2nd Amendment Remedies...?

[filkertom]

Horrible, horrible news: US Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and at least six other people, including members of her staff, have been shot at a public meet-and-greet in Tuscon. There are conflicting reports as to whether or not the Congresswoman has died; she was shot in the head at point-blank range. The shooter is in custody.

And why the incendiary subject line...?

This is why.

And this.

ETA: And, oh boy: this.

ETA2: I realized I should clarify something -- I really really hope this is the work of either Mexican drug cartels or just some random loon. I do not want it to be one of the opening salvos in a new American Civil War. But the way things have been shaking out the past few years, it sure the fuck looks like it might be.

And we've got some trolls on Eschaton making jokes about things, and I wrote this:

Trolls: This may be useless on my part, but: Please. Try to have a little human compassion. Several people have been shot. Families will be destroyed tonight. If they were right-wingers, we (at least I, but I do think I speak for most Atriots in this) would be just as distressed and horrified. This is not something to get joking or snarky about. All you have to realize is that this happened at a frickin' Safeway. Anybody just going for groceries could've been shot.

Just remember that there are many people's lives involved. That's all.

Thanks.

Would that any would listen.

Comments

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

We'll have to wait and see if the murderer had seen Palin's map. It is likely, though, that this was an act of political terrorism.

Personally, I believe that the practice of trolling for violent psychotics in the mass media is something best outlawed.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Not outlawed. Just responded to with significant consequences. (If it turns out to be, say, Rush who gets cited, I'd dearly love to see him the subject of a nine-figure civil suit after he lost all his paid media outlets.)

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

This is what happens when you encourage the batcrap crazy in your base.

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Her district is on the Mexican border, and she was an advocate of increased border security. I would say that there is a very good chance that one of the Mexican drug cartels was behind this.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Certainly not impossible. Heck, it might even end up resulting in some good, in a horrific twisted way, if resources are dedicated to ending that shit. But... gaaaaaaaah.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Good point. I'd only considered the possibility of radical-right political terrorism. But we will have to wait and see.

[fair-witness.livejournal.com]

Hospital spokesperson reporting that she's alive and in surgery.

If this is true ... Keep fighting, ma'am.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, reports of her death etc.

[per_solo]

CNN has her listed as having died after being shot.

Last I checked, that was called ASSASSINATION!

*sighs* On a whim, I went to check the sarahpac.com page, it's coming back with a 500 Internal Server error.

I'm just utterly horrified. And wanting more information...and hoping that the friends I have in AZ were nowhere near that site today.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

My mom lives in suburban Phoenix. I called to make sure she hadn't gone to Tuscon on a whim. Stupid, I know, but that's the kind of stuff you do.

How's that Lock-And-Load thing workin' out for ya?

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

My working hypothesis is: White man, unemployed, possibly back from a stint in Iraq/Afghanistan, Tea Party supporter and FOX "News" viewer, whose friends and family had been worried about his increasingly virulent and nonsensical rants about (pick one) death panels, the gay agenda, the Federal government taking our guns, dark-skinned terrorists coming across the border, over-taxed billionaires, or the President's birth certificate.

Also, that the media will put more energy into denouncing people who connect the "lone crazy man" with the Tea Party's "Second Amendment Remedies" and Palin's "target" map that included Giffords, than they will into denouncing the terrorist who killed her.

Re: How's that Lock-And-Load thing workin' out for ya?

[ladyoceanstar.livejournal.com]

You are completely spot on. Had these same thoughts rolling around my head, but you said them in a much more eloquent manner than I am able to produce at the moment.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/17/arizona-gun-law-concealed_n_541445.html

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

Ok, THAT is insane!

As much as I'm for concealed carry, there still needs to be a screening process!

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

My prayers go out to her and her family.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

CQ profile (http://www.congress.org/news/2011/01/08/rep_gabrielle_giffords_dariz) of Giffords. Giffords is a conservative Democrat. As purpleranger says, she is an advocate of stronger border policing in her district, making a gangland shooting a possibility.

Talking Points Memo (http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/) front-page coverage of this is very good, despite occasional linguistic gaffes ("... among those shot at the shooting...") from rattled editors.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Also dead in the attack: Federal Judge John McCarthy Roll (appointed by Bush the Elder). This is a mess, and I hope that all injured recover fully.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

I heard the judge was involved in a case of a ranger vs illegal aliens. He might have been one of the targets considering the hate mail he was receiving from conservatives.

The shooter was Jared Lee Loughner

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

A bit of coverage at Business Insider (http://www.businessinsider.com/jared-lee-loughner-2011-1). Yes, he is a right-wing crazy--that is, right-wing, partly, but mostly crazy.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

The CBC has this on their update. It's a sad and horrible thing, more than one person has died. And what a some of a fellow Canadians saying, is well, I'd say uncanadian, but so many Canadians seem to feel obligated to trot out the "right to bear arms" argument that it gets so routine I think I know the US laws as well as Canadian ones. Pointing out to these morons that the firearm used was not leagal in any way (unless I missed something) is useless.

I hope that this ends quietly with nothing else bad happening.

[wyldemusick.livejournal.com]

The gun was a legal purchase, made at Sportsman's Warehouse in November. He apparently used a 9mm Glock with an extended magazine.

[mimiheart.livejournal.com]

Got in the car after work, and started hearing about this. O.o

Thoughts and prayers going out to all of the families affected by this.

One news report I heard said a child had died.

And it looks like the gunman is batshit crazy.

[smparadox.livejournal.com]

Her surgeon has been interviewed already on Canadian news, and he is "very optimistic". So the damage din't look fatal/irreparable to the guy who just got done fixing it as best he could. He couldn't say anything about long term recovery, because, well, there is nothing that can be said about it this soon. There is no way to know until she wakes up. But I thought I had a duty to share the "very optimistic" quote with my friends depending on US news. (If something similar happened up here, I would have to turn to US news to find out more about it. Breaking news is always restricted in the country it is happening in.)

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

I just checked Yahoo! News, and the latest from the hospital is that her outlook is "optimistic" and that she is responding to commands from doctors. She did take a shot to the head, though, and I'm pretty certain that can't be good.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Depends on the angle of attack. I've heard of cases where the bullet just grazed off the skull. I'm not belittling her wounds or her attack of course, but it's possible it's not as serious as it could have been.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Yeahh.. I hope it was just a lone crazy... but lets just say that were I in the position to travel to the US, I probably wouldn't. At least not anytime soon.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

The county sheriff thinks there was an accomplice. We're going to have to wait for the investigation, and perhaps even the trial.

[invader-tak-1.livejournal.com]

I'm amazed in Arizona nobody shot back. I sure as hell would have.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

Just because a person's armed, that doesn't automatically result in quick response, or correct response. I'd consider it a good thing that nobody went for a quick, incorrect response; that suggests that if anybody there was armed, they're better trained than the average user of a firearm.

[misterseth.livejournal.com]

Heres a story on the assasin, and the videos he posted on YouTube. Two words, B@tSh!t Crazy!:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/jared-lee-loughner-gabrielle-giffords-shooter_n_806243.html

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

...And yet another 3-name young white male commits an act of political assassination.

When the shooter at Fort Hood turned out to have a Muslim surname every right-wing mouth in the country howled about how They were all a danger and They should all be profiled and background-checked.

But a white Christian male slams his private plane into a Federal building, and a white Christian male shoots up a museum, and a white Christian male bombs an abortion clinic, and a white Christian male mows down a line of people in a Safeway...well, gee, there's just no connection anyone can see.

And if this creature turns out to be a fucked-up Iraq war veteran, those are six more heads to pile on the carnage stinking on Dubya's doorstep.

[wyldemusick.livejournal.com]

He's not a vet.

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

And unfortunately, I read earlier this afternoon that the scumbuckets of Westboro Baptist Church are planning to stage one of their little "celebrations" at the funerals of the victims. I really hope that either Obama or Biden decide to attend the funerals, because I suspect that the Secret Service will have very little patience with Westboro's antics.

Secret Service & Westboro

[smparadox.livejournal.com]

The Westboro Fundamentalists are very careful to stay within the law. The Secret Service would have nothing to say about their antics, much as they might like to.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

More and more it seems like the shooter was another mentally disturbed person who fell between the cracks. He was also apparently a member of, or at showed great intrest in, an anti-semetic, and anti-gorvernment group called American Renaissance.

[antinomic.livejournal.com]

Well, it was a solo loon. Sad, but I see no way to stop that.