Quote:During his campaign effort to unseat Giffords in November, Republican challenger Jesse Kelly held fundraisers where he urged supporters to help remove Giffords from office by joining him to shoot a fully loaded M-16 rifle. Kelly is a former Marine who served in Iraq and was pictured on his website in military gear holding his automatic weapon and promoting the event.
"I don't see the connection," between the fundraisers featuring weapons and Saturday's shooting, said John Ellinwood, Kelly's spokesman. "I don't know this person, we cannot find any records that he was associated with the campaign in any way. I just don't see the connection.
"Arizona is a state where people are firearms owners — this was just a deranged individual."
Law enforcement officials said members of Congress reported 42 cases of threats or violence in the first three months of 2010, nearly three times the 15 cases reported during the same period a year earlier. Nearly all dealt with the health care bill, and Giffords was among the targets.
I've been reading and thinking and fighting the urge to put up an angry post myself. That this deranged person could cause such suffering and death is beyond reason.
And to have people come on here and and try to say it has nothing to do with gun control or political rhetoric, simply too much to take.
I don't want you to loose your hunting rifles or bows and arrows, or even target pistols. But why does the general population need to have access to semi-automatic weapons? Who are you protecting yourself against? And when your fellow gun owners use these weapons to kill innocent 9 year old girls, please accept some responsibility. There is a price to having these weapons so readily available. If you can't see that or admit it, it is because of selective blindness or pure ignorance.
And the guy can't see the connection between him, wink-wink, having a bit of target practice during a political campaign and someone actually shooting an opponent, well, I don't think I want this asshole representing me.
Honest discourse is a necessary part of democracy. I think the honesty has gotten lost in this debate. Anger rules the day. It has with me. I am angry about these innocent people dying.
David, save your creative CAPS responses for someone who cares what you have to say.
