Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords shot (updated)
Giffords, a Democrat from Arizona, was shot in the head at a public meeting by a lone gunman who also killed several other attendees. No word yet on whether the motive was political.
Update: Contrary to the first report I saw, Giffords survived the shooting and is in surgery. Several others were, however, killed.
Update 2: Sounds like the shooter was one of those government- hating paranoids. More here (found via Republic of Gilead).
Update 3: Police are now looking for a possible accomplice.
Update: Contrary to the first report I saw, Giffords survived the shooting and is in surgery. Several others were, however, killed.
Update 2: Sounds like the shooter was one of those government- hating paranoids. More here (found via Republic of Gilead).
Update 3: Police are now looking for a possible accomplice.
posted by Infidel753 at 11:41 AM
10 Comments:
NBC News is reporting that federal judge John M. Roll was killed as well.
My God, this is a nightmare. Please keep the victims and their families in your thought.
I've seen a few reports to the effect that Giffords is not dead but is in surgery. So there's still some hope, although who knows what kind of life a person could have after being shot in the head.
Is this not a smoking gun for open and/or concealed carry? And especially at political Rallies? All those in favor of the rights of unregulated militias to bear arms should get in line to wash innocent blood from their hands. It is time for us, as a nation, to take up the unconstitutionality of standing un-regulated militias.
Huh? Is there any evidence that the shooter here was a member of a militia group? And when have gun-control laws ever stopped criminals from getting hold of guns?
Guns are less regulated in this country than automobiles. Based upon the 2nd Amendment pertaining to well-regulated militias. You need to get a ball-point pen so you can trace the connections between dots.
The news is now discussing the suspect, Jared Lee Loughner, and a video he posted on YouTube. His rhetoric about the government and the gold standard sounds suspiciously like that of the Sovereign Citizens movement. I don't know if he has any actual ties with Sovereign Citizen groups, but it wouldn't surprise me.
Vigilante: Drugs are more stringently illegal than guns could ever be, but they're still easy to get. No gun-control law could stop a murderous crackpot from obtaining a gun. Hijacking the news of an assassination attempt like this to promote a political gun-banning agenda is disgusting, and I'll reject any further comments along those lines.
Ahab: Gold fetishism is one of the standard memes of the apocalyptic far right. Beck has promoted it. Still, let's wait and see what this guy is about. It will all come out in time.
A friend of mine posted this link on Facebook, in case you want another perspective.
http://www.infowars.com/arizona-assassin-obsessed-with-mind-control/
First of all, my heart goes out to the victims and their families at this tragedy.
Secondly, although I am not a mental health professional, I did spend five years working with people with psychiatric disabilities, and if ever one of my clients had made any of the statements the shooter made on his YouTube channel or MySpace page, I would have called the crisis team in a hot second. His ramblings were, to put it mildly, psychotic, and his ability to interpret and interact with the reality around him is extremely questionable.
And finally, I have come here for a little respite from the knee-jerk reactionary rhetoric streaming from nearly everyone with a political affiliation of any kind, accusing the other side of inspiring this paranoid psychotic to his reprehensible act of violence. I grew tired of trying to advocate for a reasonable approach and not making connections that weren't there, and being attacked for my efforts.
The only thing that can safely be said about the attacks at this point is that they were horrifying, tragic, and inexcusable, and that all evidence suggests that the shooter was profoundly mentally ill.
Thank you for not joining the ranks of knee-jerkers everywhere, and I look forward to your insights (should you offer them) after enough facts are known about this very sad situation.
ExpressoSelf & GodLizard: I always try to withhold judgment until the facts come in, but now they are starting to come in, and it looks like this guy was both paranoid and an exponent of the anti-government hatred found among fringe elements on the far right. There's nothing contradictory there -- political extremists are often paranoid as well -- nor do I see any reason why having been in the military (if he was) is inconsistent with being an anti-government paranoid.
It's true that one shouldn't jump to the conclusion that any given violent person is a right-wing terrorist, but some violent people actually are right-wing terrorists, and as best I can tell from what's come out so far, that's probably what we're dealing with here.
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