U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, staff, shot at event in Tuscon, Ariz.

[mangler]

http://www.azbiz.com/articles/2011/0...4271075766.txt

Hopefully she makes it. Good to know they got the gunman.

[trvlr]

Sounds like a planned hit. Most news agencies are reporting that the gunmen shot her in the head at close range.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7071IA20110108

[Pete]

Reports are she died.

Sketchy reports on the shooter - early 30s late 20s - clean cut in dark cloths.

They got him - should have a quick trial - limited appeals - and then be offed quickly.

[Ret10Echo]

Still pretty sketchy on the details from Reuters. Curious if there is more detail available at the local media outlets. Reports I am reading state that about a dozen others were also shot....


...and so the 112th begins.


Prayers out

[Guntry Kong]

As of 1431 E.T. the news is reporting 7 dead including the Congresswoman and at least 12 wounded. This is very sad prayers and condolences to the families of all killed and wounded.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) - "It just hits me like a shot, (note to self: not a good use of words in this situation), ...to know that something like this could happen here in this country...".

Steve- where have you been, under a rock? Glad to know the good people of Iowa has someone as bright as you to guide them.

Prayers out to the Giffords family.

[koz]

Now the news is saying she's not dead, she's in very critical condition.

[Pete]

http://www.kvoa.com/news/6-dead-12-i...ition-unknown/

6 Dead and 12 injured (wounded?).

Lot of shooting for an individual pissed about some issue. I think the story will run a lot deeper than it looks at first - or the dude is one certified nut case.

Comments sections on the sites have become the usual two sides slinging insults at each other.

Gun Control GURU!

By SHIRA TOEPLITZ | 1/9/11 5:57 PM EST
One of the fiercest gun control advocates in Congress, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), pounced on the shooting massacre in Tucson, Ariz., Sunday, promising to introduce legislation as soon as Monday targeting the high-capacity ammunition clip the gunman used.
McCarthy ran for Congress after her husband was gunned down and her son seriously injured in a shooting in 1993 on a Long Island commuter train.
“My staff is working on looking at the different legislation fixes that we might be able to do and we might be able to introduce as early as tomorrow,” McCarthy told POLITICO in a Sunday afternoon phone interview.
Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) said he’s preparing to introduce a similar bill in the Senate.
“The only reason to have 33 bullets loaded in a handgun is to kill a lot of people very quickly,” Lautenberg said in a statement. “These high-capacity clips simply should not be on the market.“
Gun control activists said it was time to reform weapons laws in the United States almost immediately after a gunman killed six and injured 14 more, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in Arizona on Saturday.
Many said that people with a history of mental instability, like the alleged shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, should not be able to buy a gun — and no one should be able to buy stockpiles of the ammunition allegedly used by the 22-year-old assailant.
McCarthy said she plans to confer with House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to see “if we can work something through” in the coming week.
McCarthy’s spokesman confirmed that the legislation will target the high-capacity ammunition clips the Arizona gunman allegedly used in the shooting, but neither he nor the congresswoman offered any further details.
“Again, we need to look at how this is going to work to protect people, certainly citizens, and we have to look at what I can pass,” McCarthy said. “I don’t want to give the National Rifle Association — excuse the pun — the ammunition to come at me, either.”
Pennsylvania Rep. Robert Brady, a Democrat from Philadelphia, told CNN that he also plans to take legislative action. He will introduce a bill that would make it a crime for anyone to use language or symbols that could be seen as threatening or violent against a federal official, including a member of Congress.
Another vocal supporter of gun control, Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, told POLITICO that he hopes “something good” can come from the Arizona tragedy — perhaps discussion of a new assault weapons ban, sales at gun shows and tracing measures.
Loughner legally purchased his weapon — a Glock 19 with an extended magazine — from an Arizona store. The same kind of extended magazine was illegal under the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.
“The ability to buy a weapon that fires hundreds of bullets in less than a minute” is a problem, said Quigley. “He had an additional magazine capability. That’s not what a hunter needs. That’s not what someone needs to defend their home. That’s what you use to hunt people.”
After the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, in which a student with a history of psychological problems killed 33 and injured 25 others, lawmakers immediately started looking at gun control reforms at both the state and the federal level.
Then-Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine issued an executive order making it harder for people who have been committed to mental health treatment centers to buy a gun.
In 2008 President George W. Bush signed a law expanding the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which registered gun dealers use, to include more comprehensive reporting of mental health records. Under the current law, it is illegal for anyone who has been “adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution” to purchase a firearm, according to the FBI’s website.
However, Loughner did not fall into either of those categories, according to Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
“I’ve seen no evidence that he falls into those categories. It’s the same thing as this guy at Virginia Tech,” said Horwitz. “We can do a much better job checking people’s mental health background.”