Steve Pulaski
Prior to the Aurora, Colorado massacre on July 20th, images of recent tragedies such as Columbine High School and Virginia Tech were firmly etched into our minds. Now we sadly have one more to add to the never-ending list of mass shootings that have occurred in America, each one inciting the same laundry list of things that need to be done in order to prevent them from happening. Whether it be extensive counseling, tighter gun control laws, explicit background checks, or whatever, it is clear, we are not all on the same page with this issue.A close friend of mine stated that they will always occur no matter what. "It is because we live in a free society," he stated. I couldn't agree more. The BBC3 documentary, The Batman Shootings is a brief but fulfilling recollection of that depressing morning and the surrounding debates that would inevitably follow such an event. Documentarian Amal Fashanu gives us a short retelling of events that morning, before heading off to the humble town of Aurora, Colorado to meet with those who were in theater 9 at the time of the shooting and desperately tries to gather knowledge as to why the American people love their guns so much.I'm sure the shooting itself needs no introduction other than a quick rundown; On July 20, 2012 a heavily armed perpetrator in tactical gear entered a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, threw canisters releasing tear gas and began opening fire on those inside. The gunman managed to kill twelve people, and left fifty-eight others wounded. The story broke shortly after, and many of us woke up to radio or news coverage of the event. I awoke at 4:45am after receiving a text from my mother and spent the morning glued to the Television, getting information by the minute, but continued to ask a plethora of questions I soon wouldn't get the answers to. Perhaps it was because I frequent theaters more often than most people. Maybe it's because whenever I hear a story, my OCD kicks in and I must know every little detail. Or maybe because I should make a conscious effort to gather information.The gunman was twenty-four year old James Eagan Holmes, a quiet yet intelligent college dropout who was studying neuroscience at the University of Colorado Denver. He was arrested without resistance, boasting hair dyed fiery red and stating, "I am the Joker" to the officers. One wonders what world this man was apart of, and if he honestly believed he was a tumultuous villain in a comic book world.Fashanu takes us to multiple gun stores, including a shooting range where she asks the clerk how easy it would be to obtain a gun. He states that people walk in, they fill out some papers, the workers perform an "Insta-check" on the man, and get back to him as soon as possible. After that, they either walk out empty-handed or with their firearm of choice in their hand. Fashanu believes that is too little, and her views on gun control made me question my own. First off, I am not the person to ask. I do not own a gun, don't plan on it, never shot one of any kind or held one of any kind. I do believe that Americans should possess the right to bear arms and that many gun laws would still not solve the problem of mass shootings. Fashanu visits the gun range Holmes applied to in late June and asks the man who was off-put by Holmes' "guttural, freakish" answering machine message what his views on gun control are. He states, "in a recent shooting nearby, the shooters broke twenty-two gun laws. How is twenty-three going to stop them?" This is true. Even with extensive background checks, deeper than the "Insta-checks," Holmes, who was without a criminal record prior to the shooting, would've still been granted his requested firearms.Fashanu's talks with people who were in the theater and lost loved-ones is nothing short of heartbreaking. Jansen Young, a twenty-something woman, was protected by her boyfriend during the shooting and was sadly shot dead in the process. Sad that the many acts of heroism during such a spontaneous event resulted in the hero's death. Even young aspiring sports commentator Jessica Redfield "Ghawi" was shot dead in the same theater after being involved in a mall shootout in Toronto not long before.The last major topic brought up in the film is why politicians, specifically Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, in the mix of two mass shootings (both Aurora and the recent Sikh Temple shooting), remain silent on the issue of gun control during the 2012 presidential campaign. One psychologist in the film states saying anything derogatory about guns in this race is "political suicide." If Romney were to make a negative remark on guns, he'd most likely lose support from the GOP and lose by a landslide in the election, and if Obama did, he'd lose significant support and funding.The Batman Shootings is a fine documentary, especially for someone who has been extensively following the case since it broke, but one that is perhaps too short for its own good. Not a lot of information related to the case has been released yet, and a documentary releasing after the suspect's trial would've been more fitting. As an hour- long excursion, it isn't a vital one, but allows for critical thinking and provides substance to an issue that is summed up nicely in a short amount of time.Starring: Amal Fashanu.
