Batman Shootings: Is Our Society Getting Too Violent?

At least 12 dead and dozens injured, several seriously.

One gunman and one crowded theater.

The specter of copycats.

In Aurora, Colo., young gunman wearing a gas mask and a bulletproof vest, opened fire during a midnight showing of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, killing 12 people and wounding many more.

The number of deaths and injured isn't confirmed. As information become available the figures could change up or down. But no matter what the final numbers are, there is one definitive: It's a tragedy.

Since the September 11 terror attacks of 2001, Americans have been on various levels of alert, but anyone with an ounce of cynicism has recognized that movie theaters, malls and school events—so-called soft targets because they are gathering locations with little security—are ripe for domestic terror or deranged madmen.

The Friday morning massacre at the Century 16 in Aurora took place 19 miles and 13 years from Columbine High, but it’s the kind of tragedy that can open up wounds in every region in America.

All such events—not just the local ones—remind us of just how vulnerable we are.

So, you tell us. What can we as a society do to reduce the level of violence? Pass stricter gun laws (how did the Aurora movie theater allow the gunman to enter with a handgun, a rifle, a gas canister and a gas mask?)

Or should metal detectors become as standard as popcorn machines at movie theaters? Tell us what you think.

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