VALDOSTA — At midnight on Thursday, July 19, fans flocked to an Aurora, Colo., movie theater to watch “The Dark Knight Rises”, the long -anticipated final installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

While action and thrill could certainly be expected, attendees had no way of anticipating that the sounds of heavy gunfire would come from a real shooter instead of the sound system.

With media reports of a dozen killed and 59 injured by a man with red colored hair who called himself the Joker (Batman’s longtime archenemy and the villain from Nolan’s 2008 installment, “The Dark Knight”), several movie theaters across the country began tightening up security in the wake of the tragedy.

AMC Theaters released a statement this weekend saying the company is reinforcing security procedures with its theater teams. Their theaters will not permit guests in costumes nor will it allow face covering masks or fake weapons.

According to CNN, in Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, N.Y., Tampa, Fla., New Orleans, the District of Columbia and Montgomery County, Md., police are on heavy patrol at movie theaters and providing higher visibility. Even cities as close as Atlanta are on extra alert, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Various media reports also stated that some areas of the country are implementing safety plans in the off chance that something like this were to happen again.

The implications of such a tragedy have left some area citizens pondering if something like this could happen in Valdosta.

“It has me second guessing, I mean, you never know,” said John Anderson.

Concerns of “copy cat” shooters have left people with unease and discomfort.

“I know there are people worried about copy cats. I’ve heard that expressed but I’m not worried about it,” said Daniel Dasher.

However, while what happened in Colorado could have just as easily happened in Valdosta, many feel that the shooting was a fluke and is not likely to occur here.

Matt Mazick and

Andrew Lauitsen, who were at Valdosta

Stadium 16 on Saturday to see “The Dark Knight Rises”, stated that they were not worried about a shooting.

“Not really, not here, I hope not,” said Mazick.

“Not at all,” said Lauitsen.

The consensus seems to speak for itself as at 2:30 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon, the Valdosta Stadium 16 parking lot was filled with cars, causing many attendees to park at the far end at the back of Walgreens.

The theater regularly has security of at least two officers every day in the evening and according to general manager Jim Cody, costumes that cover the face were not allowed even before the incident in Colorado.

“We never let anyone with masks in, just fundamental safety,” the manager stated.

Cody would not make any further comments regarding security at the theater or the Colorado massacre and advised that all questions and concerns be directed to the Georgia Theatre Company's corporate office in Brunswick.

While no one knows exactly how they would react in the event of a shooting, in every tragic mass shooting — Virginia Tech, Columbine and now Aurora, Colo. — there are survivors who managed to escape. This leaves many to ponder the question: What can you do to survive if this happens to you?

Reported by ABC News, Eric Greitens, a former Navy Seal and police trainer stated that whether you are 7-years-old or 70, there are things you can do to increase your chances of surviving.

When trying to make the split second decision if you should run or hide, Greitens said it depends. The farther you are from the shooter, the better the odds of escaping. But if that is not a reasonable option, he said the next best move is to protect yourself by hiding or getting behind something like a wall or theater seats that puts something between you and the gunman. While it may not provide cover  from gunfire, it does hide you from the shooters view.

This leads to another question, if you cannot get away, should you hide or should you attack?

Greitens said that while most people should try their best to evacuate, if you are faced with someone and they are two or three feet away and they’ve been killing other people, you want to viciously and aggressively attack because your life depends on it. Almost a kill or be killed mentality.

In past shootings and even in Friday’s shooting in Aurora, survivors have stated that they played dead. Experts have speculated that this is not a good idea. According to Greitens, if you are really close to an active shooter, you want to be an active survivor. He stated that if you are an active survivor with people around you, your chances of survival are much higher.

In terms of survival, the issue of gun control has also been thrown into the media frenzy as a result of Friday’s shooting. If a law-abiding citizen had a gun in the theater, could the shooter have been stopped?

According to various media reports, the shooter, 24-year-old James Holmes, bought two pistols, a semiautomatic rifle and a shotgun since May, avoiding federal reporting requirements and taking advantage of Colorado’s failure to pass significant firearm legislation since the Columbine massacre in Colorado 13 years ago.

According to authority reports to the media, Holmes didn’t purchase handguns from the same store within five days, which would have triggered a requirement for the seller to notify the U.S. Justice Department and he hadn’t committed any offenses that would have raised  an alarm during a required background check. While some have been advocating that the incident is exemplary of a need for tighter gun control, others have stated that the incident could have been stopped by a law abiding gun carrier. However, in Colorado, lawmakers refused to pass new gun-control measures even in the wake of Columbine.

Colorado doesn’t require gun registration and there is no specific waiting period to buy a firearm. Purchases are approved as soon as U.S. authorities clear a list of ten criteria which assures the buyer isn’t a fugitive or an illegal alien. The state conducts its own checks as well, including for restraining orders and juvenile arrests.

Colorado residents can carry concealed weapons if they are at least 21 years old, haven’t committed perjury, complete a gun-training course and other various requirements.

The National Rifle Association, which is a major political force across the country for leniency in gun control, has not released an  official statement in reference to the Colorado shooting.

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