Colorado Shooting Victim Alex Sullivan Killed on His Birthday, Family Searched All Day For Kin

At the shooter's level of education, he was over his head in debt. With the prospect of failing out, he would be an indentured servant for life on a fixed income with no way of becoming self-sufficient. A living wage is not possible as the debt collectors garnish his wages and his tax return.

You can't stop things like this with a ban on weapons because anything can be used as a weapon when you run amok. Even if guns were banned and the shooter could not get weapons.. he could use whatever else is available… he could have come in with a baseball bat and did the same thing. Running Amok is a known phenomenon and happens to the best of the best of humanity when put in mental situations such as insurmountable student loan debt without bankruptcy protection. You want to fix this.. return bankruptcy protection for borrowers of federal and private student loans.

We need to return bankruptcy protection to student loan borrowers. This is the only way to help people in this situation.

I am sorry but I cannot accept your opinion. Mr. Sodoy, there is NO justification for this act of violence. Literally millions of people have student debt and financial tribulations…it does not trigger us to commit such violence. This is a COWARD, and a THIEF who stole the lives of those who died and the families they left behind. There is no sympathy for WHATEVER triggered this. Most of us in the world go through financial trouble, who are we to destroy the lives of others because of it. And yes, access to weapons is DEFINITELY an issue. My prayers to all the victims, the living and the dead.

I hear you but the concept of running "amok" is not new and doesn't matter if weapons are banned or not. A person that runs amok will run amok using whatever is available. Why he ran amok makes sense as he was a very intelligent grad student who probably did have a lot of student loan debt. Access to weapons is a scape goat for those that want to deny Americans their 2nd amendment right to bear arms.

I agree with everything you say about student loans, however, we cannot connect these two issues. And as much as I support the Second Amendment, a baseball bat would have been way, way less deadly. There is no way he'd have killed 12 people and injured another dozen critically with a baseball bat.

Mr. Sovoy, how can you say there is any "sense" in this? It does NOT make sense what he has done. Just because he has a degree or two does not mean he was a civil being. Criminal minds and intelligent minds are not mutually exclusive. To address your first post, the BEST of humanity do not "run amok", that is why they are the "best of humanity". Moreover, you speak with confidence about the causality between student debt and his violent act. Whereas, in your second post, you seem more uncertain and say " probably did have a lot of student debt"…. it is still extremely premature to base your arguments on something you do not know. Maybe he didnt have debt at all, maybe he did…it does not matter, it would be a CORRELATION if so, and NOT a causality. And if he uses that argument in the court hearing this Monday, I pray to God that the panel will refuse this.

To continue to say that bankruptcy protection is the only way to prevent these acts, is an exploitation of this situation to defend something that has nothing to do with this.

In the hands of a willfull person, a baseball bat can be a deadly weapon; especially if you know where to hit a human being. Being a medical student, I'm sure he would know exactly where he could do a lot of damage as he runs amok swiftly and precisely attacking 12 people.

I hear you Anastasia..But I don't think you heard me…. I'm not making excuses for the guy. I'm giving you a little insight on why he did it. As for banning guns… the movie theater and that area of Colorado was a gun free zone already. That means that banning guns doesn't work. If citizens were legally allowed to carry firearms in the theater, I believe there would be less than 12 deaths there because at least there would be someone there to fire back. Instead, the gun ban law created more victims.

I'd rather someone come at me with a baseball bat than a gun. At least I'd stand a chance with a baseball bat. Guns are the most violent and easily attainable weapons and makes killing so much easier. We need stricter gun control laws. If it works for England (their gun related casualties…and crime related casualties in general aren't nearly as bad as ours) then maybe it will work for us.

As for the student loan thing, unless you're the killer, then there's so way you can know what his exact motives for doing this were. What if this had nothing to do with student loans? Then what would be the point? It wouldn't have prevented the situation.

There is an automatic weapon in every household in Switzerland. Every citizen belongs to the swiss miiltia and there is no need for a free standing army. Switzerland follows America's constitution better than America herself. You don't see random acts of violence there do you? Only in America. Stop blaming guns.

I feel we all contributed to this by not paying enough attention to people. Every time something like this happens it's everyone's fault for not being sensitive to notice there's a problem and to reach out to who needs aid. There was so much evidence of him being in a bad place most of his life and it's sad that nothing was done to save a mind that could have saved more lives than he took.

Yes, shame on Mr. James Holmes, but shame on our culture for not stepping up or not having proper procedures in place for people to truly step up and know something would be done when they did so. I'm sure plenty of people tried to intervene and help him throughout his life and nothing was truly done. His mother wasn't even surprised when she got the call and responded saying they had the right person.

Same with the Virginia Tech shooter. People had been red flagging him for years, right up to the incident and nothing was done to get him out of a situation where he could harm/kill people. That's why I say Not cool America. Not cool. We should all be looking at ourselves, as well as James Holmes after this tragedy.

That's all I'm saying. I'm sure everyone disagrees, but it won't change that I think this is a cultural issue being pinpointed on those who carry out these heinous acts. We call ourselves a country until something like this happens, then we polarize. Not cool America.

Alex was a very close friend of ours and we well miss him dearly. Alex loved movies and the thought that they would have contributed to this tragedy would anger him. He also wouldn't support gun control especially not to the point that they are illegal or owning one gets you investigated, he would have been against that kind of police state. PLEASE STOP USING OUR FRIEND TO PUSH YOUR POLITICAL IDEALS