Shooting revives gun control proposals in Congress

MSNBC's Richard Lui: 'Is It Time to Rethink the 2nd Amendment?'
"Is it time to rethink the Second Amendment?" MSNBC anchor Richard Lui asked viewers of the January 11 "Jansing & Co." on the way to commercial break around 10:15 a.m. EST. Lui was teasing an upcoming segment in which MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing would interview House Intelligence Committee Chairman and former FBI agent Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) about what measures Congress could or should take to explore greater security measures for congressmen and/or Gun Control legi...

Bloomberg: Let's talk gun control
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the shooting of an Arizona congresswoman should spark a renewed Gun Control debate, calling accused shooter Jared Lee Loughner “a disgrace to Democracy” as he advocated changes in federal gun policy. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset “This case is fundamentally about a mentally ill drug abuser who had access to guns and shouldn’t have,” Bloomberg said at a news conference Tuesday with members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns...

Why Arizonans Can Buy Guns Made In-State Free of Background Checks, and Other Issues in Gun Control
ProPublica, Jan. 11, 2011, 11:30 a.m. The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and more than a dozen of her constituents in Tucson this weekend has sparked criticism of Arizona’s lax Gun Control laws and renewed calls from some to tighten those restrictions. Six individuals were confirmed dead. Here’s our attempt to briefly break down a few of the issues at play: In the Arizona case, the gun used by accused shooter Jared Lee Loughner was a Glock 19—a semiautomatic weapon with a ...

Pete King bill would ban guns within 1,000 feet of lawmakers
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), one of the few pro-gun control Republicans in the House, wants to make it illegal for someone to carry a gun within 1,000 feet of certain high-ranking federal officials, including members of Congress. “It is imperative that we do all that we can to give Law Enforcement the tools they need to ensure the safety of New Yorkers and prevent an attack before it happens,” said King, who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, during a press conferen...

Lautenberg: 'We Don't Have More Madmen, We Have More Guns' (VIDEO)
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) said on Tuesday that America's problem isn't that there are more madmen, it's that guns are too readily available to them. In the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and the Murder of six others in a mass shooting over the weekend is pushing Legislation to ban high-capacity gun clips. Lautenberg said it was outrageous that there hasn't been a positive response to the shooting and said that if alleged gunman Jared Lee Loughner didn't have access t...

Fighting Words: In Tucson Massacre Debate, The Shooter Becomes Irrelevant
Before anyone knew anything about Jared Loughner beyond his name, pundits and politicians began a mad dash to assign ownership of his motives. Clearly, he was driven by conservative politics because Rep. Gabrielle Giffords supported health-care reform and was therefore an enemy of the Tea Party. No, wait. He was a liberal because he once read "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "The Communist Manifesto." The funny thing is that, despite Loughner's written targeting of Giffords and a past, bizarre claim ...

Congresswoman Giffords breathing on her own, doctors say
Arizonans leave offerings at a shrine to Victims of Saturday's shooting in Tucson, Arizona. Brad Poole, Reuters · Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011 TUCSON, Ariz. — U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords is breathing on her own and doctors on Tuesday were hopeful about her recovery from a head wound suffered in an Arizona Shooting Spree that killed six people. Ms. Giffords, a popular 40-year-old Democrat, remained in critical condition at a Tucson Hospital but is “holding her own,” re...

Arizona shooting of Rep. Giffords brings gun control laws under scrutiny
Seven years ago, former President George W. Bush responded to Gun Rights special groups, and in 2004, allowed the 1994 assault weapons laws to expire. Critics of the gun law roll back suggest that it allowed Jared Loughner, 22, to kill six people at a political rally in Arizona on January 8, 2011. Sixteen others were wounded, including Arizona Democrat, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head. Out of tragedy often comes progress. But will Tea Party Republicans surrender their ...

Rep. King: Ban Guns Near Officials
Huffington Post reports: Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, is planning to introduce Legislation that would make it illegal to bring a gun within 1,000 feet of a government official, according to a person familiar with the congressman’s intentions. King is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. The proposed law follows the Saturday shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and a Federal Judge that left six dead, including the judge, and 14 wounded. New York Mayo...

Gun control debate follows Arizona shooting
The National Rifle Association and Gun Rights advocates are trying to counter a new push for Gun Control in light of the Arizona shootings. The National Review is already taking issue with claims that had the federal assault-weapons ban not been allowed to expire in 2004, the shooter in Arizona would not have been able to buy the 31-round ammunition magazine for his gun. Not true, says the National Review’s Kevin D. Williamson. Under the old ban, Williamson said the 9mm Glock 19 pistol tha...

Will the Gun Lobby win again?
After tragedies like Tucson, the NRA has moved to block new Gun Laws—laws that Peter Stone, of the Center for Public Integrity, says would have saved lives by blocking the sale of high-capacity magazines used by the gunman. The Killing Spree by an Arizona man wielding a semiautomatic pistol with a high-capacity magazine raises the prospect of a fresh debate on whether the country needs tougher Gun Controls. But if history is any guide, the National Rifle Association will successfully fight...

Arizona fast tracks legislation to impede Westboro Baptist Church at funerals
Fox News reports that today Arizona lawmakers are rushing through a bill requiring Protesters to remain 300 feet away from Funerals. Governor Jan Brewer will sign the bill, which will take effect "immediately." Although applicable to all funerals , the bill is aimed at the Kandas based Westboro Baptist Church, which has issued a Press Release announcing plans to picket the Thursday funeral of Christina Greene, the nine year old Victim of the Jared Lee Loughner Shooting Spree last Saturday. Biker...

Congresswoman Says 'Job-Killing' Is Hate Speech
Following Saturday's tragedy in Tucson, Arizona, which led to the death of six people and the serious injury of 20 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, echoed the growing call for a more civil political discourse by challenging Republicans to change the name of their Health Care Repeal Legislation: "The bill, titled the ‘Repeal the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act,' was set to come up for a vote this week, but in the wake of Gabby's shooting, it...

Politician Safety and Protection
TACTICAL EXTRACTIONS Counterterrorism PAPER 01-2011 SPECIAL By R. J. Godlewski The January 8, 2011 shooting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), Federal Judge John Roll and several others in Tucson has sparked a national outcry of support for the Victims and strong condemnation for the alleged gunman, Jared Loughner, 22. These actions are necessarily part of the human condition. So, too, are reactions taken on the part of the U.S. Congress, the Presidency, and the public regarding...

After Arizona shooting, how can Congress heal the division? Break bread together.
The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords (D) and bystanders in Arizona seems to be the worst symptom of the division and disdain that dominate politics. There was a time when members of Congress not only reached across the aisle, but shared meals together. They must commit to break bread together again - to heal the wounds in DC, and set an example for a grieving nation....

Arizona shootings unlikely to change federal gun laws
WASHINGTON — Federal Gun Control proposals may accelerate following the Tucson massacre in which an Arizona congresswoman was seriously injured, but they'll still face high legal and legislative hurdles. With Republicans controlling the House of Representatives and a Supreme Court majority embracing Second Amendment rights, significant new congressional action appears unlikely. At most, lawmakers may try to pick around the edges. "I think the odds of something passing the House ...

Why Magazine Limit Laws Don't Save Lives
Gun Control advocates are hoping to use the bodies of those killed by Jared Loughner as a podium to spread their views. New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy—Democrats all—are using the tragedy to rush forward a ban on magazines of more than ten rounds, claiming that by limiting the number of cartridges held in each magazine, the number of casualties in shootings would be reduced. Really? Here is a magazine change of a...

Tuesday: Guns for everyone (and bullets for every gun) edition
As realists we know that here in the United States we aren’t ever going to outlaw private ownership of guns. But, you might (realistically) think that this Tuesday Morning — nearly 3 days after the terrible shooting in Tucson — there would be a steady stream of articles calling for more serious Regulation of the guns in this country. There isn’t. Apparently Gun Control is off the table. With my background in programming and maintaining databases I should have known bett...

Waning Support For More Gun Control
It is possible that the latest violence will spark a resurgence in interest in stricter Gun Control measures. But the long range trends, despite the shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech, is hard to mistake. The simple fact is that less and less Americans have been calling for more gun control, with little variation, since the early 1990s. Here are the numbers from Gallup: I wonder if this isn't partly because we have more Gun Control now than we used to? The convergence is among those who wa...

Democrats two-fold agenda in aftermath of Arizona Shooting
Democrats in the aftermath of the Arizona massacre in which Jared Loughner went on a shooting spree, killing six innocent by-standers and critically wounding Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, immediately defined their agenda: blame conservative pundits and the Tea Party. But casting the blame on Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News is only part of the agenda of the far left Democrats. Let it be known Democrats have a two-fold agenda: Democrats Agenda #1: Shut Down Free Speech Wh...

Gabrielle Giffords, Christina Green & The Place The American Dream Went To Die
Like flies to feces, the Extremists who have so debased the American political system in recent years are feasting mightily on the latest watershed event out Arizona — the place where the American Dream went to die. The irony, of course, is that this debasement continues apace because the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to free Speech, no matter how vile, while Congress and Obama Administration, cowed by the NRA, all but assure the kind of violence that leaves a congresswoman with ...

The Gabrielle Giffords shooting in Arizona and Jared Lee Loughner prosecution.
Peter King proposing law banning guns within 1,000 feet of President, VP, members of Congress, and judges. https://slate.me/enyX8B What did you think of all those crazy trick plays in last night's BCS National Championship Game? https://slate.me/hkyR0s 10 Percent Unemployment Forever?...

Efforts to Politicize Arizona Tragedy
First of all, our prayers go out to the families and Victims of the horrific tragedy that took place in Tucson over the weekend. We pray that God will bring comfort to them in this time of trial. The political left is trying to pin this tragedy on gun owners and conservative Talk Radio. Never mind the fact that this creep hated The Bible and the U.S. flag, loved the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf and, according to his friends, was a drug abusing lefty. But why let the facts get in the way? A...

Mayor Bloomberg, Rep. Pete King Call For Tougher Gun Laws After Arizona Shootings
Madman Jared Lee Loughner shot 20 people at point-blank range -- including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- but never should have been allowed to purchase a gun if a background screening was done correctly, Bloomberg argued. “The law says that drug abusers can’t buy guns, but even though Jared Loughner was rejected by the Military for drug use and arrested on gun charges,” Bloomberg said, “he was able to pass a Background Check and buy a gun.” Giffords was shot in the hea...

Mental illness expert: Yes, ask whether political climate was a trigger for shooter
Dr. Marvin Swartz, a Professor of psychiatry and leading expert in Mental Illness, told Greg Sargent today that yes, the nation's political climate should be considered in the Jared Lee Loughner case. "It's a reasonable question to ask," Dr. Marvin Swartz, a psychiatry Professor at Duke University who specializes in how environment impacts the behavior of the mentally ill, said in an interview this morning. "The nature of someone's delusions is effected by culture. It's a reasonable line of inq...