12 dead, 58 injured in Colorado at midnight showing of Dark Knight

I've never denied a spike in business. I've only asked that it be properly quantified, and not guessed at.

 

You're so smart, you tell us how to do it then. How do you quantify sales at every gun shop in America, given that it's private company data and subject to no reporting requirements?

Go on, tell us how to do it. We're all ears.

 

How, exactly, do you propose to get private businesses to show their books to the media?

As DS said, the background checks is the only evidence accessible. You don't do a background check unless you are purchasing something. It's not like getting pre-approved by the bank for a car loan and then going to the dealership.

 

So, guessing is the answer?

 

Are you concerned, because you're using guessing in a pejorative manner? Analysis is based on guessing at some level. It could be a very good guess, though, but a change that it's wrong. What should reporters do to find accurate gun sales numbers, because the only way that is ethical is either comb through public records or ask a business owner to hand over theirs?

Journalists are supposed to take information from sources and connect the dots for readers.

 

What you call guessing, we call informed analysis.

Like I said, feel free to offer a better solution.

 

That's strong. Might not be a bad one to post over at Journalism Topics as a thread to talk about the reporting and storytelling that went into it. Lots of elements - framing the narrative, writing it as a narrative, using both interviews and blog posts as source material, etc., etc.

I was really glad at the end that the subject of the piece acknowledged the arbitrariness of the deaths, because I was a little concerned at the beginning with the passage about how he made a "decision" not to die in that theater, because I thought we might be venturing into the cliche where people's character somehow determines that.

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/exclusive-dark-knight-shooting-suspect-james-holmes-claims-amnesia-article-1.1122289?localLinksEnabled=false

The Joker is playing the amnesia card.

Accused mass murderer James Holmes told jailhouse workers that he remains stumped about what landed him in a Colorado lockup, a jail staffer told the Daily News.

“He claims he doesn’t know why he’s in jail,” the worker said Thursday. “He asked, ‘Why am I here?’”

Holmes, 24, who is charged with shooting a dozen people to death and wounding 58 more at a screening of the new Batman movie, was also complaining of a stomach ache caused by lousy jail food after his sixth day at the Arapahoe County Detention Center, the worker said.

“He’s claiming his belly hurts him,” the worker said. “He complained once that he didn’t like the food . . . The guy killed 12 people, and he’s upset that he’s not getting a four-star meal?”

I am not a fan of the Batman franchise but I seem to recall the belly ache thing from one of the films.

 

Yeah, we're not calling him that.

 

Another straw man from YF.

People have told you on this thread, from their own personal experience, how closely a background check and a gun purchase are linked. It goes sale, then background check, then out the door ... I believe 20 minutes was the length of time cited.

And you have created this own reality in your head that the background check and the purchase are completely separate events.

 

@TedNugent

we pray for all victims&lovedones of demonshooter in CO& we SALUTE the brave warriors who saved lives IF only they would hav had a good gun

 

More proof that we really need to stop caring what people have to say just because they are famous. Nugent is among the many people out there that are living proof that idiots can be famous.