On Saturday morning, Jan. 8, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords held a “Congress on Your Corner” event at grocery store in Tucson, Az.
It was one in a series of such low-security events, where she enjoyed speaking one-to-one with her constituents, staff members said. Police were typically alerted beforehand.
Yet on this atypical day, a gunman – according to police, a 22-year-old man who had been kicked out of college for behavioral issues – walked up to Giffords, held a semi-automatic pistol two feet from her head, and fired.
He proceeded to shoot and kill six people, including federal Judge John Roll, a 9-year-old girl, three retirees and Giffords’ director of community outreach Gabe Zimmerman, 30. Giffords and 13 others were wounded. On Tuesday morning, doctors said Giffords was able to breathe on her own but remained on a breathing machine to help her recover.
The gunman, identified as Jared Lee Loughner, spoke about government conspiracies in his online writings and college classes.
The Obamas held a moment of silence at the White House on Monday, and President Obama traveled to Tucson to lead a public memorial ceremony on Wednesday.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), the new chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the shooting made him and many others mindful of the security of the president.
“The Secret Service and/or the FBI investigate at least 35 threats against the president each day,” Cleaver told The American on Wednesday.
“It’s not discussed a lot, and I am sure Mr. Obama doesn’t want it discussed at all. But it is a reality of our time. The president understands the nature of race relations in this country and knows, with what happened to Dr. King and others, that there is danger out here.”
Cleaver, who represents Kansas City and is a pastor, had plans to travel to St. Louis for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. event at Harris-Stowe State University and to preach in the church of the Rev. Earl Nance, when news of the shooting broke.
“Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is not only a colleague but a good friend, and the Congressional Black Caucus’ thoughts and prayers are with her staff and her family during this horrific time,” Cleaver said.
The U.S. Capitol Police advised all Congress members and staff “to take reasonable and prudent precautions regarding their personal security” during the investigation.
Cleaver said he is following the police’s advice. Both U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) and U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) said that local constituent meetings, such as the one Giffords hosted on Saturday, are essential.
“Like most of us, Congresswoman Giffords knows that there is simply no substitute for spending time with your constituents,” Clay said.
“The plain truth is that you cannot effectively represent your community in Congress unless you make time to interact with the people who hired you for this job. And as for me, I will continue to do that.”
Violent words
Along with sadness came feelings of frustration and anger at the violent political rhetoric – often directed toward members of Congress who voted in support of President Obama’s initiatives – that could have played a role in the gunman’s motivation.
During the 2010 midterm elections, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin put Giffords’ district on a map of Democratic congressional candidates with rifle crosshairs. She urged her supporters, “Don’t retreat, instead reload.”
A Republican midterm opponent of Giffords’, affiliated with the GOP’s tea party faction, hosted a campaign event at a rifle range where he invited supporters to shoot an assault rifle with him.
Republican tea party opponents of Carnahan’s reelection bid placed a coffin in front of his St. Louis home.
“Even though we do not have all the answers yet, we are all too familiar with the violent and polarizing climate in which we live,” said Cleaver, who was spit on by an activist during the health care debate on Capitol Hill.
“Those of us in leadership must be overly cautious of fanning the flames of extremism in hopes to prevent another horrendous tragedy such as this. Violent acts almost always are preceded by violent words.”
The Republican tea party’s Sharron Angle, who ran for the U.S. Senate seat in Nevada last year and lost, said during the campaign that she felt the Second Amendment – the right to keep and bear arms – was meant for the people when the “government becomes tyrannical.”
“And you know, I’m hoping that we’re not getting to Second Amendment remedies,” Angle said. “I hope the vote will be the cure for the [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid problems.”
Both Palin and Angle released statements Wednesday denying that their rhetoric contributed to the shootings.
“We must denounce politicians when they call for ‘Second Amendment remedies’ to our nation’s problems, or place rifle sights on a map of congressional districts,” State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal said.
Giffords is the youngest woman to serve in Congress. Regarded as a centrist, she prided herself being accessible to the public, even though some of the meetings grew heated, particularly those focusing on health-care reform. Hers was one of several congressional offices that were vandalized after voting in favor of the health-care bill.
After the bill was signed, a gasline at the home of Virginia Congressman Tom Perriello’s brother was deliberately cut. The house had been mistakenly listed on the blog of a tea party activist as the home of Perriello, a first-term Democrat. At that time, many Democrats said that Republican rhetoric was encouraging extremists.
This event brings those discussions to a new level, even in the absence of evidence that Loughner was motivated by the new partisan extremism.
The National Jewish Democratic Council issued a statement that echoed that of the Black Caucus. Giffords, elected in 2006, is the first Jewish member of Congress from Arizona.
“It is fair to say – in today’s political climate, and given today’s political rhetoric – that many have contributed to the building levels of vitriol in our political discourse that have surely contributed to the atmosphere in which this event transpired,” the council’s statement read.
Chappelle-Nadal said that the angry language from some cable television shows and radio programs encourages extremists as well.
“Followers of these programs sometimes appeared at public rallies over the summer armed with assault rifles,” she said.
Gun control debated
The incident has put the gun-control debate back in the national spotlight. Congressional advocates of gun control wasted no time in preparing a bill to renew a ban on “high-capacity ammunition magazines,” or guns that contain more than 30 rounds.
Loughner’s gun, a Glock 19, fell in this category, which enabled him to do so much damage in such a brief period of time. Loughner purchased his gun and carried it legally on Saturday, according to police. In the days after the shooting, background checks of people attempting to purchase a similar weapon in Arizona spiked 60 percent, according to the FBI.
Between 1994 and 2004, the U.S. had a ban on such assault weapons. U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) are preparing a bill to restrict ammunition magazines to a maximum 10 rounds. McCarthy ran for Congress after her husband was killed and son injured in a 1993 shooting on the Long Island Railroad.
On the floor of Congress yesterday, Clay said he will lend his “strong personal support” to the legislation.
Clay said, “We have a responsibility to outlaw this clear danger to the American people.”
