James Holmes Is Insane, But So Are Our Gun Laws

Roger Ebert guesses that Dark Knight shooting suspect James Holmes isn't obsessed with Batman, just publicity. He "must also have been insane," writes Ebert in the New York Times. The problem is that our nation's gun laws are equally so. The US "is one of few developed nations that accepts the notion of firearms in public hands," he complains. We're about to enter the usual back-and-forth that always follows a public shooting, but don't expect much to change.

"The issue has become so closely linked to paranoid fantasies about a federal takeover of personal liberties that many politicians feel they cannot afford to advocate gun control," writes Ebert. He finds it poignant that one of the victims, Jessica Ghawi, barely survived a mall shooting last month, only to die this week. "The circle of madness is closing." Read his full column here. (More James Holmes stories.)