Shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

Information on the tragedy is still be obtained on the horrible attack on Rep. Giffords. News reports mention an automatic weapon (read a machine gun) being used in the attack. Given the large number of people hurt this is a possibility, but theses weapons are often called assault weapons by the press when they are not. There might have been some armed civilians at the scene, but that is also not clear yet. Armed civilians are referred to as security guards in the past even when that isn't the case.

According to the law enforcement official, the suspect began shouting something before shooting wildly with an automatic weapon. Shots then rang out from the crowd -- a security agent or someone else fired at the suspect who survived. . .

As is quite typical in these attacks, the killer anticipated that he would die during the attack.

On a Myspace page in Loughner's name, he said goodbye to friends just hours before the shooting . . . .

The NY Times has this information on the killer's possible political background.

“As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal. & oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy,” the former classmate, Caitie Parker, wrote in a series of Twitter feeds Saturday. “I haven’t seen him since ’07 though. He became very reclusive.” . . .

KTLA has a discussion over who the killer was. Among, his favorite books were "The Communist Manifesto" and "Mein Kampf.{

Jared Lee Loughner, the alleged Tucson gunman, was described Saturday as a politically radical loner. Now an internet trail emerged in which he apparently railed against the US government and told friends: "Please don't be mad at me". . . .

Arizona court records show Loughner has twice been charged with previous offenses. The first, in October 2007, related to the possession of drug paraphernalia. It was unclear what the second, a year later, related to. Both charges were dismissed after Loughner completed a "diversion program".

. . . his favorite books "The Communist Manifesto," "Siddhartha," "The Old Man And The Sea," "Gulliver's Travels," "Mein Kampf," "The Republic" and "Meno."

One former high school friend Tweeted about knowing the accused gunman:

"He was a pot head and into rock, like Hendrix, The Doors, Anti-Flag," she wrote. "I haven't seen him in person since 2007 in a sign language class. As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal and oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy. He had a lot of friends until he got alcohol poisoning in 2006 and dropped out of school. Mainly a loner, very philosophical."

Given the attacks on the Tea Party and Sarah Palin by Paul Krugman and Senator Dick Durbin regarding this horrible case, this posting from the Daily Kos is interesting. The Daily Kos took down the original post.



Here is a bizarre discussion where CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin discusses Sarah Palin's responsibility for the attack, saying that the Palin map "allowed" the shooting to occur.
The Democrats have had there own target lists.


Rep. James Clyburn blames Republican Sharron Angle for the shooting.

Rep. Jim Clyburn on Sunday said Sharron Angle's endorsement of "Second Amendment remedies" in her losing Nevada campaign against Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid contributed to the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Clyburn, the House assistant Democratic leader, said of Giffords' alleged assailant, Jared Lee Loughner: "It seems like this gentleman was not satisfied with the way the election came out. "There's no way you cannot make that connection (with Angle's rhetoric) unless you want to be stupid."
Angle, a tea party favorite, was the surprise Republican Senate primary victor in Nevada last year.
During the general election campaign, capped by Reid's narrow defeat of Angle on Nov. 2, she repeatedly condoned Americans preparing for "Second Amendment remedies" and urged supporters to "take out Harry Reid."
Clyburn, noting that some of his "most anxious moments" have come in airports, said lawmakers shouldn't be required to pass through magnetometers, which force them to wait in lines that he said expose them to greater threat. . . .

Glenn Reynolds has a nice piece summarizing all this in the WSJ.