As you all know, a man opened fire on a movie theater last night. I won't discuss what happened, only my reaction.
From my previous diaries, you can probably guess that I think that in most mass shootings, the odds can be swayed against the shooter by potential victims being armed and competent with the use of their weapons (there's a very good reason why Hamas switched from shootings to bombings as their main form of attack against Israel). However, I do not see it as reasonable to think that it would be the case in this situation. He was wearing body armor. The reason why police now carry rifles instead of shotguns as their primary longarm is because of what happened in North Hollywood: shotguns and pistols are not powerful enough to pierce body armor. The most powerful firearm that you could expect somebody with a carry permit to be carrying around is a .357 magnum revolver, and that isn't powerful enough to go through body armor. Even if he wasn't wearing body armor, he attacked a dark room. This means that the muzzle flash of his weapons probably blinded much of the theater quickly, and I would not trust anybody to try to take down a shooter while blind.
I am impressed by how well-planned the shooting was. It was a horrible thing, but I am impressed.
Before you call for any policy changes because of the shooting, keep something in mind. Bombs are fairly easy to make, especially for somebody who planned it out like this guy. Instead of hiding his weapons in the emergency exit, he could have put large bomb in the emergency exit and activated it remotely. It still would have quickly become a mass casualty situation. In fact, it would probably be far more devastating, judging by a comparison of the Oklahoma City attack to any of the recent mass shootings.
The most effective thing that we can do to prevent these shootings is not to create a new black market. It is to reduce the stigma associated with mental illnesses and make treatment more accessible.