Efforts to Politicize Arizona Tragedy

Will Tucson Tragedy Shift Gun Control Debate?
Roanoke Firearms store owner John Markell holds a Glock 19 Handgun, the model used in both the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre and the recent shootings in Tucson, Ariz. Sales of the handgun surged after both events. In the wake of the tragic shooting in Tucson Saturday, pundits have spent countless hours debating the role of Sarah Palin in the story - despite the fact that there is no evidence that alleged shooter Jared Lee Loughner is a Palin supporter or had ever seen or heard her Rhetoric. What ...

Gun Controls Golden Opportunity
As a result of Saturday’s tragedy in Tucson there have been renewed calls for tighter Gun Control laws across the nation. Arizona is one of the most gun-friendly states in the union, causing some on the left to conclude that if the Grand Canyon State had tighter controls on Gun Ownership, six lives would have been saved and Representative Gabrielle Giffords wouldn’t be lying in a Hospital bed. There’s more here than just the usual sort of Monday morning quarterbacking that occu...

Did Democrats Give Up in Gun Control Debate?
As The Times’ Dalia Sussman noted yesterday, Americans have generally become more protective of Gun Ownership rights in recent years. There are some exception to the rule — for instance, according to the General Social Survey, which has been conducted intermittently since 1972, the percentage of Americans who think that permits should be required before a gun can be obtained has gradually risen (from 72 percent in 1972 to 79 percent in 2008). Background Checks for gun owners are over...

Why there's no more debate on gun control
FORTUNE -- The tragic shooting on Saturday of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) and 19 others has renewed a national conversation about whether our Gun Laws need tightening. But the chatter for the most part has so far ignored a curious fact: in Congress, the arena where any new restrictions would be decided, the debate effectively ended years ago. Even over the last two years, when Democrats controlled both the White House and Congress, Gun Rights advocates led by the National Rifle Associati...

Rep. Brodeur files Doc, dont ask gun bill
TALLAHASSEE — Doctors and other medical providers would be barred from asking patients - or the parents of child patients - if they have guns in their home under a measure that promises a major showdown between powerful lobbying groups. The National Rifle Association’s top Florida Lobbyist and a Florida Medical Association member both say the issue is among the top priorities for the session, with the groups holding diametrically opposed positions on what doctors and thei...

How Many Bullets Do You Need?
“High Capacity Magazines ... When ten rounds isn’t enough,” the Internet site offers. When, exactly, would that be? Enough for what? Jared Lee Loughner arrived at a Tucson Safeway on Saturday morning with a Glock 19 semiautomatic pistol outfitted with an oversized magazine that police say allowed him to get off 31 shots before he had to stop. The pause for reloading gave 61-year-old Patricia Maisch the chance to grab the new magazine from Loughner. Guns don’t kill peop...

Reforming our Gun Culture
Submitted by findingavoice on Wed, 01/12/2011 - 6:15am. Well, your second-amendment solution reared its ugly head this week in Tucson with the shooting of Gabby Giffords, a blue dog Democrat who was re-elected in November. Those folks who try to say there is some equivalence between angry liberal talk and Sarah Palin’s “cross hairs” Rhetoric are self-serving deniers who refuse to acknowledge the part they play in the deterioration of Civil Discourse in our country. On Sunday w...

Boehner and the gun lobby
Whatever room is left on the floor of the House by representatives of Big Business is occupied by the extraordinarily -- not to say insanely -- omnipresent gun lobby.  If we have anything more dangerous and certifiably crazy in our midst than Jared Loughner, it's the gun lobby and the members of Congress who represent its interests.  Republican representative Pete King of New York has raised the possibility of at least limiting the carrying of weapons near members of Congress.&...

Sharron Angle Rediscovers Her First Amendment Remedies
Priceless. Sharron Angle, who once told her supporters that if they didn’t get what they wanted at the Ballot Box, they should pursue their “Second Amendment remedies,” found it prudent yesterday to emphasize her deep and abiding faith in the First Amendment. Via the New York Times coverage of Sarah Palin’s, uh, courageous [cough] public/media appearance on . . . uh, her Face Book page, [cough], we find this: Ms. Palin was not the only one to respond to criticism Wednesd...

Sharron Angle: It's 'Irresponsible' To Blame Me, Palin And Tea Party Movement
Former Nevada Senate Candidate Sharron Angle has spoken out against the shootings in Tucson this weekend that included Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- who remains in critical condition after being shot in the head -- saying that "expanding the context of the attack to blame and to infringe upon the people's Constitutional liberties is both dangerous and ignorant." Angle has been repeatedly mentioned by the media in the wake of the shootings, for her comments during the campaign: "People are really ...

Who Killed the Assault Weapons Ban?
Wed Jan. 12, 2011 3:43 AM PST If the Federal Assault Weapons Ban had been renewed in 2004, there's a good chance that its restriction on high-capacity gun magazines would have prevented the Tuscon shooter from killing so many people. So who's to blame for allowing this common sense law to lapse? Certainly not the American public. During the 2004 debate on renewing the ban, the Annenberg Election Survey at the University of Pennsylvania released a poll showing that 68 percent of the public&mdash...;

Arizona shooting: The claim that more guns means less crime is just silly
I walked into a drugstore in Phoenix the night after the Tucson shooting and saw toy guns for sale. They were a garish red plastic, with bright orange tips, and bore the notice that it’s strictly illegal to paint the guns in any way to resemble real ones. Yet here, as Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik declared after the shooting, just about anyone can buy and carry a gun almost anywhere at any time. So why bother with toys? Sheriff Dupnik is the one politician (sheriffs are elected) who...

Restricting freedom after Tucson shooting will galvanize gun owners
Proposals by lawmakers following the shooting of a Congresswoman in Tucson reveal a broad legislative  intent to clamp down on personal liberties and ratchet up on state controls. Foremost in these efforts are self-styled “Progressives,” who, in true Orwellian style, have advocated stepping up the freedom regression on several fronts. As we noted in this column on Monday, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy and her ilk are planning to introduce new citizen disarmament edicts, and Rep. Robert ...

Louisville lawmaker working to ban guns from state Capitol
Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11)- The Arizona shootings have sparked a debate over Gun Control in the country and if guns should be allowed in State Capitols. Currently in Kentucky, guns are permitted, but two lawmakers in Louisville want that to change. State Representative Darryl Owens called last Saturday's shooting, killing six people and injured others including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, frightening, tragic and unnecessary. It is also why he has contacted House Speaker Greg Stumbo, to ban...

Louisville lawmaker working to ban guns from state Capitol
Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11)- The Arizona shootings have sparked a debate over Gun Control in the country and if guns should be allowed in State Capitols. Currently in Kentucky, guns are permitted, but two lawmakers in Louisville want that to change. State Representative Darryl Owens called last Saturday's shooting, killing six people and injured others including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, frightening, tragic and unnecessary. It is also why he has contacted House Speaker Greg Stumbo, to ban...

Gun-law arguments heat up after Arizona shooting
TUCSON, Ariz. | Jared Lee Loughner had trouble with the law, was rejected by The Army because of a history of drug use and was considered so mentally unstable that he was banned from his college campus, where officials considered him a threat to other Students and faculty. But the 22-year-old had no trouble buying the Glock semiautomatic pistol that authorities say he used in the Tucson rampage Saturday that left six dead and 14 injured, including Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Mr. Loughner...

Sharron Angle is Miss Manners
Former Senate Candidate Sharron Angle is firing back at critics — including a U.S. congressman — who have blamed her and her infamous “Second Amendment remedies” quote for fueling the Saturday shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others in Tucson, Ariz. In a statement reported today on the website Politico, Angle had harsh words for her critics, including U.S. Rep. James Clyburn , who said on Monday that accused Tucson shooting Jared Loughner “…saw a S...

Very Conservative Americans: Leaders Should Stick to Beliefs
PRINCETON, NJ -- A majority of very conservative Americans believe political leaders in Washington should stick to their beliefs even if little is accomplished, while all other groups, particularly moderates and liberals, are more amenable to Compromise for the sake of getting things done. These data are from an aggregate of 2,039 interviews with national adults from two recent Gallup surveys -- the first conducted Nov. 4-7, 2010, and the second, Jan. 7-10, 2011. Response patterns to this questi...

In wake of tragedy, New York gun laws unlikely to change
The tragedy in Arizona leaves us with many questions.  We wonder why Jared Loughner did what he did.  We wonder why no one stopped him until it was too late.  Many across the country now wonder how this tragedy will effect Gun Laws in their state.  In the wake of the shooting, gun sales have increased dramatically in several states.  Many fear increased restrictions on Gun Ownership and stricter requirements for dealers and buyers.  Here in New York, Gun Laws are am...

New York Times Calls for Congressional Action on Gun Control
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 By Susan Jones (CNSNews.com) - A day after opining that "it is legitimate to hold Republicans...responsible" for the anger that has produced violent threats against politicians, the New York Times on Tuesday sounded a call for Gun Control. "The ludicrously thin membrane that now passes for gun control in this country almost certainly made the Tucson tragedy worse," said the newspaper editorial. "Members of Congress are legitimately concerned about their own safety ...

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy To Introduce Bill Banning High-Capacity Gun Clips
The husband of Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) was murdered in a 1993 Mass Shooting on the Long Island Railroad. When Congress reconvenes after this period of mourning, she will introduce a bill similar to the 1994 law banning gun clips that hold more than ten bullets. That law was allowed to expire on schedule in 2004 due to pressure exerted on the GOP by the National Rifle Association. Labels: Arizona, Congress, Gun Control, U.S. House New! Share this on Facebook: Share ...

Not all NY politicians ready to support McCarthy's proposed ammo ban
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) won't be met with unanimous support for her proposal to ban high-capacity Firearms magazines. As we reported on Jan. 10, McCarthy, who represents New York's 4th District, plans to introduce Legislation this week that will ban assault weapon magazines like the ones used to kill six people and critically wound thirteen others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) on Saturday in Tucson. Rep. Michael Grimm, a freshman Republican representing New York's 13th...

N.Y. Rep. Carolyn Maloney pushes for control of high-capacity bullet magazines
This report was written by Carolyn Lochhead and Jennifer Dlouhy of the Washington bureau and Bob Egelko of the San Francisco Chronicle. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., who lost her husband in a fatal shooting, is renewing efforts to outlaw the high-capacity bullet magazines such as the one used in the shootings Saturday in Tucson, Ariz. AP photo Surrounded by local leaders, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference about Gun Control in New York. The alleged Arizona gunman, ...

For those about to Glock (fire!), we do not salute you
Two truisms about America: 1) There's no such thing as bad publicity and 2) There are second acts in American life... ...especially if your name is Glock: After a Glock-wielding gunman killed six people at a Tucson shopping center on Jan. 8, Greg Wolff, the owner of two Arizona gun shops, told his manager to get ready for a stampede of new customers. Wolff was right. Instead of hurting sales, the massacre had the $499 semi-automatic pistols -- popular with police, sport shooters and gangsters...

Congress readies new gun-control bills after Gabrielle Giffords shooting
Congressional advocates of Gun Control are preparing Legislation to renew a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines of the sort suspected used in last Saturday’s shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz. Arizona shooting: How safe are members of Congress? Such a ban was in effect between 1994 and 2004 as part of a ban on assault weapons, which also expired. Since then, clips such as those allegedly used by suspect Jared Loughner, which contained more than 30 rounds, have been available for purc...