(Pima County Sheriff Clarence) Dupnik did not state a motive for the assassination attempt against the Democratic congresswoman. But he suggested that "vitriolic rhetoric" in political debates could have deadly consequences.
"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."
Vitriolic rhetoric does stir up the crazies, even more so when it is given sanction by political figures.
Readers may remember this little bit of American conservative eliminationism, from Sarah Palin’s PAC site. She invited Americans to “take aim” at twenty members of Congress who had supported Barack Obama’s health care legislation.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was one of three incumbents targeted in Arizona.
Dr. Dawg refers to this, and accompanying text -
When high profile political figures use words like “take aim,” graphics showing someone in the cross hairs of a rifle, or blithely recommend the assassination of people who are inconvenient (we all remember Flanagan’s statement that Assange should be assassinated), then such rhetoric gives murder for politics and ideology a certain legitimacy in the minds of some.
They aren’t murderers, they are freedom fighters! They are defenders of democracy! They are protecting their country from those who would destroy it! They are, taking a stand! They will go down in history as heroes!
In their own sick minds, that is.
Gun imagery used in politics - targeting a political opponent in the cross hairs, for example, makes for a more dangerous environment especially when there is such a push for the right for everyone, regardless of mental state of mind, to carry a fire arm in a country where guns are just the coolest thing evah and so linked to what it is to be a true, red blooded male.
(Jared Lee Loughner’s) rambling videos had already caused him trouble at school, scaring his community college into suspending him in September. In early October, he agreed to withdraw from school. By November, Loughner had bought a Glock, purchased legally from a Sportsman's Warehouse in Tucson, the Associated Press and Washington Post reported.
A nutcase suspended for scaring his college manages to legally acquire a semi-automatic weapon a month later and uses it to kill nine people when he shows up armed at a function where issues have already incited violence.
Giffords, 40, is a moderate Democrat who narrowly won re-election in November against a tea party candidate who sought to throw her from office over her support of the health care law. Anger over her position became violent at times, with her Tucson office vandalized after the House passed the overhaul last March and someone showing up at a recent gathering with a weapon.
You politicians want to reduce crime? Curb your own vitriolic rhetoric and toughen up gun laws.
I hardly think giving Loughner - if he is found guilty - a very tough sentence will deter other crazies who think they are on some kind of heroic mission to enlighten us all to their madness.
