Congresswoman Giffords shot in Ariz

[3006guns]

That's what I got out of that press conference too Charlie. The 72 year old sheriff spent too much time "politicizing" the tragedy with his own personal opinion. NOT something you do as a public official at a press conference. You just give facts/answer questions. He needs to retire.

[Recluse]

This is probably going to make me HUGELY unpopular around here, but oh well. . .

Quite honestly, I'm more concerned about the nine-year-old child that was killed than I am the federal robe, elected official, et al.

There have always been loonies going all the way back to the days of King Arthur and beyond. There will always be loonies.

And let's face it: Right now, ANYONE from Congress, the Senate or the White House or any of the three branches of government is about as popular with the American people as a raging case of syphilis.

You can argue until the cows come home if someone voted "moderately" or "was a friend on these two issues" or blah blah blah.

Fact is, every single sitting member of the Senate, House and White House is responsible for the absolutely dismal condition our nation is in. They broker deals with each other, they trade votes with each other, they defer to each other, they spread the pork around, etc etc etc.

Aside from the nine-year-old, I find it even MORE disturbing that the government is responding the way it is: Obama sending out the FBI Director (Mueller couldn't find his butt with a map, flashlight and methane probe); Boehner is screeching that "an attack on one of us (Congress critters) is an attack on all of us;" Justice Roberts is waxing about Judge Roll--but I'll bet anyone a donut that Roberts, prior to today, could not recite one single damned case that Roll ruled on. Yet, Justice Roberts waxes about "how wise a jurist Roll was" and other such stuff.

I have not heard one of these Congress/D.C. types say a damned thing about the non-government people killed or wounded unless it was political, and even then, you have to look for their remarks even acknowledging that "mere, common people" were also killed/wounded.

Quite honestly? Aside from the nine-year-old who was killed, I could give a damn less one way or the other. Most of us on this forum face the same risks of having some five-time convicted DWI/DUI drunk-driver hitting and killing us while we're driving; we have a greater risk than Congressmen to of having our homes burglarized; we have a greater risk of having our kids/daughters assaulted than do Congressional employees.

Congress and the White House have no idea what life is really like. Today, they got a dose of what the rest of us deal with on a daily basis. THEIR reaction will be to try and restrict our rights even further in order to protect their privileges.

The way our Congress and three branches of government have been conducting themselves the past few years, the state of the economy, the number of unemployed, the number of foreclosures, and the below-13% approval rating they have. . .

Yeah, the shooter was a loony-tunes wacko. But people are getting fed up. Quickly.

[starbits]

My wife just told me that the 9 year old had just been elected to the school council. Her neighbor was going down to meet Giffords and volunteered to take her down now that she was interested in politics. Damn shame.

Starbits

[rockrat]

Hadn't heard about the 9 year old. Lets all say a prayer for the 9 year old and family and friends, OK?

[silvergryfon]

I find it reprehensible that people refuse to face the facts. A person tried to press his ideas on the public by trying to murder an elected official. He did this with a gun. The gun doesn't have a brain or emotions, the perpetrator has them. With our judical system, he will probably be declared delusional and put in a "treatment facility" for about 2-3 years and then released. It is a national shame that we the sheep can't even take care of our own business and process this individual to a proper societal judgement where he can't possibly endanger any one else. God bless America for we surely need it.

[45nut]

I'll stand with Recluse on this one, the elite got something today they deemed themselves immune from and will lash out as us with venom.

I saw it myself,, as if it was scripted,, but they wouldn't do that,, right?

[9.3X62AL]

Lotta validity in what Recluse posted. "Some NUTCAKE" has been pulling stunts like this since Day 1. That is one of many risks run by members of a free society, and you can only manage it--absolute prevention as a practical matter is impossible. Acts of this nature are despicable in any event, ESPECIALLY since this coward killed a little girl during his sick quest for 15 minutes of fame. It's a real shame that some CCW citizen or law officer didn't plant a firearm's contents in the creep's brain housing group, so we could be done with him.

What is truly ridiculous is ANY assignment of political skewing to this animal's actions. He and his co-actors are just thugs--and/or psychopaths--and/or sociopaths. I don't give a rat's derriere about his motives/politics/aspirations--he just needs to be dead. Any effort deflecting that end result is wasted energy.

[j23]

The victims and families of the victim's are in my thoughts and prayers. Especially the nine year old; that sickens me to the point of wanting to vomit.

I won't say much politically, and Ill spare everyone my personal opinions; from what Ive seen on the news, Pima County Sheriff Dupnik has already spread enough opinion and politicking for us all.

Well, I said I would save my personal opinions, save one..

I will suggest that, at most, thirty days pass before we start hearing talk of the 'Gifford's (or insert victim's name here) Law' that bans handguns, high capacity magazines, assault rifles, repeating arms, self contained ammunition, gun powder, primers, bullets, boolits, bows, arrows, broadheads, hatchets, axes, chainsaws, hammers, forks, butter knifes, ect., ect., ect.

The anti's have been waiting for a crisis of this magnitude and public awareness-they wont let it go to waste. ...add in that it was government officials who were the victims, and it ought to fly through the house and senate with a fury, and be signed off by ol' Barrack faster than you can say, "What Constitution?!"

A tragic day indeed, and the fall out will be even more so, both politically (let's blame Palin, Bush, the Tea Party, Republicans, Gun owners, ect.) and legally.

[canyon-ghost]

Okay, I can agree with that. Politics aside and all, he was standing 3-5 feet away when he opened fire. Means he wasn't going to miss. The little girl makes you wonder about a lot of things. They say he's mentally unstable.

[Echo]

Gabby was my congressperson. Although many in the media are characterizing her as a Blue Dog, my own characterization is that she was a Bad representative. She would hold a Town Hall, or whatever (I attended some), listen carefully, take notes, be attentive, and say she would do what she could - then go vote according to what Princess Nancy told her to do. She voted straight party line over 90% of the time. Granted, she supported the 2nd Amendment, but I see that as pure survival - she knew that if she voted against it, her days would definitely be numbered in the House.

It is reprehensible what this druggy lefty did. This is not the way it is supposed to work. And I believe there is more to this story. I haven't heard EXACTLY what his weapon was. It will be interesting to look at all the rounds that were captured by innocent bystanders, and see if they all came from the same gun.

[j23]

Echo, from my understanding.. the firearm in question was a Glock 19 (9mm) and he had a Scherer magazine, well, at least one, which if I understand correctly, holds 30 rounds.

[starmac]

It sounds like what this proves, is that everyone should carry.
When Palin had her public luncheon here, she was asked if guns were allowed. The answer was yes of course. In my way of thinking no one is apt to start shooting when they know the majority is armed, even a mental case is likely to think about it more.

[Three44s]

Count me as worrying more about the Nine year old and other unrelated civilians killed or maimed by this nut job than the Pols and the Judge.

I feel for all involved (sans the nut job) but the media and the overly grandstanding Sherriff from Pima are taking more than their fair share of time over the Congress woman and Judge.

It turns out the nut job was a noted Pot tester! I suppose that will be his defense? Blame the Pot?

I say: Make a good new rope out of Hemp and hang him after a fair and speedy trial ..... which ought to be no problem ..... there's enough witnesses to crowd a large court room!


Three 44s

[Houndog]

I say: Make a good new rope out of Hemp and hang him after a fair and speedy trial ..... which ought to be no problem ..... there's enough witnesses to crowd a large court room!


Three 44s

What he said, except I believe an eye for an eye is justified in this case. Let em use a firing squad sans blindfold on prime time TV!

[76 WARLOCK]

I agree with Recluse on this, I think this kind of thing will get alot worse, when the left thinks they are losing they will go crazy.

[Recluse]

The more I read about this whole incident, the less it makes sense. The media and the liberals have conditioned America to become a nation of "emotional" response, in case you haven't noticed, then to vote or act with our hearts.

But there are things here that I don't understand, such as:

• Giffords is reported to have been shot with a 9mm, of which the bullet "passed through her brain."

Not sure how many of you have seen head shots made by a 9mm, but your chances of surviving a 9mm tunneling through your brain are practically zero. The energy of the round, the size, the exit wound, the amount of surrounding tissue damage, etc, all combine to make this a fatal shot.

I know. I've seen far too many of them from my days in law enforcement.

Perhaps Giffords was shot by a .22LR? Perhaps there was another shooter there? Maybe the nutbag (Jared Loughner) had more than one gun?

• The nutbag, Jared Loughner, is also reported by the Pima County Registrar's Office as having cast his vote for Obama. Now, how would the registrar's office know that? How would ANYONE know how I voted unless I told them?

• DHS has let it leak that the nutjob, Jared Loughner, may be "linked" to the American Renaissance, a wacko extremist group. Now how would DHS know this if it weren't spying? Or, did DHS simply throw this out to discredit the nutbag, even though he's already discredited by his actions?

• It's been brought up here as to "why somebody in the crowd in gun-friendly Arizona, didn't aerate Jared Loughner when he opened fire?" My take on it is this: When is the last time any of us went to listen to a liberal Democrat politician speak? I haven't, and never will, therefore that will be one less legally armed citizen there.

I suspect all the canonization the press is doing on this "conservative Democrat" is going to backfire once the emotional rhetoric settles down and her unhappy constituents begin speaking up.

• Why have we not heard about or from Giffords' husband? After all, he is the most political of all beasts ever created in the military: the astronaut. Why nothing on him from a media who loves to milk these things from every angle and for all it's worth?

My biggest concern is for the young nine-year-old who was killed. Here was an aspiring young woman full of hope and dreams who was going to listen to and hopefully meet her political representative. I can put the labeling aside for young people as I'm just glad they are getting involved, even if I disagree with which party they seem to favor.

But the rest of the ruling class that got caught up in the senseless violence that the rest of America has to face daily? I couldn't give a damn less. At every step and turn, these elites, as 45Nut so appropriately refers to them, have done everything they can to ensure that we, the people, become victimized by lunatics and career criminals.

Now, they are getting a dose of their owned damned medicine and I have zero sympathy or empathy for them.

[HeavyMetal]

I've been following this closely and have great sympathy for all who were hit but in particular the family of the nine year old girl.

Having lost a child I know what this family is going through. I also know nothing will make this better, nothing!

As for the politican's?

Well every time a shooting happens they cry like babies. Now one of thier own has been hit and I expect the elected officals to "suddenly" develop great skills in making things happen in Congress.

To bad they couldn't get this motivated about the economy 2 years ago!

I also wonder about timing and location of this event? What are the odds a"Loon" picks a Democrat, a woman, a state that is highly controversial, a recently hotly contested election involving the same Democrat, and a sadly lackng show of security at a public event?

Can hardly wait for the "invistagation" to reveal the truth of those involved???

I hope no one else succumbs to thier injuries and I wish them a speedy recovery but the bottom line here is the Congress woman usually had no security at any of her public appearances.

A poor decision based on the current condition of the nation. It doesn't change what has happened but you can bet "Big Bucks" even your local dog catcher is now going to have Secret Service coverage.

I'll end this post with an obvious question: why is it this country always seems to close the barn door after the horse has left?

[MtGun44]

If you look at the YouTube postings, which are black screens with white words only, the
guy is totally out of his mind. These several postings are very obviously from someone whose
thinking is very deranged. I was struck by his repeated use of a page structure where he makes
a statement sentence, then a second related statement and finally a conclusion, pathetically
mimicking a logical argument. If this is true, and then you have this additional fact, then
logically we know this must be true. The words were nonesense, yet no doubt he imagined that
he was writing something with great insite and something able to 'prove' and persuade. He
repeats this pattern with ever more lunatic and nonsensical sentences, over and over.

Clearly a loon, and I suspect that we will find that the police had had contact with him, since
soneone this nutty would seem essentially certain to attract attention. I wonder if the police
chief was trying to deflect attention from the dept failure to have him held for observation or
treatment. If he was known to be mentally ill, he should have not been able to purchase the
gun, but while this sounds really nice, even if unable to buy from a dealer, he would have had
access via theft or the secondary market.

Crazy people have been causing mayhem since the beginning and will continue to do so, as
has been stated. Too bad a CCW civilian wasn't there, although my guess is that it was over
in about 5 - 7 seconds, pretty difficult to react soon enough to stop much of it. Before the left
turned out most loons and closed most 'mental institutions', he might have been institutionalized,
but now the insane roam the streets.

A sad situation, but in the end, less preventable than a lightning strike.

Bill

[wallenba]

I think this guy had NO clear politics. He went where the wind blew him if it provided him with an excuse to act out his psycho-homicidal fantasies. Born sicko? Or made that way somehow. No pshyco-babble excuses from a headshrinker can explain to me his willingness to harm or kill a child or anyone else. His parents have some explaining to do, they of all people should have known he was a risk to the public. This whack job was intent on watching people suffer and die, and any reason would have sufficed.

[Char-Gar]

To seems the shooter is a loser, doper and nut. No politics involved, at least from any rational perspective. I am praying for her recovery, those others injured, the family and friends of those killed. A real tragedy.