Lawmakers reconsider tone of debates after senseless shooting at a political gathering in Arizona.
On Saturday, January 8th a lone gunman, Jared Loughner, opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon on people attending a political gathering with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at a busy shopping mall in Tucson, Arizona. Twenty people were shot, six of them fatally. People whose life was taken by this senseless shooting rampage included: Christina-Taylor Green a 9-year-old budding politician who often wore red, white and blue in honor of her country; Gabe Zimmerman, recently engaged and one of Giffords's aides, he was known as a master in dealing with other people; John M. Roll a widely respected federal judge, who received death threats in 2009 after his decision allowed a case brought forward by illegal immigrants to proceed to a jury trial; Dorwin Stoddard an active member at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ, he blocked his wife from gunfire, eyewitness reports said; Phyllis Schneck a great-grandmother, the 79-year-old retiree admired Giffords's stance on border safety; and Dorothy Morris a 76-year-old retiree, who attended the event with her husband and high school sweetheart George Morris. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head at close range and she is fighting for her life.
Jared Loughner who was taken into custody shortly after the attack is said to have harbored anti-government resentment and shown evidence of a scattered mind in online postings. Yet, he was able to buy a semi-automatic weapon legally.
The attack has turned the heat up in Washington, where in recent years politics has reached its possibly ugliest level of partisanship. Political groups have said that politics has become too personal and nasty, saying this incident should be a call to bring civility back to public debate. The increase in heated rhetoric escalated especially during the 2009-2010 debate over U.S. President Barack Obama's health care bill, when critics began suggesting Obama's plan would create government "death panels." Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin posted a map to her website in March 2010 marking some 20 congressional districts, including Giffords', with gun crosshairs and noted that supporters should "reload" and "aim" during November's midterm election. Giffords expressed concern about the firearm imagery well before the shooting. In an interview with MSNBC she said that "we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have to realize that there are consequences to that action".
Currently, politicians are debating whether the heated political rhetoric was partly responsible for January 8th shooting or not? The answer to this question may never be known to any degree of certainty. However, this tragedy may shock some of the extremists to reconsider the tone of debates and promote more civility in public debates in all countries. The problem of partisan politics and personal attacks by politicians on their opponents is not unique to the United States. But as Ms. Gifford said, when people do that, they have to realize that there may consequences to that action, especially when mentally disturbed individuals can purchase firearms without any restriction.
In addition, it is time to re-examine the pros and cons of democracy. I firmly believe that democracy is the most desirable political system for civilization. But it needs to be nurtured rather than taken advantage of. Politicians need to respect the will of people and accept the fact that what is advantageous for some of the electorate may not be the right fit for others. Therefore they need to focus on providing facts and rational evaluations for proposals rather than personal attacks on their opponents, as well as need to respect that not all the people will accept each proposal unanimously. Hence, in some cases a solution which offer options may be the best fit.
