Gabrielle Giffords

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martha Did I do this? I don' think so.

Nope, I thought the quote was relevant to the entire discussion.

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha The*awesome stupidity of the calls to tamp down political speech in the wake of the Giffords shooting. - By Jack Shafer - Slate Magazine

With all due respect, I think *any* media outlet which draws ratings and ad revenues from pushing polarizing political stories and analysis has a conflict of interest when it dismisses any call for civility and stopping the Springerization of political coverage as "awesome stupidity."

They don't want people to get along, to agree to disagree or to respect each other's dissent. It's not good for their bottom line. It's not a call for everyone to stop talking politics, to abandon principle or to all agree to meet in the middle just to get along. It's a call to stop hating each other because we may support the "wrong" team.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScoutAZ I have lived in AZ for 38 years and love it here. Sad to see that some in national media (Navarette - CNN.com) are indicting all in AZ for this. There are many, many wonderful people of all stripes down here. WE will all get through this

Arizona is as good as any other state, and better than some. Whackos commit murders all the time. About a month ago some maniac ran up behind a man in an alley here and killed him with an axe-blow to his head. A few days later another whacko threated a couple with an axe- they were smart enough to drive off pronto.

With zero evidence, too many people here and elsewhere are rushing to blame a state, a political movement, a political philosophy, for what appears to be a totally crazy person who has given numerous warnings in the past that he is crazy and possibly dangerous- but no warnings that any of this had anything to do with politics.

Ha

[Martha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samclem Nope, I thought the quote was relevant to the entire discussion.

Fair enough. Given how hot the topic is, it is easy to be misunderstood.

[RonBoyd]

Yeah, like this Twit (or is it Tweet... or both?) on @tomtomorrow (sorry don't know how to search so can't find specific cite.):

"Weird: rightwingers say movies, video games affect behavior -- but real world violent rhetoric from leaders & radio talkers have NO impact!" (Sun 09 Jan 13:42)

(Aren't projectile launchers the only things that come to mind when seeing crosshairs?)

[Martha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha With zero evidence, too many people here and elsewhere are rushing to blame a state, a political movement, a political philosophy, for what appears to be a totally crazy person who has given numerous warnings in the past that he is crazy and possibly dangerous- but no warnings that any of this had anything to do with politics. Ha

I think that the responses here have been much more nuanced than this. I do agree that some outside of this forum have drawn conclusions about cause and effect that we cannot draw and probably can never draw given the complexities of human behavior.

[vicente solano]

Now I´m sure I´m going to be kicked out of this Forum.......

Why has nobody mentioned the terrible consequences of almost unlimited access to all sort of weapons by all those weirdos.....

Moderators: I´m more than ready to take back my question -and apologize- if you consider that I am going too far.

[Texas Proud]

This is a tragedy...

We have to be glad that this happens so rarely that it does bring up so much discussion...


As an aside... I saw Dick Armey on a show this weekend and he said that this should be looked at by the psycologist... not any of the other (I do not know exactly what he said, but something like) professions like politicians etc. etc. (he named a few)... I think he sees this for what it is... a person who has little grasp to sanity doing something against society... if it was not this, then he would have done it against someone else...

[REWahoo]

Vicente, you are justified in being cautious of your question. Topics about gun ownership, partisan politics and religion are powder kegs on this discussion board.

(Gather round, folks. The hog calling contest is underway....)

[gettingthere]

It seems that the pathetic delusional murderers that do this sort of thing have as one motive the idea that they will gain status through the publicity they receive after the murders.
Perhaps if there was a policy of never referring to the individual at all by name, ever, outside of court, the pathetic delusional murderers of the future would find murder a less satisfying means of obtaining fame.
If they were all simply referred to as “that pathetic delusional murderer” (or perhaps “poor unfortunate mentally ill person” to be more politically correct), maybe some how this would serve to discourage the next one, or at least remove one possible motive.

[Westernskies]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicente solano Why has nobody mentioned the terrible consequences of almost unlimited access to all sort of weapons by all those weirdos.....

Agree with ReW; this thread has all the signs of turning into a hog-calling contest, a shame, since this is about the tragedy in Tucson.

Check your PM for the response I was going to post to your question above.

[Purron]

This musical interlude is brought to you by my inner hippy.

Peace

YouTube - The Beatles - All You Need is Love (HQ)

YouTube - The Youngbloods - Get Together

[RonBoyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Purron This musical interlude is brought to you by my inner hippy.

YouTube - Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry Be Happy

[Martha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicente solano Now I´m sure I´m going to be kicked out of this Forum....... Why has nobody mentioned the terrible consequences of almost unlimited access to all sort of weapons by all those weirdos..... Moderators: I´m more than ready to take back my question -and apologize- if you consider that I am going too far.

I'll give a shot at responding without being too political. Wish me luck!

In a lot of ways this is water over the bridge. There are so many guns in the US that we can't do much to control them. We do enforce a "slow down and take a deep breath" waiting period before the sale of firearms by a dealer, but getting guns is easy here mostly because there are so many guns. As in more than a couple hundred million guns. There is no going back from that. You might want to read this wikipedia article on gun culture: Gun culture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia We are not a culture that would put up with wholesale seizure of guns.

So how do we keep guns away from weirdos? We can't just bar the mentally ill from having guns. The mentally ill as a group are not any more likely than anyone else to be a criminal or do violence. Many states have laws designed to keep guns out of the hands of felons but given how many guns are floating around out there these laws are hard to enforce.

Opinions regarding guns and gun control in the US are divided more regionally than politically.

Vincente, you are always courteous when inquiring about US culture. I appreciate that.

[Purron]

It's OK the be upset. It's OK to disagree. These are natural, human reactions. I'm hoping we can work together to better understand each other and find a way to prevent something like this from happening again. We all want the same thing really.

[BigNick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicente solano Why has nobody mentioned the terrible consequences of almost unlimited access to all sort of weapons by all those weirdos.....

I long ago learned not to ask that question on any American forum. I think that we Europeans would do best to sit in a corner and eat our popcorn, and let the 'natives" discuss that one. Or not.

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martha I'll give a shot at responding without being too political. Wish me luck!

Well played--and a balanced response. My finger was poised over the buzzer, too!

[vicente solano]

Ok, I stand corrected. Won´t happen again, hopefully.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martha just bar the mentally ill from having guns. The mentally ill as a group are not any more likely than anyone else to be a criminal or do violence.

IS there a reference to help with understanding this, as it seems counterintuitive?

Ha

[Purron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicente solano Ok, I stand corrected. Won´t happen again, hopefully.

No reason to feel like you said anything wrong Vincente. You are always respectful and thoughful in your posts. I appreciate that. The question you asked is something many others wonder about, including myself. Unfortunately, we're not at a point yet where we can discuss such matters calmly. I'm hoping one day that will change.