A new year and gun violence that flows from careless laws which allow for easy access to deadly weapons has claimed a number of lives all within seconds. That high-profile figures were in the line of fire today will hopefully add some further discussion about the need for gun control in this nation.
A federal judge was killed and a congresswoman gravely wounded Saturday in a shooting outside of a Tucson, Arizona, grocery store, according to police and government officials.
In all, six people died and 12 were wounded in the shooting, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, according to Rick Kastigar, bureau chief for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
What we know is that U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is an intelligent and caring member of Congress who supported universal health care. I have a list of the ones who cared, and those who did not. She remains one of the better lights in Congress. All this makes for the bloody gun violence to be an even sadder story.
What we also know is the NRA is blind to the reality of gun violence. The NRA buys congressional seats and insures that no bill aimed at protecting the citizenry from deadly weapons ever becomes a law. When sensible legislators try to limit automatic weapons of the type that destroyed lives in Tucson the NRA blasts back with stacks of cash and attack ads. Their destructive and outdated lust for ever more guns and ‘rights’ for shooters means that a nine-year old girl will be buried this coming week in Tuscon.
The shooter used a 9mm Glock handgun to blast his way onto the front pages. Thanks to the NRA. Sensible people would have blocked the manufacture and sale of these weapons long ago, curtailed what gun shows can sell, who could buy a weapon, how many could be bought, how they had to be registered, and the type of ammo bought, and how much.
In other words for all the three-thumb crowd there are ways to make sure nine-year-old kids are not shot to death at the local grocery store.
When the person who fired the automatic weapon is charged with the murders and related crimes I suggest there should be another who is also brought up on charges.
That would be the NRA.
To pretend that NRA is not responsible for the murders and mayhem in Tucson is like saying a drug dealer had nothing to do with the drug overdose that took the life of another.
How much more real does gun violence need to be for the common sense wake-up call to register with Americans. I can already hear the thoughts of civilized nations across the globe in response to this madness in Tucson. Much of the world community think we are insane for allowing this gun madness to continue.
What will the response be from those who can actually make a difference by placing a call to their elected officials in the United States?
How many will call and tell their member of Congress how sorry they are to hear about one of their members being shot?
How many will say it is time we hold the NRA accountable for the gun violence they create and foster in this nation?
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
Congresswoman Giffords was on Sarah Palin’s HIT LIST! Yes, that’s what she called it, her HIT LIST. And Giffords’ 2010 tea party opponent is an ex-Marine gun nut. And Judge Roll was excoriated by the right-wing talk show hosts for a migrant labor civil rights decision in 2009. He had four months of US Marshal protection because of the death threats. It’s worse than the NRA. It’s Republicans of the old Southern Democrat persuasion, the racists, the Objectivists, the right wing terrorists, who refuse to renounce violence as a political tool. I wrote a little about the Arizona massacre here: http://listics.com/201101085908
Greg,
I completely agree with this excellent essay. I don’t have a problem with gun ownership, but it does need to be regulated.
Frank,
Thanks for the comment. I made a portion of your blog post into a seperate post here on CP. I hope that you will keep me updated if you ever get a response. You will get more coverage as this was a great effort on your part and deserves coverage.
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Greg, thanks for the post here on CP and the link to my post. I’ll let you know if Kelly or his campaign responds to me, but I doubt that will happen. Meanwhile, I’ve posted a somewhat less than respectful follow-up about Kelly that centers on a few paragraphs Doug McEachern wrote in the Arizona Republic a few months ago (“The Angriest Successful Primary Candidate I Ever Met is the GOP nominee.”) Kelly has an NRA A rating (Giffords was rated C). Kelly’s bumptious behavior and rhetoric certainly helped to set the stage for the mass murder in Tucson today. I plan to follow up on my inquiry, but–as I said–I don’t expect a response.
A 9 mm Glock is not an “automatic weapon.”
Didn’t the late U.S. District Judge John Roll strike down, as unconstitutional, portions of the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act? Wasn’t Judge Roll’s action based on a petition brought by Sheriff Richard Mack of Graham County, Arizona?
Didn’t Chief Justice John Roberts, who recently mourned Judge Roll’s passing, support an expansive reading of the right to bear arms in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago?
Didn’t we passively permit the gun lobby to succeed?
Don’t we all bear some responsibility for this tragedy?
JA
I am sure the dead and injured will be glad to know that.
Frostbite 6,
Thanks much for writing…I appreciate your comments.
I agree. I have lamented the lack of fight among the electorate to take on the gun lobby and make our country safe from these weapons. I think we all have to take a part of the blame if we have not been active with writing, calling, or any other means to make a change with these laws.
Interesting that Judge Roll supported increased gun rights on one hand, and civil rights for illegal immigrants on the other. Anyone can disagree with one or the other (0r both?) of those rulings, but no one can call him a hack on either side. Looks like we lost a good judge today.