Senate sergeant-at-arms: Lawmakers carrying guns not a good idea

Should More Congressmen Carry Guns For Self Defense?
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s event in a Tucson strip-mall parking lot Saturday did not seem risky. In fact, this type of event is a basic way members of Congress connect with people in their districts. It’s part of the job. But will the recent shooting change that? U.S. News blogger Linda Killian argues that canceling such events would be a terrible idea. “It would be a serious mistake to limit the access constituents have to their government representatives,” she writes. ...

Senate Sergeant-at-Arms to Congress: Leave Guns to Law Enforcement and We Need Fewer Guns
ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: With at least two House members saying they intend to arm themselves at events in their districts in the wake of the Tucson tragedy, the man who may know more about Capitol Hill security than anyone else doesn’t think that’s a good idea. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance W. Gainer - who oversees security for the Senate, and who previously served as chief of the Capitol Police - told us on ABC’s “ Top Line ” today that members of

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 ...

Arizona officials reveal disturbing details about suspect in massacre
Doctor: No change in Rep. Giffords condition Ariz. survivor: 'It was like a bad crime drama' TUCSON — Investigators revealed more disturbing details Tuesday about the events leading up to the Assassination attempt against U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, including a menacing handwritten note in the suspect's home with the words "Die, bitch." Just before Saturday's shooting, a mumbling Jared Loughner ran into the desert near his home after his father asked him why he was removing a black bag ...

Monica Yant Kinney: Arizona tragedy becomes grist for political mills
Hours after a troubled 22-year-old massacred six people and wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 13 others in a Tucson, Ariz., Parking Lot, my in box began filling up with unsolicited missives from officials and interest groups miles from the crime scene. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence wanted to make sure I knew that "we have too few laws to protect our families and communities from this kind of bloodshed, and the laws we do have are riddled with too many Loopholes." Ce...

Giffords staff boosted by support
TUCSON, Ariz. — If we keep busy, we’re fine. This has become the mantra of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s staff in her district office, where those closest to her attempt to manage an overwhelming flood of constituents, cards, candles and flowers while their boss fights for her life in a Hospital bed 4 miles away. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 Giffords’s Communications Director calls the past few days a “time of extremes” — for as rand...

Obama to Act as Consoler-in-Chief in Tucson
With all the evidence against the suspected Tucson shooter Jared Loughner, a Guilty verdict could still prove very difficult. Jan Crawford reports on the latest details of the case. The Tucson shooting has prompted citizens and politicians to question whether political Rhetoric has become too violent. Katie Couric reports. Doctors at Tucson's University Medical Center are increasingly optimistic about Ariz. Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Gifford's chance of survival from a bullet wound to her brain. ...

Obama to be nation's consoler at memorial service
WASHINGTON — Searching for unity out of tragedy, President Barack Obama will honor the Victims of the Arizona Mass Shooting in personal terms and remind those in grief that an entire nation is with them. The president is again stepping into his role as national consoler, a test of leadership that comes with the job. His mission at Wednesday's memorial is to uplift and rally, not to examine political Incivility. Set to speak during an evening gathering in Tucson, Ariz., Obama will remembe...

Lawmakers discuss additional security measures after shooting of congresswoman
Lawmakers have begun discussing ways to improve their own security after an Arizona congresswoman was shot in the head on Saturday. Ideas have ranged from increasing police presence at district events, having additional Airport Security for members, installing a bombproof shield around the House of Representatives gallery to doing nothing more than what lawmakers already do. San Bernardino County Democratic Rep. Joe Baca of Rialto said in an interview with The Press-Enterprise that he would...

Boehner: No New Gun Control
The Hill reports: Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is rejecting gun-control Legislation offered by the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in response to the weekend shootings of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 19 others in Arizona. Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) announced plans Tuesday to introduce Legislation prohibiting people from carrying guns within 1,000 feet of members of Congress. King, who has previously called for the removal of illegal guns from the streets, made the announceme...

Angle defends herself, tea party
Former Nevada Republican Senate Candidate Sharron Angle is blasting those blaming her for inciting the Arizona shooting that injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others, saying the accused shooter went off the deep end long before the Tea Party movement started. In her first comments - coming three days after the shooting - Angle said in harshly worded statement that her critics were “dangerous and ignorant” and charge it was irresponsible to blame the political right for...

The Victim and His Victims
The deranged man had been steadily going downhill. His bizarre anti-social behavior and angry outbursts had caused him to be suspended from college classes. He spiraled downward into a vortex of madness and nursed a weird political grievance until finally he went on a murderous rampage with a 9-mm semi-automatic pistol, killing six people and wounding more than a dozen others. But nobody blamed Sarah Palin or the Tea Party for this bloody Crime, because it was December 1993, and the deranged gun...

The Lone Gunman Theory of Legislation
Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused of shooting 20 people outside a Tucson grocery store on Saturday, probably will never get a chance to create the "new money system" he discusses in one of his rambling YouTube videos. But he can still have an important effect on Public Policy—if we let him. After the shocking attack—which killed six people, including U.S. District Judge John Roll and 9-year-old Christina Green, and wounded 14, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.)—there was no shor

Giffords Shooting Leads Two Lawmakers to Carry Guns
BY James Gordon Meek DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - Two lawmakers said Sunday they'll pack heat back home after the deadly attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The decision by Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) raises new questions about whether lawmakers should carry guns for self defense - or need to. [Photo Gallery: Gabrielle Giffords Shooting in Arizona.] "After the Elections, I let my guard down," Shuler, an ex-NFL player, told Politico. "...

Two lawmakers say they'll carry guns
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Two U.S. House members say they will carry guns while visiting their districts after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Reps. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Heath Shuler, D-N.C., who both hold conceal and carry permits, told Politico they would not carry the weapons in the District of Columbia. GALLERY: The aftermath of the Rep. Giffords shooting Members of Congress get some protection from the U.S. Capitol Police, but many travel only with unarmed Staffers and ...

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...

Protecting lawmakers: Arm them? Install shields?
(01-11) 16:18 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Several lawmakers defiantly vowed Tuesday to arm themselves after the shooting rampage in Arizona despite the Senate's top Law Enforcement officer's admonition that more guns would not be the answer. "It's not that I'm going to be like Wyatt Earp," declared Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., who said he was re-applying for a state permit to carry a Concealed Weapon even if he didn't necessarily plan to carry the pistol to public events. In a Capitol already ringed...

NYT: Cops Previously Visited Loughner Home
With all the evidence against the suspected Tucson shooter Jared Loughner, a Guilty verdict could still prove very difficult. Jan Crawford reports on the latest details of the case. As new details are released of Tucson shooting suspect Jared Loughner's alleged behavioral issues, Dean Reynolds reports on the latest Mental Health laws in Arizona. Jared Loughner, 22, is charged in the shooting that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded and killed six people in Tucson, Ariz. (CBS) In thi...

A Scramble To Control Narrative Of Tucson Massacre
Gun rights advocates and right-wing radio talkers have accused their critics of exploiting the massacre in Tucson, Ariz., for political gain. Firearms control Activists have responded to the Saturday shooting by decrying the right's increasingly mainstream theme of "Second Amendment" solutions to "government tyranny" and Sarah Palin's online 2010 campaign map, which featured gun-sight cross hairs over targeted districts. Mental Health experts, cautioning against stigmatizing those with treatable...

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.&...

Dad pursued Ariz. massacre suspect before shooting
A woman prays at the memorial located in front of the University Medical Center, Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. The memorial has been set up for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who is in critical condition at the Hospital, and other Victims who were shot on Saturday, leaving six dead and more injured. Mysterious black bag in hand, Jared Loughner ran into the desert, his angry father stopping pursuit in his truck. Hours after Randy Loughner's futile confrontation with his 22...

Obama, House prepare to address Tucson tragedy
President Barack Obama and members of the House of Representatives could bring new clarity Wednesday to the national debate over last weekend’s Mass Shooting in Tucson, which left six people dead and Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords fighting for her life. Obama will travel to Tucson Wednesday evening to address a memorial gathering for the Victims of the Saturday attack. He and First Lady Michelle Obama will participate in an event at the University of Arizona titled, “Together W...

Arizona suspect's troubles didn't prevent him from buying gun
Tucson, Ariz. — Jared Loughner had trouble with the law, was rejected by The Army after flunking a Drug Test 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 U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

My Take: Is Arizona shooting an individual or shared sin?
Editor's Note : Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of "God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World," is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor. By Stephen Prothero , Special to CNN After the shooting, the vitriol. First came the thunder from the left, blasting the right for creating a climate of hatred in which taking out your Glock and aiming it at a congresswoman might seem to be the next logical thing to do. Then came the thunder...

Capitol Hill Happenings: Today in Congress
The House of Representatives plans to pass a resolution honoring those killed and wounded in Saturday's massacre at a "Congress on Your Corner" event hosted by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., in Tucson, Arizona. Six people were killed and another fourteen were wounded. Giffords remains in the Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head, though doctors say that that she has a "101 percent chance of survival." The resolution will also honor the acts of heroism on the scene, such as those by Daniel...