Why Gabrielle Giffords shooting hasn't boosted gun control (The Christian Science Monitor)

Giffords to return to shooting site
TUCSON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., will recover and probably return to the Supermarket where she was shot in the head in a Mass Shooting, her husband said. "I can almost guarantee you what her first event will be," Space Shuttle Astronaut Mark Kelly told the Tucson Sentinel. "I'd be shocked if the first thing she does is not 'Congress on Your Corner' at that Safeway." Giffords was among 19 people shot Jan. 8 outside the Tucson Supermarket by a gunman identified as Ja...

Bloombergs Gun Control Group Polls On Gun Control
Mayor Bloomberg has joined the pushback effort on the suggestion that passing Gun Control Legislation is neither possible nor palatable in the current political environment, releasing a poll through his Mayors Against Illegal Guns group today that demonstrates a “sensible approach” to the nation’s Gun Laws. The poll was conducted jointly by Momentum Analysis, a polling firm with Democratic clients, and American Viewpoint, a polling firm with Republican clients. “This po...

McCarthy can't get GOP gun support
WASHINGTON - Long Island Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy drew zero Republican support on Tuesday for her modest gun-control bill in response to the Arizona shootings. "Not at this point," McCarthy said when asked if any GOP members would back the Legislation that would limit gun clips and magazines to 10 bullets. McCarthy said she has been seeking a meeting with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on the bill, but has yet to hear back. President Obama, who has shied away from gun issues durin...

Dick Cheney, Avid Hunter, Says Maybe Its Appropriate To Limit Size Of Gun Magazines
Here are some more nuggets of goodness from Dick Cheney ’s interview with NBC: The former vice president - an avid hunter - shared that, in the wake of the Tucson, Arizona shooting that left six dead and several, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords , critically injured, “maybe it’s appropriate” to limit the size of gun magazines. Cheney added that he’s always been a “gun advocate,” but he’s willing to listen to views and suggesti...

Staff keeps Giffords office running after shooting
Carlos Loreto signs a cross at the memorial for the Jan. 8 Shooting Victims in front of University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz., Monday, Jan. 17, 2011. As Congress returned to debate the Repeal of the Health Care law, the staff of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was holed up in a bustling office 2,000 miles away, paying little heed to what was going on in Washington. Five of them were focused on opening the estimated 10,000 cards left at makeshift memorials that have grown exponentially over the pas...

Videos show Loughner shooting Giffords
TUCSON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Surveillance videos of the Tucson Supermarket shooting where U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot clearly show who the gunman was, officials said. The videos from nearly two dozen cameras posted around the Safeway Parking Lot are "very, very clear," one federal law-enforcement official told the Los Angeles Times. "It's so clear, you can even tell the sequence of who got shot when and where," the official said. "And it's not the grainy kind of typical fast-food...

60% call for police at townhalls
A vast majority of voters want lawmakers to continue meeting constituents following the shooting of a congresswoman this month, but also want police protection at those events, according to a new poll commissioned by The Hill.  An overwhelming 91 percent of voters said it’s “very important” or “somewhat important” that members of Congress continue hosting public forums in the wake of the Jan. 8 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 18 others in Tucson, Ariz.,

Surveillance Video Shows Gunman Shooting Gabrielle Giffords
TUCSON, Ariz. — Surveillance video from an Arizona Grocery Store shows moments of mayhem and heroism as a gunman shoots Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the face, then turns the gun on a crowd of people waiting to meet the congresswoman, an Arizona sheriff's official said Wednesday. Pima County Sheriff's Chief Rick Kastigar said he watched the first part of the surveillance video, which shows 22-year-old Jared Loughner walking around a folding table behind Giffords, going up to her and shootin...

Lawrence O'Donnell Yells at Arizona Congressman for Not Agreeing With Him on Gun Control
In a fine example of the new civility at MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnell on Tuesday actually yelled at an Arizona Congressman who didn't agree with him about the need for Gun Control following the shootings in Tucson. The discussion on "The Last Word" really got heated after the host made the case to Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) that additional security at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' (D-Ariz.) Congress on Your Corner event wouldn't have mattered because "The overwhelming maj...

America's Blood Sport of Buying Trophy Killer Guns: The Tuscon Glock
© unk Glock Pistol When is rising consumer demand bad for America? When it comes in the form of guys buying guns used in killings as blood-sport collectors' trophies. That's what happened in Arizona after the Tucson massacre, when the sales of the Glock Handgun used by the killer soared: Greg Wolff, the owner of two Arizona gun shops, told his manager to get ready for a stampede of new customers after a Glock-wielding gunman killed six people at a Tucson shopping center on Jan. 8. Wol...

Unexploded Bomb in Spokane Labeled Domestic Terrorism
But Jared Lee Loughner, who stalked a Democratic congresswoman, then murdered half a dozen people, putting Rep. Giffords in a trauma ward fighting for her life, with many others wounded, is simply a “shooting” or reduced to an alliteration: “The Tucson Tragedy,” on many Cable Networks. A backpack found along the route of the Martin Luther King Jr. march in Spokane contained a bomb “capable of inflicting multiple casualties,” the FBI said Tuesday, describing th...

Clinton-Era Policy Kept Tucson Gunman Out of FBI's Background-Check Database
by Marian Wang ProPublica, Jan. 19, 2011, 11:07 a.m. As we noted in the wake of the deadly shooting in Tucson, the FBI's background-check database, intended to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, didn't prevent Jared Loughner from obtaining a weapon [1] because he hasn't been declared mentally unfit by a court or been committed to a mental institution. Federal law, however, also prohibits gun sales to anyone who's an "unlawful user of [2] or addicted to any controlled...

Lawrence O'Donnell Yells At Arizona Republican Congressman Trent Franks For Not Agreeing With Him on Gun Control
MSNBC's Last Word, Lawrence O'Donnell gets heated on Gun Control and starts yelling from the 5 minute mark all the way to end of this video Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about The Economy newsbusters In a fine example of the new civility at MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnell on Tuesday actually yelled at an Arizona Congressman who didn't agree with him about the need for Gun Control following the shootings in Tucson. The discussion on "The Last Word" really got heated after th...

Why Should Public Opinion About Gun Control Change After a Shooting Rampage?
As Radley Balko noted this morning, a new CNN poll finds no shift in Public Opinion regarding Gun Control following the recent Mass Shooting in Tucson. The lack of change is similar to what was seen in the wake of other high-profile gun crimes, and it makes sense. If you do not think Gun Control is a good way to prevent violence—if you believe that it mainly serves to disarm potential Victims, rather than deter armed lunatics or run-of-the-mill criminals—dramatic evidence that Firearms can ...

Gun Control Measure Faces Uphill Battle
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday formally unveiled a bill to ban the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used by alleged Tucson shooter Jared Loughner. The bill would mandate that clips sold in the United States allow for at most ten rounds. The clip allegedly used by Loughner, which became legal when Congress allowed the assault weapons ban to expire in 2004, could hold up to 33 rounds. Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey plans to introduce the bill,...

Gabrielle Giffords' Husband Heard She Was Dead; NPR Repents For False Reports
​Mark E. Kelly, the Astronaut husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head during Jared Loughner's Arizona Killing Spree, heard unverified media reports that his wife died in the Hospital after the shooting, he told ABC's 20/20 last night. "And I just, you know, walked into the Bathroom, and you know, broke down," he said. Then he spoke on the phone to Giffords' mother, who informed him that she was still fighting for her life. Her condition continues to improve. But NPR,...

In wake of Tucson shootings, Palin sees worst poll numbers of her career
Stumble This! Even as most Americans said they did not believe Fox News employee Sarah Palin was in any way responsible for the recent Mass Shooting in Tucson, Arizona, the former Alaska Governor's poll numbers have taken such a significant hit in recent months that they've finally reached the lowest point in her career as a national figure. The woman considered to be the most popular Republican vying for the party's 2012 nomination was rated by respondents to a USA Today/Gallup Poll ...

Drugs and Guns
Chuck Schumer proposes that when prospective Military recruits admit drug use in interviews — as Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner did — they should be reported to the FBI and entered into the database of people who are forbidden to buy guns. As Schumer points out, it is already illegal to sell a gun to a drug user or addict; this policy, therefore, would make existing law more effective. However, there are several reasons to be concerned. The first is that Americans have a Second Am...

Proposed magazine ban another pointless feel-good exercise
  Las Vegas — Yesterday’s introduction of Federal Legislation to limit the capacity of ammunition magazines may have an impact on gun makes like the folks at Washington-based Olympic Arms — provided it passes, which industry odds-makers here at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show don’t believe has a prayer  — but it likely would not prevent a determined nutball from carrying out mayhem, as detailed in yesterday's Seattle Times.  Olympic ...

CNN Poll: Palin unfavorable rating at all time high
Washington (CNN) - A new National Poll indicates that 56 percent of all Americans have an unfavorable view of Sarah Palin, an all-time high for the former Alaska Governor. That 56 percent unfavorable figure is up seven points from just before the Midterm Elections, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Wednesday morning. Thirty-eight percent of people questioned in the poll say they have a favorable view of the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, down two points fr...

Giffords' Husband: I Thought She was Dead
Like this Story? Share it: U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' husband Mark Kelly holds her hand in her room at University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz., Jan. 9, 2011. (Office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords) (CBS/AP) Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, has been keeping vigil by her bedside since she was injured in the Tucson shooting a week and a half ago. He told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an interview that aired Tuesday night that he believed for about 20 minutes that his wife was dead after see...

Who Does the NRA Advocate For?
Wed Jan. 19, 2011 7:23 AM PST — Zuma/Rep. Carolyn McCarthy/Mariela Lombard If you stand up for the Second Amendment, the NRA will stand up for you—that's what the Gun Rights juggernaut claims, at least. But, increasingly, the lobby's incestuous relationship with the gun manufacturers begs the question: Is the the NRA advocating for people who own guns? Or the lucrative companies that make them? Highlighting this dynamic, the Center for Public Integrity's Peter Stone writes about Mi...

Video shows a 'deliberate' gunman shooting Giffords at close range
Surveillance video of the Tucson shootings show the gunman shooting Gabrielle Giffords and other Victims at close range and also depicts Federal Judge John Roll, who was killed in the mêlée, trying to shield a bystander, The New York Times reports. Six people were killed and 13 injured in the assault, including Rep. Giffords, who remains hospitalized with a shot to the head. The horrifying shooting is captured in a brief video clip from a store security camera, according to Richard Kastigar, ...

Owens says he will not get gun
WASHINGTON — Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, will not take up arms to protect himself in the wake of the Tucson shootings, a spokesman said Tuesday. But if he did, it would not be the first time in recent history that a north country congressman's office was armed. Cary R. Brick, who served three Northern New York members of Congress from the late 1960s until 2000, said he used to keep a loaded Handgun in an office safe on Capitol Hill as a precaution against people who might u...

Video Of Tucson Shooting Shows Judge Protecting Giffords Aide
Surveillance video from the shooting in Tucson reportedly show Federal Judge John Roll trying to save the life of one of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' aides before he himself was fatally shot. According to an officer in the Pima County Sheriff's Department, the video shows Roll trying to guide the aide, Ron Barber, to safety. "It's very clear to me the judge was thinking of his fellow human more than himself," said Richard Kastigar, the investigative and operational bureau chief of the department...