Even before the facts of the matter have been ascertained, observers on the left side of the political spectrum are up in arms about the motives of the gunman in the Giffordss shooting, Jared Lee Loughner. “Palin needs to be held accountable for murder,” Elly-895483 commented underneath msnbc.com‘s post on threats of violence aimed at Gifford before today’s tragedy. In this rush to judgement Elly was–and is—not alone. TTAG commentator and gun blogger JadeGold left no words unminced: “Lack of gun control caused this.” Nor did Josh Sugarman, Executive Director of the Violence Policy Center and Huffington Post pro-gun control poster child: “America’s gun culture claims its latest victims.” CNN has jumped into this meme with both metaphorical feet . . .
“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 county is getting to be outrageous. Unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become sort of the capital,” ]Pima County Sheriff Clarence] Dupnik continued.
“We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry,” Dupnik said.
Arizona is a Republican stronghold where the party members hold a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the legislature and occupy the governor’s office.
Dupnik is a Democrat . . .
“People tend to pooh-pooh this business about the vitriol that inflames American public opinion by the people who make a living off of that. That may be free speech but it’s not without consequences,” Dupnik said.
The blogger at blogs.standard.net is riding the same train. His is marked gun ban.
I won’t get into questions of whether the Tea Party’s screaming about 2nd Amendment Solutions (by a Nevada senatorial candidate no less) are applicable here. But in an era when a lot of people claim common sense says we should be identifying terrorists at airports by assuming muslims and people with dark skin are more dangerous, why should we not assume that someone carrying a gun plans to use it?
Yeah, sure, you’re a God-fearing American who only wants to defend himself. But I’m a God-fearing American who wants to live in peace and not have to worry that the guy wearing a side-arm and the shirt with all the flags all over it is some ultra-right-wing nut who’s decided that liberals are a disease and he’s a doctor. So I should get a gun too?
No thanks.
Check your guns at edge of town, is my idea. Leave it home locked up. It worked in the Wild West, it should work here too.
Expect to see a LOT more of this in the mainstream media, as they prove the validity of the old term “knee-jerk liberal.” There is nothing in Loughner’s writings that suggests he was a right-winger. In fact, the inclusion of Hitler’s hate-filled screed Mein Kampf in his YouTube profile, and Representative Giffords’ Jewish ancestry, indicates that anti-semitism may have been in play.
Who knows? Not us. Not yet. Meanwhile, this from Wickedmo13 underneath the YouTube video “favorited” by Loughner.
Did you know she was on Palin’s target list? Im just saying did you know? and the list had crosshairs on everytarget. It was for the people who voted for the healthcare system. People are crazy and take shit too far, this is why ignorant symbolism in politics should not be allowed. Crazy shit!
So who’s going to decide what constitutes ignorant symbolism? Somehow I don’t think the left wants the right in on that discussion, even as they use Loughner and/or Giffords as a symbol of why we need more gun control.