Update to the Giffords Shooting

From the msn news (read the whole article here):

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was the target of a gunman whom he described as mentally unstable and possibly acting with an accomplice. He said Giffords was among at least 13 people wounded in the melee. Six people were killed, including Arizona's chief federal judge, a 9-year-old girl and an aide for the Democratic lawmaker. He said the rampage ended only after two people tackled the assailant.

While the list of victims has been made public, I have not yet seen identified the two heroes who tackled the 22 year old gunman. Another person of interest thought to have assisted the gunman is sought.  The political aspects of this attack are outlined by the Pima County sheriff , below.


Related content Updated 117 minutes ago 1/9/2011 2:39:28 AM +00:00
Arizona suspect: "I can't trust the government."

Gee...........where do we hear that, pretty much continuously?

continuing from the msn news article:

Doctors were optimistic about Giffords surviving as she was responding to commands from doctors despite having a bullet go through her head. "With guarded optimism, I hope she will survive, but this is a very devastating wound," said Dr. Richard Carmona, the former surgeon general who lives in Tucson.

At the risk of making a macabre observation, thank goodness Representative Gifford enjoys the benefits of federally provided health care as a member of Congress.  It will be interesting to see how many of the others who were wounded are going to enjoy adequate care and if necessary hospitalization, and how many are insured.  The msn article continues:

The sheriff pointed to the vitriolic political rhetoric that has consumed the country as he denounced the shooting.


"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous," the sheriff said. "And unfortunately, Arizona I think has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."

The only person directly responsible for this heinous act is the shooter and possibly his accomplice. But indirectly, as contributors to this happening, I point my finger at those who influenced this man, the politicians, the talking heads - TV and radio, and the writers across the blogosphere, all of whom demonstrate repeatedly more interest in promoting conspiracy theories, like people are coming for your guns (no, they're not) or that health care reform will result in death panels pulling the plug on grandma (no, they won't) or that health care reform is 'job killing' or 'budget busting' (no, it is not), or that your candidates are losing elections to voter fraud (no, they;re not). To them I say, try a little restraint, and a lot more factual accuracy, from now on. Because your faithful followers believe you, they don't fact check you like I do. Otherwise you have a share of responsibility in this, and in the other threats and actual violence, just as the Pima County Sheriff so correctly notes.

I'm sure the political right will be busy, trying to distance themselves from the effects of their inflammatory rhetoric. I adamantly defend their right to such rhetoric, but only so long as it remains nothing more than rhetoric. When it crosses that line into violent action, I condemn it. I challenge the political right to use this event, and the many threats of similar events, to assess the wisdom of how they have chosen to express their views.

Try letting your conscience be your guide, not your amygdala, for a change.