Las Vegas Sun

February 22, 2012

Currently: 61° | Complete forecast | Log in

SUN EDITORIAL:

Tragedy in Tucson

Many questions still remain after fatal shooting in Arizona

Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

The Saturday massacre in Tucson that killed six and wounded 14 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was a senseless tragedy. Nonetheless, we hope this horrific act won’t shatter the sacred bond members of Congress have when they meet constituents in the communities where they live. Sound political discourse depends on the ability of the public to communicate directly with their elected representatives. That’s what Giffords intended to do outside a Tucson supermarket.

Those who lost their lives included 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, a new member of the Mesa Verde Elementary School student council in Tucson, Ariz., who had wanted to meet Giffords because the girl was a budding politician who wanted to help the less fortunate. It was supposed to be the kind of civics lesson a child cannot get in school.

The tragedy also cost the life of federal judge John Roll and left Giffords, shot in the head, with a critical injury.

The tragedy would have been even worse if not for the acts of courage and heroism by some attending the event. Patricia Maisch, for example, tussled with the gunman as he was attempting to reload his firearm, and two men jumped in to subdue the assailant.

Authorities apprehended the alleged gunman, 22-year-old Jared Loughner, who stated on the Internet he favored such books as “Mein Kampf” and “The Communist Manifesto,” but he wasn’t cooperating so a motive had not immediately been established. It is, however, known that he was upset after he and other constituents met Giffords in a Tucson mall in 2007, when he didn’t like her answer to one of his questions.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, a Democrat, told the media after the shooting, in reference to Loughner’s alleged mental health issues, that people who are unbalanced are susceptible to political hatred. As quoted by the Associated Press, Dupnik said: “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. And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become some sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.”

Dupnik said what many people likely were thinking after they first learned of the shooting. Arizona, which has become a cauldron of anti-illegal immigration fervor, has also fermented anti-government rhetoric. Giffords, a gun rights advocate, is by no means a liberal. But after she sided with fellow Democrats in voting for health care reform — another target of anti-government venom — her Tucson office was vandalized.

That violent act was not lost on Giffords, who told MSNBC afterward that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a Republican, had included the congresswoman on a list of lawmakers Palin was seeking to defeat. Palin’s website showed a map of Giffords’ district, upon which were placed crosshairs as though the congresswoman was the target of a high-powered rifle.

“When people do that, they’ve got to realize there’s consequences to that action,” Giffords told MSNBC.

Nevada’s own Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee who lost in November to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, during her campaign spoke of “Second Amendment remedies” and agreed with a radio host who said there were domestic enemies in Congress.

Those types of inflammatory statements and many others that are aired daily do nothing to advance the reasonable political discourse that is needed to address issues such as high unemployment, affordable health care and education. All that language does is to create more divisiveness and an increased likelihood that some individuals will get carried away and take their emotions too far.

We don’t know whether tougher gun control laws would have prevented this rampage, nor whether political vitriol contributed to the shooting. But if Congress is truly serious about rallying this nation together in the wake of the Tucson massacre, it should do more than pay mere lip service. Its members should set a new tone in Washington, one that tackles all pressing issues with moderation and reason.

Discussion: 7 comments so far…

Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.

Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.

  1. By Houstonjac (Bob Jack)
    Jan. 11, 2011
    5:44 a.m.
    Flag

    This is another piece of liberal political irresponsibility, in which the Sun casts blame for the horrific tragedy in Tucson last Saturday at political rhetoric/vitrole, or strongly implies this from examples given involving who? Conservatives!No useful purpose is served by laying political blame at the feet of any political party. This tragedy was perpetrated by a mentally deranged pot head who appeared to relish the Communist Manifesto and Hitler--I even question based on reports received about the gunman that he had the intellectual capacity to comprehend, much less practice, the tenants of Marx and Hitler,which just happen to be at the exteme opposite ends of the political spectrum.

  2. By RHG (Robert Glancy)
    Jan. 11, 2011
    5:50 a.m.
    Flag

    Gee what a shocker, the NYTimes/Democrat Party echo chamber out here in the desert (the LVSun) stays tried and true to Rahm Emanuels credo, "never let a crisis go to waste" if it can be exploited for political gain. So where were the Democrat party operatives that write for the LVSun at when Obama himself was calling his critics the "enemy" and talking about things like "they bring a knife, we bring a gun" or telling his supporters to "get in the faces" of people who don't go along with his agenda? Where were they at when their fellow leftwing travellers in Hollywood were making Bush assassination movies? And one more time, where is all this concern about the "political discourse" in this country when Bush and Republicans are described on a daily basis as "Nazi's,Fascists, racists, women-haters,gay-bashers" blah, blah. And has it even occurred to the deep-thinkers that write for this paper that this might just be the act of a lunatic with no political agenda at all? But hey, why try to ascertain the facts when stuff like this present an opportunity for exploitation. What disgraceful hypocrites that write editorials for this paper. Here is a clip from the Bush assassination movie so you can get that warm, fuzzy feeling again.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojWOWyHWj...

  3. By mred
    Jan. 11, 2011
    11:01 a.m.
    Flag

    Interestingly all of a sudden talk radio ranters say they don't have any influence. Gee, I often here Limbaugh, Beck ET Al bragging about how they "launched a product" and made a fortune for a sponsor. Limbaugh often took credit for the success of "Snapple," the beverage and other products.

    In fact let's examine a few thing advertised on talk radio:

    1) NADN National Audit Defense Network, based in Vegas no less and shut down by regulators (One of the founders committed suicide in the desert.) It was essentially a service that was worthless, telling people to set up a "fake" business giving referrals to NADN. Few people that needed audit help, would get any other than being told to pay the taxes.

    2) Corti-Slim?? or something like that? It was the weight loss stuff that would "reduce stress" and help eliminate weight. Pulled from the market.

    3) "Vitamin C Drink" that would cure cancer? Remember that one? It was all over the talk radio, pulled by the FDA for false claims...

    4) "Life...something" You figure it out. Based in Tempe. It really doesn't do much for people that they can't do themselves, FTC recently requires a $17 refund for "members."
    http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2010-05-1...

    5) "Airborne" Cold preventative ..refunds offered after government intervention. http://boingboing.net/2008/03/04/fake-co...

    6) Zicam nose product pulled because it ruined sense of smell. (Maybe that wouldn't be bad for people confronting Limbaugh?)
    http://www.fda.gov/Newsevents/Newsroom/P...

    Conclusion. Talk Radio gets people do things, like buy things that are stupid to buy. So to say talk radio has no influence means that the salespeople out at these stations should go find another job.

    (I could go on with other stupid products for dittoheads but I don't have all day.)

  4. By mred
    Jan. 11, 2011
    11:30 a.m.
    Flag

    Next, let's examine the local hate talkers and their response to the tragedy.

    KXNT had JD Hayworth and Wayne Allyn Root (Who said on the Jerry Dolye Show at 2:44 PM PST on 10/15/2010 that: "Harry Reid was a member of the Mormon Mafia..." A real class act, this RJ columnist.) They said talk radio had nothing to do with it...blah blah... The only problem the CBS news at the top of the hour on KXNT was reporting that the shooter "had an anti-government vendetta according to the FBI..." Anti-government? Sounds like Wayne Allen Root and JD, with the exception of a lot of Government military in the Middle-east and a lot of Government on the border.

    Kdwn - Heidi Harris (Who says the last elections were rigged by the "unions" and other kook talk) thought it would be cute to play machine gun sound effects to commemorate the tragedy. Another class ACT? She wrote a book too. (does it come with Crayons?) about all the wisdom she acquired as a cocktail waitress. It is a whooping 52 pages, that is a lot of wisdom there Heidi..

    KLAV The low power station with the low IQ powered "Whiley" seemed to spend most of the time making veiled threats against Rep. Raul Grijalva, calling him a "pig, scum, commie, etc." (Whiley seems to have started to use the term "Loony Toons" quite a bit since this poster started throwing it out there, not much creativity if you can't come up with your own material there?) Even Stock and Harris avoid this whack job, refusing to let him on their shows anymore... Heidi Harris says you should dress better by the way.

    A weak mind influenced by the anti-government crowd in talk radio.

    Also, Heck, Heller, Sandoval, etc. were responsible for not condemning Sharon Angle's call for "Second Amendment Remedies."

    If Joe Heck wants to be re-elected he should condemn the "target and re-loaders" of Palin, Beck, and Limbaugh.

  5. By WoodySez1 (Tom Lide)
    Jan. 11, 2011
    12:42 p.m.
    Flag

    Don't Retreat, Instead -- RELOAD!" Sarah Palin tweet @SarahPalinUSA

    You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. .... if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out. Sharon Angle, Nevada

    2008/ 58-year-old Jim Adkisson entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and shot to death two church members and wounded six more before he was wrestled to the ground as he tried to reload. "Adkisson targeted the church, [Investigator Steve Still wrote] 'because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of media outlets.'

    2010/ A pilot furious with the Internal Revenue Service crashed his small plane into an Austin, Texas, office building where nearly 200 federal tax employees worked.

    2010/ Byron Williams, 45, reportedly had been on his way last summer to kill individuals at the liberal nonprofit group the Tides Foundation and the ACLU San Francisco office when he engaged in the shootout with Highway Patrol officers. The Tides Foundation had been attacked in the media, particularly by Fox News host Glenn Beck. Williams' mother talked about how he had decided to act after he learned on television "the way Congress was railroading through all these left-wing agenda items."

    2010/ An anti-government father and son shoot and kill Two West Memphis police officers during a traffic stop. Two other law enforcement officers were shot and injured in a separate shootout with the same suspects. The fallen officers have been identified as Officer Brandon Paudert and Officer Bill Evans.

    2010/ The last of nine people indicted in a plot to kill police officers to hopefully set off an anti-government uprising was arrested at a home in Hillsdale County, Mich. The group, known as Hutaree, was planning on killing police officers and then bombing the funeral caravans using "IEDs."

  6. By fosimmons (frank simmons)
    Jan. 11, 2011
    12:44 p.m.
    Flag

    ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

    This guy is first of all mentally ill.
    Second, Arizona has stupid gun laws. Easy to go get a deadly weapon.

    ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

    Finally, the right wing is to share the responsibility of this and other movements that are threatening ...... Oil Spill Sarah is not setting a good example with crosshairs on her website ... what's that suggest in a heated campaign?

    :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

    There are many, many of examples of conservatives making nuanced threats of violence both on TV and Talk Radio

    :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

    Ola . There will be more until responsible talk and TV begin to prevail

  7. By mred
    Jan. 11, 2011
    1:15 p.m.
    Flag

    We need the fairness doctrine so we can have people like the great posters here get their expert commentary out to the public. There are a limited number of frequencies and they belong to the public.

Post a comment

Commenting requires registration.

Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy.

If you would like to submit your comment as a letter to the editor, you may submit it here.

Most Popular

  • Viewed
  • Discussed
  • E-mailed
  • Facebook

The Sun

Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.