The aftermath of the January 8 Tucson gun massacre has garnered two interesting and significantly opposite reactions about gun rights and public safety. As the finger-pointing punditry from both the left and the right quieted down, the American public has once again been given a chance to ponder. As they had asked in the wake of the 1999 Columbine shootings, and then again after the incident at Virginia Tech in 2007. What should be done to make sure these heinous crimes never happen again ?
On the right of the political spectrum, the reaction has been on the side of their own personal safety. Republican congressman Peter King (NY) has proposed new legislation making it illegal for people to bring guns 1,000 feet from all government officials. Highly unrealistic, of course since you wouldn't have any idea on who you may run into at any time of the day. Suppose you are carrying a licenced firearm and you happen to bump into your local councilor, entirely by accident. Does that mean you have committed a federal crime ?
A host of other Republican public officials from both federal and state levels have even put forward their intention to carry their own weapons as they go about their business of public service, in the guise of protecting the public interest. But who are they fooling ? When you see a Republican senator or congressman walking up the steps of the Capitol armed with a pistol, would you think their pistol is representative of your interest ?
The best the other side of the political fence can offer is a token timid comment or two on the need for "further discussion" on the issue of gun control. The cowardly Democrats simply refuse to show much of a spine, much less take a practical stand on public safety, despite mounting appeals from a reasonable public who are tired of speculating when and where the next mass killing involving crazies with automatic weaponry would occur. Perhaps worried about their own political skin, particularly those blue dog democrats who can't afford to lose the support, both in terms of votes and money, of gun-loving constituents in their own backyard.
So, we have Republicans on one side, in typical scatterbrain manner, assessing the very latest gun tragedy in the United States as a call for arms, more specifically, a signal to arm themselves. In keeping with their reactionary thinking process, they have decided to wage war on guns with their own guns. At the very least, they came up with something, no matter how ludicrous it may sound to a person who actually thinks. The Democrats are pretty much obliged to do nothing. Thinking that the tragedy will open up a Pandora's box for republicans and conservatives elsewhere for their "vitriolic rhetoric", these "vanguards of liberalist freedoms" have clicked on cruise control and have decided to hegde their bets on any legislation regarding gun safety regulations and maybe wait to cash in on a later date, preferably perhaps on Election Day.
Meanwhile, the public asks once again. As they had after Columbine and after Virginia Tech: "What needs to be done?".
Six people lost their lives needlessly on the morning of January 8, 2011 in Tucson, Arizona. One was a community outreach worker engaged to be married next year and still at the prime of his life. One was a federal judge who, after attending a church service decided to visit an old friend before coming home to his family. Two were elderly women who just happened to be there at the supermarket and thought to stay a while and watch an event billed "Congress on your Corner". One 76-year old gentleman died trying to protect his wife as the bullets started to fly in all directions. And one was just nine years old. Excited to finally meet her congressional representative and perhaps, holding a dream close to her young heart of someday being in the same position of serving the people in her own community.
They died because a madman was allowed to purchase an assault weapon, capable of ending human life, without so much as a minimum restriction.
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