Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in critical condition, 6 others killed in Arizona

[Lief 🗽]

RIP. She was incredibly brave to stand by her convictions despite the threat of death.

I'll just put this here:



http://www.alan.com/2010/03/24/palin-puts-gun-sighs-on-target-map-says-ti/

[Lief 🗽]

She was shot point-blank in the head. Not to be gruesome or anything, but even if she is still alive at this point...

[Lief 🗽]

Someone on MSNBC said she was talking while being brought to the hospital, so hopefully that's good news.

[Lief 🗽]

Does anyone know when was the last time a Congressman was assassinated? I feel like this is a pretty rare event in American history.

[Lief 🗽]

Oh yeah, Leo Ryan. Really it's surprising that this is the first time something like this has happened. I've interned with a Congressman and attended these sorts of meet and greets in grocery stores, probably the exact same format of Giffords' event today, and the security is generally only a policeman or two and some staffers who aren't armed or trained for security or anything, and the people are allowed to get right up there with the Congressman. They're really brave to do this.

[Lief 🗽]

Hopefully the Congress passes legislation giving Congresspeople dedicated security details after this.

[Lief 🗽]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

uh...

[Lief 🗽]

Apparently the federal judge who was also assassinated had received numerous death threats due to his stance on immigration.

[Lief 🗽]

I'm a little confused how a paranoid schizophrenic was allowed to get a semi-automatic weapon in the first place.

[Lief 🗽]

I think it would be a bit insulting to her to use her shooting as an excuse to ban guns, because she is -- apparently -- a supporter of Second Amendment rights.  Plus, it's just generally absurd to take every isolated situation like this and say "oh noes, we should ban guns."  Far more people's lives are saved every day because they defended themselves, or were defended by someone else, with a gun.  Yet we never hear about those situations.

It'd clearly be absurd to try and ban guns because of this, that would be going too far, but Arizona has particularly lax gun laws. You don't even need a permit to carry a concealed weapon there, and I can't imagine the regulations on who is buying the guns are very tight.

Still, it is absurd to try and restrict guns every time some crazy person gets a gun and shoots people.  We don't make it harder to get a driver's license every time someone runs a red light and runs over ten people.

We do, however, restrict drivers licenses from people who, by driving, would endanger themselves or others. A paranoid schizophrenic, who failed an army psychological exam, given a gun is clearly a threat to himself and others.

[Lief 🗽]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/01/the-cloudy-logic-of-political-shootings/69147/

The whole article is worth a read.

[Lief 🗽]

After seeing wormyguy's signature, I now have a sudden subconscious urge to throw a dart at Republican Governor Susana Martinez's face.

Yeah, well I'm gonna find out where Iowa lives and beat him up!

[Lief 🗽]

No one is saying he was a teabagger brownshirt. What people are saying is that many on the right-wing (arguably the far right-wing) in this country have created an atmosphere where this kind of political violence is normalized and subtly encouraged, to the point that something like this happening eventually isn't very surprising at all.

[Lief 🗽]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2011/01/palin-staffer-nothing-irrespon.html

but wait!



lying bitch.

[Lief 🗽]

No one is saying he was a teabagger brownshirt.

Tea Party.

A reasonable hypothesis two hours after the event before anything was known about the man.