(Photo Saire Elizabeth, Flickr.com)

Jason Cole, a man from Colorado, says he was taking in the media coverage of the movie theater shooting in Aurora, and says he was bothered at the direction it took.

“It really bothered me how quickly we went from this tragic event to immeadiately talking about policies and government, and who’s going to benefit,” Cole said in an interview with KOWB on Thursday.  “‘Is it about gun control?’ ‘Is it about the movies making people do things?’  It really bugged me.”

Cole says that he believes the focus was lost from the people.  “Not just the people who were in the theater and those who were affected by this, but the whole Denver area going through another mindless violent event and being traumatized all over again.”

Cole then began brain storming.  He says he wanted to do something to “give that night back” to the community.  So Cole began rasing funds to buy tickets for theaters and treat the community to a free night at the movies.  “We’re trying to do it in theaters in and around the Aurora area,” Cole says.  “We’ve raised enough money for us to buy about a thousand tickets.  My dream would be to buy enough to buy-out several theaters.  Maybe 10,000 tickets.  If that comes from more donations or if it comes from getting the theater companies to chip in, I’d love to be able to buy out several theaters in the area.”

Cole has launched a website where people can donate funds and buy tickets for the Take Back the Movies night on August 4th. 

Cole was sure to stress that the Take Back the Movies fundraiser was in no way tied to other fundraising efforts where the funds are going directly to the victims, “This is not competitive with those efforts at all.  This is me trying to think a little more outside of the box.”  Cole encourages people to support the other fundraiser efforts if they can.

Jason Cole’s Take Back the Movies night will take place in areas around Aurora on August 4th.  Jason says that beyond donating to that cause, people can simply annonymously buy tickets at their local theaters and donate them to others in line.  Ultimately, Cole says, he just wants to show people they don’t have to be afraid to leave their house, “Do what you can to spread some light and make a positive difference in somebody’s life and drown out this darkness.”

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