Kurt Sutter: 'The One Is Tragic, the Billion Are Not'

This story first appeared in the August 3 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

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•Dark Knight Shooting

After Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter tweeted about The Dark Knight Rises shooting in Aurora, Colo., "woke up to the news about the shooting. This kinda thing always makes me question my liberal use of violence in storytelling. i'm really sad," The Hollywood Reporter asked him to elaborate.

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"I write a show about a bloody, gun-running motorcycle club. It is filled with sex, foul language, death and violence. Ironically, it also is filled with deep familial love and hope. Hope that one day the violence will stop. No one truly knows what inspired James Holmes. Our grief and desperation look for a target to land the blame -- the NRA, his parents, video games, the greed of Hollywood … But the truth is, man's inhumanity to man is as old as humanity itself. Some people just do evil things. Most do not. A billion people have seen Batman movies over the past 20 years, and they have been entertained and inspired. One man saw it as a sick entry point for mass murder. The one is tragic. The billion are not. I choose to write for the billion."

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OTHER REACTIONS ON TWITTER

Jason Alexander
"I cannot understand support for legality of the kind of weapon in this massacre. It's a military weapon. why should it be in non-mil hands?"

Travis Beacham, screenwriter, Clash of the Titans
"Contrary to our more puritanical culture watchers, the lion's share of senseless violence occurred before comic books, movies, & Darwinism."

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Sarah Schechter, Warner Bros. creative executive
"I think it's weird that it's harder to buy Claritin D than weapons and body armor."

Donald Trump
"At least 12 dead and 50 wounded in Colorado -- bring back fast trials & death penalty for mass murderers & terrorists."

Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof
"ArcLight had a moment of silence before the movie. Perfect."

Russell Simmons
"3 men died in Aurora taking bullets for their girlfriends. Jon Blunk, Matt McQuinn & Alex Teves PLS RETWEET #Heroes"

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Harry Knowles, Ain't It Cool News
"If a guy paints his hair red, kills people and calls himself The Joker, he's not geek but homicidal idiot that has never read or watched it."

Salman Rushdie, author
"The 'right to bear arms' is the real Bane of America."

John August, screenwriter
"If it helps, Aurora was also the Roman goddess of dawn. Reminder that the sun always comes up, no matter how dark the night."

Steve Martin
"Still absent a funny bone since Aurora. The photos of the victims seem like the faces of kindness."