Texting in Movie Theater

I'd rather put up with someone using his/her cell phone inside the theater over someone using his/her gun inside the theater.

Just sayin'...

You're at the God-blessed movie theatre, turn the freaking phone OFF.

It's ridiculous that a person can't take a 2-3 hour break from texting or calling someone. You're not that special!

Agree whole heartedly. I hear people say they 'can't' turn off their phones. I just don't get it. I definitely think anyone should be capable of disconnecting for 2 hours.

Honestly, I don't really feel bad for the guy. He was asked to stop, refused. Let's not forget the retired cop was 70 years old and the victim half his age and probably twice his size. Old man went outside to tell staff. Upon coming back in, the man with the phone made a comment about the old man 'telling on him', then proceeded to throw a bucket of popcorn at the old man while standing less than 2 feet away from him.. Assault on the elderly. Did he deserve to get shot, no. But even the guy's wife was trying to hold him back (hence her getting shot in the hand while trying to diffuse.

The old man was definitely in the wrong but the man who got shot sounded like an grown up bully.

and as we were taught in elementary school, the best way to deal with bullies is to fatally shoot them.

to answer the op's question:
i don't usually text in the movies. if i do, it's because my mother has texted me 20 times asking "where are you?? are you okay????" because she doesn't remember that i told her that i'm going to the movies with my boyfriend. in this case, i'll cover the (dimmed) screen and tell her "at the movies" and put my phone back in my pocket, where it's on vibrate and nobody can hear it. if you can hear a phone vibrate in somebody's pocket during a movie and it's upsetting you, maybe you should take your head out of their lap.
occasionally, i'll text during the previews or the pre-previews. nobody cares about the pre-previews, and while i do enjoy watching the previews, i don't see anything wrong with texting during them, as they're not what i actually paid $8.25 to see. during longer movies, i'll sometimes check the time. when i saw an unexpected adventure, by about 2.5 hours in, i was kind of concerned that i had entered a time warp because there was no smaug and i didn't realize it was going to be a trilogy. i checked the time, figured out that there would be at least one more part, and put my phone away for the last half hour.
if somebody texts during the movies, i still don't see it as a huge deal. it's slightly distracting, but since i'm able to multi-task and my ears still function if my eyes aren't looking at the screen, i don't miss much, if any, of the movie. i'm then able to use context clues to deduce what happened in the 5 seconds i lost reading the person's text.
i've never witnessed anybody answering a call and having a conversation during a movie. if they did, i'd give them a couple seconds and if they showed no signs of stopping, i'd go out and let somebody know that someone was talking on the phone and that it was distracting.
my theatre has a no phones policy, and it also has an app where if you put your phone in cinemode (automatically dimmed screen and on vibrate), you get free food or drink. so i do that, as do most other people with smartphones that i've seen in the theatre.

also, rudeness and distractions are subjective. i don't see texting shortly on a dimmed screen on a silenced or vibrating phone as being rude or distractive, but apparently the very feat of taking your cell phone into a theatre is the most rude thing that could ever happen to some people.

I think the real issue here are guns. Guns kill innocent people. The only people allowed to have guns should be policeman who are here to serve and protect, and the army.

:sick: If guns kill people so do knives, baseball bats, trucks, trains, lightning bolts, chainsaws. I guess we better ban all these things too.

I live about 5 minutes away from this theater. I have never been to a show there that had more than a handful of people during the day. It's so sad if it was really bothering him that he didn't just move to another seat!

Then again its common that in rural areas and small towns is where this specific brand of anti-social insanity is most likely to percolate.

Seeing the breaking news story on the fatal shooting at a movie theater in Wesley Chapel where one person is dead and another one is injured, it was devastating that the person who was distracted by a man using his cell phone to text to his daughter at home decided to pull out his gun and shoot him. There's one thing that came out of it, another man caught him and took his gun away from his hand and reported him to theater security leading him to his arrest on Monday afternoon. Sad to see any person that doesn't follow the rules about turning off your cell phones in a movie theater would continue to text during the film and end up in danger. If I were to bring my phone into a movie theater, I would turn it off completely and put it in my purse until the end of the film. This is one of the rules that every moviegoer should follow. Turn off your cellphones and do not text during the film.

I agree with you for the most part, but let's add that is also sad that a person didn't obey the "no guns allowed in the theater" rule and proceeded to KILL another person. Sad that a retired policemen trained to protect and serve decided to get pissed off and kill.

And by the way, being 71 years old doesn't give him a carte blanched to kill.

As soon as I enter a movie theatre I turn off my phone and keep it off until the movie is over. If you need to keep in contact with someone then maybe you should just stay home where you'll be more accessible and not interrupt others.

Good advice, but make sure your gun has a bullet in the chamber so you can start shooting as soon as someone else does something that annoys you.

I'm shocked at the amount of people on this thread that think they need to take a gun to a movie theatre. They are part of the problem.

I think I am the only one. Your post is ridiculous of course. As I posted earlier, your phone has killed as many people as my gun, and no one has ever seen it at the theatre. Can the same be said for your phone? And btw, I have a permit and have never seen a "no gun" notice at the theatre's I attend. Please save your politics for an appropriate opportunity.

This from the same person who takes her children and her gun to a theatre? What could possibly go wrong here?
You are proud to be an American but frightened of everyone in your neighborhood to the point where you need a gun everywhere you go...to the dentist, to the daycare, to your Moms house etc.. Going to the park with my kids...stroller? check! diapers? check! loaded gun? check!

Having a permit does not mean you are making compotent choices. Im sure the guy in the movie theatre had a permit too and he murdered someone.

Personally, my phone has never killed anyone. Stop telling lies to prove your point. Lets compare how many people die from cell phones vs. guns world wide. Would anyone have died in this movie theatre situation if no one had a gun? Very unlikely.

haha! You do know texting and driving kills more people in the US than guns right?

Honestly, I don't really feel bad for the guy. He was asked to stop, refused. Let's not forget the retired cop was 70 years old and the victim half his age and probably twice his size. Old man went outside to tell staff. Upon coming back in, the man with the phone made a comment about the old man 'telling on him', then proceeded to throw a bucket of popcorn at the old man while standing less than 2 feet away from him.. Assault on the elderly. Did he deserve to get shot, no. But even the guy's wife was trying to hold him back (hence her getting shot in the hand while trying to diffuse.

The old man was definitely in the wrong but the man who got shot sounded like an grown up bully.

The "Old" man was 71 and the victim was 43. So no, it was not half the older person age. The shooter was a retired policemen who should have know how to react and act in this particular situation, and if his age or physical condition impaired his judgement, he should not have a permit to carry a gun; which by the way was not allowed in the theater either.

To excuse or justify the shooter's behavior or to say that you don't feel bad abut the victim is the same as justifying rape just because a woman was wearing a short dress. By your statement you are actually justifying schools shooting because somebody was bullied.

There is not justification for murder!

If the rule at the movie theater is no concealed weapons why would you have a gun at the movie theater?

I have no idea how it works in America but aren't people allowed to carry weapons on them, like a handgun? If so, there's nothing stopping him bringing that anywhere. AFAIK there has been other shootings at movies before, maybe in time it will become a thing where movie theaters will have metal detectors, but then again like I said, there's no reason to because if someone is going to shoot someone, they wouldn't limit it to just in the movies. That was a specific situational occurrence

There are certain laws about it and private businesses can restrict them on their own property. Even if you have a concealed weapons permit, if the theater says, "No guns," you can't bring your gun in there. Or I guess you can if no one knows about it. But you can be thrown out or possibly arrested for doing so.

Yes, there are very specific ways to ban conceal and carry in an area. Stand alone jewelry stores often go at it the correct legal fashion. Bars do as well. "No weapons" on a rule board actually doesn't cut it legally. You have to post specific way in specific locations etc.

Edit: Verbal correction, gov't rules makes establishments with over 50/51% of sales as alcohol must post a sign that indicates such so that CCLs know they cannot enter while carrying.

Honestly, I don't really feel bad for the guy. He was asked to stop, refused. Let's not forget the retired cop was 70 years old and the victim half his age and probably twice his size. Old man went outside to tell staff. Upon coming back in, the man with the phone made a comment about the old man 'telling on him', then proceeded to throw a bucket of popcorn at the old man while standing less than 2 feet away from him.. Assault on the elderly. Did he deserve to get shot, no. But even the guy's wife was trying to hold him back (hence her getting shot in the hand while trying to diffuse.

The old man was definitely in the wrong but the man who got shot sounded like an grown up bully.

The "Old" man was 71 and the victim was 43. So no, it was not half the older person age. The shooter was a retired policemen who should have know how to react and act in this particular situation, and if his age or physical condition impaired his judgement, he should not have a permit to carry a gun; which by the way was not allowed in the theater either.

To excuse or justify the shooter's behavior or to say that you don't feel bad abut the victim is the same as justifying rape just because a woman was wearing a short dress. By your statement you are actually justifying schools shooting because somebody was bullied.

There is not justification for murder!

I don't know how accurate the presented facts are but if a 43 yr old male becomes baligerant and menacing (both of these first things likely true if their wife is 1) trying to restrain him but 2) unsuccessfully doing so) AND he starts assaulting me (throwing items at other is considered assault) I would be inclined to defend myself. IF these facts play out as stated, the 71 yr old man is unlikely to be found guilty in a court of law even if it is determined that there is enough evidence to take the case to court.

Not guilty? Well, it is Florida so we shouldn't have too many expectations that justice will be served....and lets remember that popcorn is a weapon of mass destruction that needs to be stopped by a semiautomatic gun.