The parents, grandparents, cousins and widow of nine of the 12 people killed released a letter sent to the theater's owner, Cinemark, in which they criticized the Plano, Texas-based company for not reaching out to the families of victims to offer their condolences. They also said the company refused to meet with them one-on-one without lawyers present.

The families said they were asked to attend an "evening of remembrance" followed by a movie when the Aurora theater reopens on Jan. 17 in invitations sent two days after Christmas.

"Thanks for making what is a very difficult holiday season that much more difficult. Timing is everything and yours is awful," they wrote.

The company had no immediate comment.

Cinemark has been renovating the Aurora theater and plans to re-open it Jan. 17, a move the city's mayor said had widespread support in the community. Gov. John Hickenlooper is among those planning to attend.

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While the grief and horror are understandable, as well as fully justified – I’m forcing myself to move my fingers across the keyboard, when I would probably be better off sitting quietly in a darkened room, or spending time with my own children – maybe we shouldn’t be quite as bewildered as we claim to be. I don’t mean that we should understand, or even try to understand, how a person can become so angry and sick that he picks up a gun and starts shooting other people’s children at random. There may be artists and psychiatrists and philosophers who can glean something useful from looking into that kind of hateful and bottomless despair, but I sure don’t want to do it.

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I'd like to preface this long tweet by saying that my passion comes from my deepest sympathy and shared sorrow with yesterday's victims and with the utmost respect for the people and the police/fire/medical/political forces of Aurora and all who seek to comfort and aid these victims.

This morning, I made a comment about how I do not understand people who support public ownership of assault style weapons like the AR-15 used in the Colorado massacre. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR-15

That comment has, of course, inspired a lot of feedback. There have been many tweets of agreement and sympathy but many, many more that have been challenging at the least, hostile and vitriolic at the worst.

Clearly, the angry, threatened and threatening, hostile comments are coming from gun owners and gun advocates. Despite these massacres recurring and despite the 100,000 Americans that die every year due to domestic gun violence, these people see no value to even considering some kind of control as to what kinds of weapons are put in civilian hands.

Many of them cite patriotism as their reason -- true patriots support the Constitution adamantly and wholly. Constitution says citizens have the right to bear arms in order to maintain organized militias. I'm no constitutional scholar, so here it is from the document itself:

As passed by the Congress:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State:
"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

So the patriots are correct, gun ownership is in the constitution -- if you're in a well-regulated militia. Let's see what no less a statesman than Alexander Hamilton had to say about a militia:

"A tolerable expertness in military movements is a business that requires time and practice. It is not a day, or even a week, that will suffice for the attainment of it. To oblige the great body of the yeomanry, and of the other classes of the citizens, to be under arms for the purpose of going through military exercises and evolutions, as often as might be necessary to acquire the degree of perfection which would entitle them to the character of a well-regulated militia, would be a real grievance to the people, and a serious public inconvenience and loss."

Or from Merriam-Webster dictionary:
Definition of MILITIA
1a : a part of the organized armed forces of a country liable to call only in emergency
b : a body of citizens organized for military service
2: the whole body of able-bodied male citizens declared by law as being subject to call to military service

The advocates of guns who claim patriotism and the rights of the 2nd Amendment - are they in well-regulated militias? For the vast majority -- the answer is no.

Then I get messages from seemingly decent and intelligent people who offer things like: @BrooklynAvi: Guns should only be banned if violent crimes committed with tomatoes means we should ban tomatoes. OR @nysportsguys1: Drunk drivers kill, should we ban fast cars?

I'm hoping that right after they hit send, they take a deep breath and realize that those arguments are completely specious. I believe tomatoes and cars have purposes other than killing. What purpose does an AR-15 serve to a sportsman that a more standard hunting rifle does not serve? Let's see -- does it fire more rounds without reload? Yes. Does it fire farther and more accurately? Yes. Does it accommodate a more lethal payload? Yes. So basically, the purpose of an assault style weapon is to kill more stuff, more fully, faster and from further away. To achieve maximum lethality. Hardly the primary purpose of tomatoes and sports cars.

Then there are the tweets from the extreme right -- these are the folk who believe our government has been corrupted and stolen and that the forces of evil are at play, planning to take over this nation, and these folk are going to fight back and take a stand. And any moron like me who doesn't see it should...
a. be labeled a moron
b. shut the fuck up
c. be removed

And amazingly, I have some minor agreement with these folks. I believe there are evil forces at play in our government. But I call them corporatists. I call them absolutists. I call them the kind of ideologues from both sides, but mostly from the far right, who swear allegiance to unelected officials that, regardless of national need or global conditions, are never to levy a tax. That they are never to compromise or seek solutions with the other side. That are to obstruct every possible act of governance, even the ones they support or initiate. Whose political and social goal is to marginalize the other side, to vilify and isolate them with the hope that they will surrender, go away or die out.

These people believe that the U.S. government is eventually going to go street by street and enslave our citizens. Now as long as that is only happening to liberals, homosexuals and democrats -- no problem. But if they try it with anyone else - it's going to be arms-ageddon and these committed, God-fearing, brave souls will then use their military-esque arsenal to show the forces of our corrupt government what's what. These people think they meet the definition of a "militia." They don't. At least not the constitutional one. And, if it should actually come to such an unthinkable reality, these people believe they would win. That's why they have to "take our country back." From who? From anyone who doesn't think like them or see the world like them. They hold the only truth, everyone else is dangerous. Ever meet a terrorist that doesn't believe that? Just asking.

Then there are the folks who write that if everyone in Colorado had a weapon, this maniac would have been stopped. Perhaps. But I do believe that the element of surprise, tear gas and head-to-toe kevlar protection might have given him a distinct edge. Not only that, but a crowd of people firing away in a chaotic arena without training or planning -- I tend to think that scenario could produce even more victims.

Lastly, there are these well-intended realists that say that people like this evil animal would get these weapons even if we regulated them. And they may be right. But he wouldn't have strolled down the road to Kmart and picked them up. Regulated, he would have had to go to illegal sources -- sources that could possibly be traced, watched, overseen. Or he would have to go deeper online, and those transactions could be monitored. "Hm, some guy in Aurora is buying guns, tons of ammo and kevlar - plus bomb-making ingredients and tear gas. Maybe we should check that out."

But that won't happen as long as all that activity is legal and unrestricted.

I have been reading on and off as advocates for these weapons make their excuses all day long. Guns don't kill -- people do. Well if that's correct, I go with @BrooklynAvi, let them kill with tomatoes. Let them bring baseball bats, knives, even machetes -- a mob can deal with that.

There is no excuse for the propagation of these weapons. They are not guaranteed or protected by our constitution. If they were, then we could all run out and purchase a tank, a grenade launcher, a bazooka, a SCUD missile and a nuclear warhead. We could stockpile napalm and chemical weapons and bomb-making materials in our cellars under our guise of being a militia.

These weapons are military weapons. They belong in accountable hands, controlled hands and trained hands. They should not be in the hands of private citizens to be used against police, neighborhood intruders or people who don't agree with you. These are the weapons that maniacs acquire to wreak murder and mayhem on innocents. They are not the same as handguns to help homeowners protect themselves from intruders. They are not the same as hunting rifles or sporting rifles. These weapons are designed for harm and death on big scales.

SO WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THEM? WHY DO YOU NOT, AT LEAST, AGREE TO SIT WITH REASONABLE PEOPLE FROM BOTH SIDES AND ASK HARD QUESTIONS AND LOOK AT HARD STATISTICS AND POSSIBLY MAKE SOME COMPROMISES FOR THE GREATER GOOD? SO THAT MOTHERS AND FATHERS AND CHILDREN ARE NOT SLAUGHTERED QUITE SO EASILY BY THESE MONSTERS? HOW CAN IT HURT TO STOP DEFENDING THESE THINGS AND AT LEAST CONSIDER HOW WE CAN ALL WORK TO TRY TO PREVENT ANOTHER DAY LIKE YESTERDAY?

We will not prevent every tragedy. We cannot stop every maniac. But we certainly have done ourselves no good by allowing these particular weapons to be acquired freely by just about anyone.

I'll say it plainly -- if someone wants these weapons, they intend to use them. And if they are willing to force others to "pry it from my cold, dead hands," then they are probably planning on using them on people.

So, sorry those of you who tell me I'm an actor, or a has-been, or an idiot, or a commie or a liberal and that I should shut up. You can not watch my stuff, you can unfollow me and you can call me all the names you like. I may even share some of them with my global audience so everyone can get a little taste of who you are.

But this is not the time for reasonable people, on both sides of this issue, to be silent. We owe it to the people whose lives were ended and ruined yesterday to insist on a real discussion and hopefully on some real action.

In conclusion, whoever you are and wherever you stand on this issue, I hope you have the joy of family with you today. Hold on to them and love them as best you can. Tell them what they mean to you. Yesterday, a whole bunch of them went to the movies and tonight their families are without them. Every day is precious. Every life is precious. Take care. Be well. Be safe. God bless.

Jason Alexander

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Watch:

h/t: @kthalps

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So Mustaine took to Alex Jones, America’s most trusted conspiracy journalist, to set the record straight. In an interview yesterday, Mustaine clarified that he wasn’t actually accusing Obama of orchestrating the shootings, but rather that he was merely calling for an investigation into the possibility that Obama staged the murders. "We'd be fools not to look at this," he said. And for credibility, he said he was merely repeating the assertion of Larry Pratt, the head of the Gun Owners of America. "Like I said, I was just quoting Larry Pratt, bottom line, that's it," Mustaine added.

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"My president," he told the crowd, making a dramatic gagging gesture, "is trying to pass a gun ban. So he's staging all of these murders, like the ‘Fast and Furious’ thing down at the border, in Aurora, Colo., all the people that were killed there, and now the beautiful people at the Sikh temple … I don’t know where I'm gonna live if America keeps going the way it’s going because it looks like it's turning into Nazi America."

And then, presumably, he continued to rock some gnarly tunes while the rest of the band rolled their eyes. Mustaine's comments might have gone unnoticed had TMZ not posted video of the tirade, which immediately went viral. Because you don't often get to see that much gibberish combined with that much hair.

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"They keep talking about fairness for him," said Shane Medek, whose 23-year-old sister Micayla Medek died in the July 20 shootings. "It's like they're babying this dude."

James Holmes is accused of opening fire in a movie theater, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others. His lawyers disclosed their belief that he suffers from a mental illness during a suburban Denver court hearing Thursday, when nearly two dozen news organizations asked a judge to unseal case documents.

Defense attorney Daniel King argued that the seal and a sweeping gag order ensure fairness. He also told the judge that the defense team needed more information from prosecutors and investigators.

"We cannot begin to assess the nature and the depth of Mr. Holmes' mental illness until we receive full disclosure," he said in court.

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We know about all of this. We know because the weekend of July 20 became all-Aurora-all-the-time, a round-the-clock engorgement of TV news reports, replete with massacre theme music, an endless loop of victims, their loved ones, eyewitness accounts, cellphone video, police briefings, informal memorials, and “healing,” all washed down with a presidential visit and hour upon hour of anchor and “expert” speculation. We know this because within a few days a Google search for “Aurora movie shootings” produced over 200 million hits referencing the massacre that left 70-plus casualties, including 12 fatalities.

We know a lot less about Anaheim and the killing of Manuel Angel Diaz, shot in the back and in the head by that city’s police just a few short hours after the awful Aurora murders.

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The questions that the media asked were immediately about motive: who is James Holmes and why would he do this? The obsession with the particulars of Holmes’ life is understandable as we aim to understand and rationalize violence of a seemingly random nature. But others, concerned with the broader questions of violence in our society and with our gun control policy, have attempted to pivot this conversation into a socio-structural one. That, to my mind, is the best use of our collective energy. It’s productive and it might actually help us prevent such terrifying incidents in the future.

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Of course, LaPierre didn't pull the trigger, but he's the NRA's hit man when it comes to intimidating elected officials to oppose any kind of gun control and the nation's most vocal advocate of gun owner rights.

The NRA not only lobbies on behalf of  "stand your ground" laws, but also offers insurance to members to pay for the legal costs of shooting people in "self-defense."  The NRA also defends the right of Americans to carry concealed weapons, including handguns.

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I'm perhaps not the only person who was aghast by the number and intensity of responses declaring the problem with Aurora was that not enough citizens were armed. There is a race to come up with the most far-fetched things to blame -- anything, essentially, besides the ease of purchasing firearms and a system that doesn't provide for the mentally ill.

Even Mitt Romney has gone on the record saying he doesn't think gun laws had anything to do with the tragedy -- even though the alleged perpetrator easily purchased 6,000 rounds of ammunition and deadly weapons with complete legal immunity.

Without further ado, here are the six worst reactions I found (with a few retractions and clarifications included):

1. Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert says the attack is the result of an attack on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and that the killings might have been avoided if the country returned to the ways of God.

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Obama framed his critique of the way we regulate guns – or don't – in terms of "violence reduction." That's fine with me.

The president acknowledged that government can't single-handedly prevent damaged young people from acting out with violence. "When a child opens fire on another child, there's a hole in that child's heart that government alone can't fill," he told the group. "It's up to us to spend more time with them…show them more love, so that they learn to love themselves." But then he turned to the role of guns, and ran down a list of gun-access reforms that he said enjoyed popular support, even from some gun owners.

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It is, of course, possible that LaPierre, along with other top NRA executives (who are paid anywhere from $250,000 to more than $1 million a year), and the organization's 76 directors and 29 lobbyists believe that they contribute enough just working to convince the rest of their 4 million members to donate to the NRA. But the facts suggest rather that NRA officials are fully aware not only that what they're saying about Obama and the 2012 election is absurd but that much of what they're telling their members on a day-to-day basis is unadulterated nonsense.

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AURORA, Colo. – Linking arms in a human chain encircling a large swath of green grass in front of the Aurora Municipal Building, a young married couple vowed Sunday not to let anyone disturb mourners who had come to honor the city’s dead and to pay their respects to its newly knighted police heroes.

“The point is to create a silent barrier,” said Jamie McCurdy, 25, as she stood next to her wife, Kronda Seibert. “We’re not engaging them.”

The “them” McCurdy was referring to were members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., who were rumored to have traveled to Colorado on Sunday to disrupt a memorial and candlelight vigil for the 12 people who were gunned down on July 20 during a midnight premiere of the new Batman film, “The Dark Knight Rises.”

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The photos of James Holmes, disoriented, confused, possibly delusional, at his initial hearing this morning are bizarre and shocking as they relate to his state of mind. What I’m curious about, at this point, is how these pictures relate to the video released yesterday by ABC News of the then-high school senior presenting his work at a science camp in San Diego.

Because the public in general isn’t sure what to make of this kind of data released and pumped by the media, I wanted to note some of the significant and not-necessarily-significant elements I saw in the video.

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But I found his Sunday night speech a little flat. I realized I was comparing it to his tour de force in Tucson last year, after Jared Lee Loughner shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people. How sad is that: We have multiple presidential speeches about gun massacres to compare in 18 months. I also realized that Obama had a larger political message, one that the nation needed to hear, in Tucson: about ratcheting down violent political rhetoric and the demonization of political opponents, on both sides.

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What we do know paints a picture of a young man who might have reasonably harbored high expectations of a successful life. He was raised in a well-tended middle class suburban neighborhood in San Diego. And he earned a scholarship to the University of California, Riverside where he distinguished himself, earning a B.S. neuroscience in the spring of 2010. Chancellor Timothy P. White told reporters Friday that "academically, he was at the top of the top" and demonstrated “obvious intellectual capacity."

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