Shooting Spree in Arizona

[trish]

It’s been at least a day and a half now since Congress-woman Gabrielle Giffords was shot through the brain. She and seventeen other people were targeted by an apparently crazed gunman with a semi-automatic hand gun. She and the others were participating in a political event at a Tuscon box store. I waited to start this thread, because I thought that perhaps one or more of our conservative contributors would want to be first to express their regrets for the occurrence of this tragic event.

There has been a lot of discussion, not only in the media, but at kitchen tables, water coolers, bars and coffee houses about the “cause” of the shooting. The immediate cause is of course clear: the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, arrived with a glock, aimed and squeezed the trigger. But why? Mr. Loughner was not of sound mind. He was expelled from the local community college for repeated disturbances. He was told he’d have to pass a psychiatric examination if he wished to re-enroll. He was a loner and all who met him say he is obviously disturbed. Yet Mr. Loughner didn’t need to pass a psychiatric examination to purchase a firearm. Was the shooting “caused” by Arizona’s famously lax firearms policy? Of course not. Laws don’t “cause” events to happen, they just provide the opportunity for events to happen.

Representative Giffords was “targeted” (shown as a bullseye in the cross-hairs of a rife-scope) by Sarah Palin on a map which, until the shooting, you could find it on Palin’s web-site. Why are Giffords and others in Palin’s cross-hairs? The Palin fan-base needs to know who the enemy is. Did Mr. Loughner see Palin’s map on her website or on the various news channels which periodically broadcast the map? Did Palin’s targeting of Giffords “cause” Loughner to deliberately kill and maim eighteen people in cold blood? Of course not. Palin didn’t pay him or engage him in any way. Palin had never intended (so we’re told) to instigate a political assassination. After all, if a Muslim cleric had exactly such a map with cross-hairs on his website and one of the targeted persons wound up being assassinated by a crazed fundamentalist, we wouldn’t hold the cleric in any way responsible....would we?

How about Sharron Angle suggesting Second Amendment Remedies are not beyond rational consideration? Was Loughner persuaded by Sharron Angle’s rhetoric to pursue a second amendment remedy for whatever political complaints troubled his sick mind? Of course not. Sharron Angle never meant for anyone (so we’re told) to attempt a political assassination.

No, ultimately the blame lies squarely on Mr. Loughner’s shoulders. Still one has the uneasy feeling that the verbal invocations of violence and the easy means Arizona provides to carry out violence conspired create the perfect storm of rage and lead.

[Faldur]

As one of the "resident" conservatives, my heart and prayers goes out for Congress-woman Gifford and her family. I pray for her full recovery, and that of all those who were injured. To say this event was tragic falls so short, the poor little girl that was at the event to learn more about politics, (what a lesson),the Judge and 4 others who won't be coming home again.

Times like these we need to forget about blue and red, and be Americans. Think our President was responsible for that quote. I will not touch anything that politicizes this sad event. It's a tragedy, plain and simple.

[NYBURBS]

There are firebrands on every side of an issue, and semantics are employed by both political parties on a regular basis. There is a lot of anger in this country right now, some of it being more cogent and coherent than others. With that said, I would chalk this up to an unstable/mentally ill individual more so than anything else.

[PomonaCA]

Yeah the guy was nutty, plain and simple. If it wasn't a gun it would have been a knife and if you outlawed knives he would just shank her with a spoon. Stupidity is incredibly creative.

[russtafa]

the guy was from the extreme left

[trish]

If it wasn't a gun it would have been a knife and if you outlawed knives he would just shank her with a spoon.

Yeah, he would have "shanked" 18 people before having to switch to the fork.

Stupidity is incredibly creative.

There are firebrands on every side of an issue, and semantics are employed by both political parties on a regular basis.

It's true. Political arguments are heated on both sides. Indeed, they're meant to be heated and carried out with passion. When one side lies, there's nothing wrong with calling them liars. When one side succumbs to corruption, there's nothing wrong with turning up the heat and crying foul. I would be the last to suggest we water down our discourse with unneeded political correctness. I propose that it is not the temperature of discourse that is the problem, but rather the discourse itself. Calling for "second amendment remedies," calling on us to "gather our armies," and putting one's political opponents in cross-hairs isn't just turning up the heat, it's threatening violence, condoning violence and calling for violence. That's quite distinct from the normal run of mill anger that permeates political discourse. Take the call for second amendment remedies, mix in very lax gun laws and a dash or two of crazies. It's a potent cocktail. The nation might be able to swallow it without any of the crazies going off. Then again, it might not. There's no cause and effect here. It's a crazy who was given the opportunity, the means and the climate.

[NYBURBS]

Yea Trish, but it seems to be even more vitriolic (to steal the word from the headlines) than normal. There have been time periods in our history where people resorted more readily to the threat of, or actual violence in the course of political disagreement, most notably during Jackson's Presidency and then of course the civil war. There was also the black panther movement in many US cities for instance (certainly not a right wing cause lol).

There is reason for anger now, but unfortunately many people aren't well enough educated to know where to focus it or the history behind some of these debates. That makes for a situation where all this unfocused rage continues to build. I would agree though that the pundits and 24 hour news network cycles have not helped the situation.

the guy was from the extreme left

I don't know how accurate that is. He cited The Communist Manifesto as one of his favorite books, but then again he also listed Mein Kampf. Many books like the Communist Manifesto are thought of as philosophical masterpieces for their contribution to the debate on human existence, regardless if one happens to agree with the work's conclusions or not. It seems to me that this young man probably subscribed to a mix of views which aren't well defined by labeling them either right or left wing. Regardless, he was obviously mentally ill and we'd all do well to stop trying to play hot potato with his political subscriptions.

[russtafa]

America seem's to have taken the right to bare arms too far .It was a great concept but was taken to far

[Ben]

America seem's to have taken the right to bare arms too far .It was a great concept but was taken to far

And why does a clip need to carry 30 rounds?
And how does a paranoid schizophrenic manage to purchase a gun?

[Ben]