The Hanover Evening Sun
HANOVER, Pa. — Hanover Police were called to R/C Hanover Movies on Eisenhower Drive on Monday night when a patron openly carried a pistol into the theater for the late showing of the new Batman movie.
The theater has no policy prohibiting firearms, and the man violated no laws, said Chief Randy Whitson of the Hanover Borough Police, so police stood by to make sure there were no other problems.
Whitson said the man, who also had a concealed-weapons permit but was carrying the handgun in plain sight, indicated he was exercising his Second Amendment rights. Because no crime was committed, police did not identify the man.
Whitson said the man had no “evil intent,” but said his decision to go to the movies armed “was a poor choice, given current circumstances.”
Early Friday morning at a midnight showing of the new movie, “The Dark Knight Rises,” a man opened fire in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater, killing 12 and wounding 58. Accused of the crime is James Holmes, 24.
Contacted in Baltimore on Tuesday, R/C Theaters Vice President Dave Phillips said the company is reviewing Pennsylvania law and evaluating the situation, but that a no-firearms policy might be difficult to enact.
“What about a police officer?” he asked, characterizing Monday’s incident as a “non-event.”
Whitson said he had heard of similar incidents, and even before the shooting, members of some gun groups have made a point of openly carrying weapons in theaters and other private businesses, according to Internet reports.
Cinemark Century Theaters, which owns the Colorado theater at which the massacre took place, had a no-firearms policy in place at the time, with an exception for law enforcement. The shooter allegedly left the theater, armed himself, and returned through an emergency exit.
Open-carry advocates say if other movie-goers had been armed, the massacre might have been prevented. But opponents say given the confusion in the dark theater and the fact the shooter was wearing body armor, other weapons could have led to even higher casualties.
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