those of higher intellect are more prone to serial murder, since the former involves very little need for mental agility (just point and click) and the latter requires great skill in hunting, charming, destroying evidence and evasion.

Unfortunately, this has the danger of becoming a trend among low-intellect psychopaths with murderous intent. School shootings were once extremely rare, but since the 1990's they have become increasingly popular for the same reasons that theatre shootings would make an attractive venue for a spree-killer.

This is also possibly the psychology behind airline hijackings.

Mom denies own son's Second Amendment rights. At least five years in the slammer for that.

There's a reassuring negative feedback loop here. Living with one's mother might make you into the sort person that wants to shoot up a cinemaplex, but it also makes it more difficult to get away with.

Premeditation is still a crime no matter what weapon is used.

However if this man had bought a large SUV and bragged about wanting to run over cyclists and peds, no one would blink an eye.

Join this story with the above story about the man with Alzheimer's Disease aiming a gun and maybe we need to be extremely careful where we keep guns, to whom we sell guns, or to whom we allow shooting range classes. The demented or those with a psychiatric condition that is difficult to control with medications should not have guns. This is a basic health concept for safety. And anyone that thinks such patients have the "right to bear arms" might think differently once such a patient holds a gun to their own head.

@15, the Green River serial killer was no mental giant.

Ha! He's old enough to buy assault rifles, but not have a glass of wine. Oh, America.

20,

good point. Gary Ridgeway was kind of stupid, and yet managed to get away with it longer than Ted Bundy did. I suppose there are multiple factors involved, such as luck and the society in which a serial killer operates (a misogynistic society is more likely to tolerate monsters like Ridgeway and Bundy than it would a killer whose targets were male, e.g.), and probably half a dozen other things criminologists are more aware of than I am.

Still, it does seem that spree-killing would not require much of the killer, mentally speaking. Since most psychopaths are cold emotionally and look at things only in terms of strategy, I think that a spree killer would have to be someone without much of a brain. Capture is almost certain, there will be no repeat performances, etc. It strikes me as the sort of act a psychopath would perform only if they didn't think it through all the way, if they couldn't think it through the whole way.

I am seriously so proud of his mother for doing that. Wow.

As a (until very recently) citizen of Aurora, CO, I say God bless you Mom! God bless you!