AZ Congresswoman Shot; 6+ Tucson fatalities

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords shot in head

Posted by Max Brantley on Sat, Jan 8, 2011 at 12:38 PM

• U.S. REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was shot in the head at point blank range in Tucson today and several staffers were wounded. She was at a public event at a grocery store. The shooter was tackled by a bystander and is in custody.UPDATE: A sheriff’s spokesman has said that Giffords has died, one of at least six fatalities, and at least 12 people were shot. But a variety of sources are saying at 2 p.m. Little Rock time that the congresswoman remains in surgery in critical condition. CNN says one may have been a federal judge.

The New York Times quotes a witness who said the gunman fired at least 20 shots. He was described as a white male in his 20s who was shabbily dressed. The article notes that her House office was vandalized hours after the House approved health care reform legislation, which she supported. She told MSNBC then that she was not afraid, despite numerous threats. “Our democracy is a light, a beacon around the world” because it effects change at the ballot box, not by violent acts.

Regards a topic addressed earlier today, just for the record from opencarry.com

Arizona is one of our “Gold Star” open carry states. There is complete state preemption of all firearms laws, open carry is common and law enforcement is well educated as to its legality.

People with guns may be asked to store their firearms or leave places open to the public in Arizona Though Giffords has supported some legislation supportive of concealed carry, she earned a D from the NRA for overall voting record, such as support for background checks of gun purchasers at gun shows. There is, of course, no way to know if the shooting today was related to gun issues or other hot-button issues that roil Arizona, such as immigration. (Or even the unhappy liberal that the conservatives have dug up who was mad at Giffords for voting against Nancy Pelosi as minority leader.) But we do know a gun carried into a grocery store struck her down. As I’ve said to a pro-carry lobbyist n the comment thread, the motivation of the shooter has no relevance to a fair question about open carry laws: Does widespread presence of openly carried weapons desensitize people to potential threats from people with guns when they turn up at a grocery store? If somebody strolls into the Kroger in Little Rock carrying a weapon, an alarm would be sounded. In Arizona, not so much. Those with concealed weapons have at least been through a background check.

Gun threats have arisen in Giffords’ career before.

Last year, during the summer of Tea Party rage, her staff called police after one attendee at a Town Hall meeting at another grocery store, in Douglas, dropped a gun and threatening calls were made to a union participating in the event.

That has aides, who called police to the event, concerned for her safety.”We have never felt the need before to notify law enforcement when we hold these events,” said spokesman C.J. Karamargin.

One of the callers to the Service Employees International Union said, “I suggest you tell your people to calm down, act like American citizens, and stop trying to repress people’s First Amendment rights… That, or you all are gonna come up against the Second Amendment.”

Again, this blames no one, but DBI reminds that Giffords was one of the members of Congress targeted in crosshairs in the infamous Sarah Palin PAC ads. Talking Points Memo reported that Giffords’ opponent in a tough reelection campaign last fall, tea partier Jesse Kelly (R), reportedly held an event in June 2010 in which supporters were invited to shoot an M-16 with him to “Get On Target For Victory.” Again, who knows if there’s any connection? But can we agree such metaphorical speech is dangerously corrosive? See images on jump of Sarah PAC ads. (Palin has taken down the maps and removed a Twitter post that uttered her famous line, “don’t retreat, reload.” Why? If such talk can’t be discussed in this context, as Republicans are all saying, why should she have anything to feel sorry about?)

Sarah Palin's infamous "target" map to eliminate certain congress members



Sara "Quitter" Palin - the former Governor of Alaska, who quit the people whom elected her, established this "target" list of Congress members which she thought ought to be "eliminated."