Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot through the head Saturday because of “the anger, the hatred and the bigotry that goes on in this country,” as Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said.
She also was the victim of lax gun sale laws that allowed a 22-year-old who had been expelled from junior college because of crazy, disruptive actions to buy a semi-automatic pistol capable of holding a 30-round ammunition clip and to carry it concealed without a permit.
The crazy who shot her at point blank range killed six others outright and wounded 14 more before he was tackled by bystanders while trying to reload is Jared Lee Loughner.
Within hours of these slayings newspaper reporters and law enforcement officers were able to learn enough about Mr. Loughner to ship him off to a mental hospital. His college classmates said Loughner scared them with his bizarre behavior. His teachers and those who know him added stories of wild outbursts. How many more innocents will have to die before guys like Loughner are taken into custody and forced into treatment for mental illness BEFORE they explode?
DURING THE 2010 political campaign Sarah Palin distributed a map showing congressional districts held by Democrats seeking re-election. Among those she targeted was Rep. Giffords. Each Democratic district was marked with a circle with crosshairs — like looking through a moose rifle’s telescopic sight. Ms. Palin was not advocating assassinations. She was merely being dramatic.
But, as Sheriff Dupnik warned, ideas have consequences and when the political atmosphere is poisoned by outrageous rhetoric that labels the government the enemy of the people, the unbalanced can become terrorists.
At the least, Loughner’s mindless murders should prompt Congress and state legislatures in Arizona and the other 49, to outlaw semi-automatic and automatic pistols and rifles. Such weapons have no legitimate use for hunting or self-protection. If Loughner’s gun had been an ordinary pistol, such as most Americans who feel threatened would buy for self protection, he would not have been able to kill more than two or three and most of the wounded would have been spared.
Far more important, that insane assault should prompt America’s politicians to make themselves over as rational people. Sheriff Dupnik is right as rain. Rather than discuss issues, we shout at each other, call each other hateful names, warn the world that the opposition party is leading the nation off the cliff, do everything that is, but set forth objectives and then discuss how best to reach them, working together as citizens of a single nation.
And after such a public session of hate, anger and invective, we rush to our computers and post blogs fuller yet of factless venom.
In such an atmosphere, the Jared Lee Loughners among us fester, swell and burst.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
