The mass murder at an Aurora, Colorado movie theatre during the midnight showing of Dark Knight Rises is horrifying and heartbreaking.
James Holmes, 24, opened fire on the crowd with a semi-automatic rifle and two pistols, killing 12 people and wounding 58 others. It’s the largest mass shooting in U.S. history.
A profile of Holmes is beginning to emerge. He was an extremely bright student, earning a degree in neuroscience at the University of California at Riverside. He had been taking PhD classes at the University of Colorado.
He was a loner, but those who knew Holmes described him as a nice guy. “He didn’t seem like a troublemaker at all,” said one acquaintance.
Yet there was Holmes, hair dyed red, dressed in combat gear, armed to the teeth, unleashing his evil on innocent men, women and children who were simply out for a night of escapist entertainment.
Why?
Armchair psychoanalysis is risky, but experts who have studied previous mass killers do find some commonality.
They are almost always men (95 percent). They are usually loners who may appear normal on the outside, but on the inside they have a growing rage. They feel alienated by society, even though they are the ones who have pulled away.
These attackers are delusional and paranoid individuals who create fantasies about how their high drama will play out.
They plan their killings, believing that it’s a way to get even for all the perceived wrongs against them. The killings are a kind of release, and the shooter believes the publicity will ensure that everyone knows who they are and what personal pain they have endured.
It’s difficult to pin down exactly what causes someone to take action. Researchers say 99 percent of the people who could be considered in the high risk category never act on their impulses.
Additionally, scientists have never been able to isolate anything in the brain that could trigger such behavior.
So, the victims’ families, survivors, police and a shocked and saddened nation are left trying to comprehend these random acts of evil.
Yes, the gun control debate will re-emerge. Holmes’ weapons were all legal under federal laws and Colorado statutes, which were tightened somewhat after the Columbine massacre in 1999.
Gun control advocates will argue that the 2nd Amendment does not give individuals the right to stockpile semi-automatic weapons and ammunition. Defenders will say that if the theatre had not banned weapons, an armed and properly trained individual may have been able to stop Holmes.
Who knows where that debate will lead? Colorado now has had two epic mass killings in 13 years, but it’s also a state like West Virginia where individuals value their right to protect themselves and their property.
Most of us won’t get directly involved in the gun debate. Instead, we’ll follow the news about the movie theatre massacre and search for answers that are not easily attained. Additionally, we should remind ourselves that this perverse aberration is not who we are.
As Gandhi said, “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”