No Loughning matter, from Kim Strassel,Wall Street Journa [1]l:
One of the tragedies of tragedies is that some politicians just can’t resist the urge to use them for political gain. The Tucson shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords first inspired liberals to score points against the tea party and is now inspiring a new round of political calls for gun control.
Within days of the Arizona tragedy, New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy renewed her call for a ban on high-capacity clips and said she’ll reintroduce legislation. She’s been joined by fellow New York Rep. Peter King, one of the only outspoken Republicans on gun control, who said he wants a new law that would make it a crime to knowingly carry firearms within 1,000 feet of high-ranking officials (which conveniently includes congressmen.) In the Senate, New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg intends to pursue parallel legislation to Ms. McCarthy’s on clips that carry more than 10 rounds of ammunition. And New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has piped up, again, in favor of expanding the sort of burdensome restrictions his city places on the Second Amendment to the nation as a whole
Why is every time a mental case, such as Jared Lee Loughner, goes on a rampage, it the defenders of Second Amendment, but not the advocates for the mentally wacked out t that are forced defend their positions? Loughner was nutcase, two all beef patties short of a Big Mac,who was routinely making threats for the last three years. In other words, the Arizona authorities, especially one Clarence Dupnix had more that ample opportunity to have Loughner mentally evaluated.
Loughner.s murder spree was not because of some lack of laws. Rather Loughner was roaming around untethered because Arizona officials were remiss in doing the duty. We don’t need more laws to restrain the future Loughner. We need public officials to do their darn jobs, and in the case of Dupnix, to do their job rather then giving political speeches.
Sliming the mainstream, from P.J. O’Rourke, Weekly Standard [2]:
The Times ran, as its second lead, above the fold on the front page, a story about the Tucson shootings headlined “Bloodshed Puts New Focus on Vitriol in Politics.” The article, by Carl Hulse and Kate Zernike, contains almost nothing newsworthy. Nor can it be called news analysis, beginning as it does with an attempt to create a self-fulfilling prophecy: “The shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords .??.??. set off what is likely to be a wrenching debate over anger and violence in American politics.”
If you want to tone down the anger in American Politics, tune out Organizing for America.
From unassailable moral authority to common criminal. alas within a week, James Eric Fuller has gone from media darling to common criminal, from Politico [3]:
The self-described liberal and military veteran became distraught Saturday, authorities said, when he began ranting at the end of a televised town hall meeting about the tragedy. He took a picture of a local tea party leader and yelled “you’re dead” before calling others in the church a bunch of “whores,” authorities said.
Deputies arrested him [James Eric Fuller] and called a doctor. They decided he should be taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation, said Pima County sheriff’s spokesman Jason Ogan said.
Nice to see the Pima County sheriffs department finally taking their job seriously.