Taking responsibility for your actions
by digby
What a country. Not only do we live in a shooting gallery in which half the nation apparently thinks we should all dress in body armor out in public because crazy people owning lethal automatic weapons is a right endowed by our Creator, but if you do happen to forget to "protect yourself" properly from the flying bullets, you'll have to take up a collection to pay for the medical bills:
Sixteen of the dozens of people hurt in the Colorado theater massacre remained hospitalized Tuesday.
Twelve people were killed in the carnage.
Among the victims still in the hospital is Caleb Medley, who was shot in the eye. He's in intensive care, under heavy sedation, in the same hospital where his wife is in the maternity ward, due to give birth to their son.
Seth Medley says his brother is in critical but stable condition and making some improvements in small steps, but added that doctors say he's not anywhere near out of the woods.
One of Caleb and Katie's best friends is Michael West, who's known Katie since kindergarten and Caleb since they started high school. West says Caleb can "make you laugh at the most mundane things."
Complete coverage: Massacre in Aurora
Caleb's family has been told his medical bills could total $2 million. So, West is trying to raise money.
"Caleb doesn't have any insurance, so I put together a website," West says.
So far, the site has raised more than $57,000 for Caleb and his family, but much more is needed
Warner Brothers is kicking in a "substantial sum" for the victims, which is the right thing to do.
But where's the NRA? They're a hell of a lot more responsible for this horror than some comic book movie. Wouldn't it be a gesture of decency of good will for them to contribute some money to the victims of the fruits of their labors? This shooter sure as hell couldn't have gotten the job done this efficiently without them.
Update:
The logic of the American yahoo
Background checks for people wanting to buy guns in Colorado jumped more than 41 percent after Friday morning's shooting at an Aurora movie theater, and firearms instructors say they're also seeing increased interest in the training required for a concealed-carry permit.
"It's been insane," Jake Meyers, an employee at Rocky Mountain Guns and Ammo in Parker, said Monday.
When he arrived at work Friday morning — just hours after a gunman killed 12 and injured 58 others at the Century Aurora 16 theater — there already were 15 to 20 people waiting outside the store, Meyers said.
He called Monday "probably the busiest Monday all year" and said the basic firearms classes that he and the store's owner teach are booked solid for the next three weeks, something that hadn't happened all year.
"A lot of it is people saying, 'I didn't think I needed a gun, but now I do,' " Meyers said. "When it happens in your backyard, people start reassessing — 'Hey, I go to the movies.' "
I think I'd probably overheat in head to toe kevlar so I'll just have wait for Netflix if all these lunkheads are going to be carrying firearms into movie theatres.
Thanks a lot.
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