Fallout from Giffords Shooting
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 10, 2011 3:56PM
President Obama has called for a National Moment of Silence at 10 a.m. to honor Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the six people who were killed and those injured when 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner opened fire on an appearance the Arizona Democrat had scheduled in Tucson, AZ Saturday. Giffords remains in a medically induced coma while her brain heals from the gunshot wound and subsequent surgery.
Among those killed were 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, granddaughter of former Cubs GM Dallas Green. Green had just been elected to her student council at school and was attending Giffords's "Congress on Your Corner" meetup because she was interested in government. Not much is known as to why Loughner shot Giffords, whether or not it was politically motivated. Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who noted in his Saturday night press conference that Arizona had become a "Mecca for prejudice and bigotry," told the media that Loughner has not said a word since his arrest.
Giffords's shooting led to a discussion among the media and online that the current political rhetoric may have contributed to the shooting. James Fallows, writing in the Atlantic Monthly, indicates that Loughner's actions may not be all that cut-and-dried, but that this could be a watershed moment for politicians to take accountability for their words:
"We don't know why the Tucson killer did what he did. If he is like (Robert Kennedy Assassin Sirhan) Sirhan, we'll never 'understand.' But we know that it has been a time of extreme, implicitly violent political rhetoric and imagery, including SarahPac's famous bulls-eye map of 20 Congressional targets to be removed -- including Rep. Giffords. It is legitimate to discuss whether there is a connection between that tone and actual outbursts of violence, whatever the motivations of this killer turn out to be. At a minimum, it will be harder for anyone to talk -- on rallies, on cable TV, in ads -- about 'eliminating' opponents, or to bring rifles to political meetings, or to say 'don't retreat, reload.'"