Col,

I don't know how it is down under, but here in the US, midnight showings for the opening of a major movie are big events and often sold out to full capacity in advance.

What saved lives was a combination of the shooters lack of practice (training) and the fact that the weapon jammed.

What has not been released was a count of how many rounds were still in the 100 round magazine. Or, even which of the weapons scored the most hits. (What a macabre line of thought.)

As many states have relaxed the rules to get a concealed carry permit, I am more concerned about going out in public than I was when one had to show cause to get a CCW permit.

Part of my thoughts are if you need to carry a gun to go to the grocery store, you are paranoid and need help. The second part of that thought is why would you go into a situation where there is a risk that you would need a gun for protection. The third part of this thought is that if we as a country have allowed our society to crumble so much that there is risk to life and limb to go to the grocery store, we would be much better off spending money to improve our neighborhoods rather than buy guns and ammo.

On the same thought path, I know of no statistical evidence that either an armed citizenry or harsh crime penalties (including the death penalty) reduce crime.

Chas