Yep, I just cant see myself going to a movie theater anymore. Granted, I wasn’t really a regular movie goer, but I did have every intention to take the kids to a matinee tomorrow…. but now after the Colorado shooting I think we will probably just go to the pool instead.
The reason I say this is because things wont change. Sadly this wont be the wake up call that is needed to make things safe at the movies. In the short term theaters will be more vigilant and they are adding extra cops as a “show of force”, but mark my words… it wont last. After about 6 months theaters are going to look at all the extra security costs that they are incurring and the fact that sales are still way down, and something will have to give. The added “security” will slowly fade away and within about a year’s time everything will be back to running exactly the way they were before the Colorado shooting. Movie theaters will once again be soft targets. And thats a scary thought.
Now, I know that what I am about to say is going to sound bad, so please to all you raving lunatic gun-grabbers out there who are reading this… please try not to pee yourselves with excitement and take what I am about to say out of context.
The worst part about the Colorado shooting is that it could have been a lot worse. Think about it. What if this had not been just one lone lunatic but rather a coordinated terrorist attack involving multiple gunmen going into multiple theaters and shooting the place up? Multiply the number of dead and injured by 5 or 6 or maybe even more. What if this had been multiple terrorists going into multiple theaters and sitting down with bombs strapped to their chests? Just imagine if nobody at all was able to get out of the theater alive. Now multiply that times 5 or 6 theaters… how high would the death toll have been then?
The simple fact is that movie theaters are very soft targets with a lot of people crammed into a very small place. Thats a recipe for disaster. Its no surprise that someone could bring any kind of destructive devise into a theater and kill a bunch of people. Throw in the fact that the posting of “Gun Free Zone” signs on the front door means that everyone inside is completely helpless against an armed attacker, and you have an open invitation for a killing spree.
In the short term, I seriously doubt that there will be a copy-cat shooter. However, movie theaters are now officially targets… For both terrorists and lunatics who want to be front page, national news. So, no thank you. I’ll just wait for movies to come out on Blu Ray.
