How America Was Gunned Down

By now you know the story.

An assassin targeted Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, shot her in the head and proceeded to attack others that were there. As of right now, 14 were wounded and 6 are dead including a precious little girl who was born on 9/11. The attack was evil.

Not only was the attack on the Representative, but it was on the American people.

We are Americans. We solve our problems through discourse (well, that is the idea anyway - that is for a later post). Let me tell you how this event gets even worse.

Loughner (allegedly) ruined the lives of several families that day. Forgive the unintended pun, but he also gave ammunition to big government types. All I have heard from the beginning is the political posturing of the left. The current buzzword is "vitriolic." As in, "The root cause of the shooting is the vitriolic rhetoric on talk radio." Sarah Palin didn't escape blame - it was insisted that her political ad with cross-hairs on the district Gabrielle Giffords represents was the impetus for the attack.

I have yet to see ANY account where this guy had any political bend whatsoever. I have yet to see any account of how the Palin ad incensed him to go ballistic. On the contrary, I have read comments of his friends who say he was nihilistic, had no real political position. According to friend accounts, his favorite read was the Communist Manifesto. A friend also said what really incensed Loughner was that Giffords blew off a question from Loughner at a public meeting.

I listened to an interview of the sheriff who is investigating the case. He was directly asked if he had any evidence that the 'vitriolic rhetoric' was influential in the attack. The Sheriff's answer, "I have no evidence... but I believe..." then he went on to politicize the attack. This, in my opinion, is like saying "sick'em" to a defense attorney as it seems to severely jade the Sheriff's investigation.

Yes, the attack was one on America as well. Here are some of my predictions of what will come of this evil:

1. A law will be proposed to protect the ruling class from "hate speech." The law will be sufficiently vague to leave interpretation up in the air.
2. There will be renewed energy in gun control. Proposals to ban "assault-style" weapons and high capacity magazines will be the target
3. There will be calls to restrict what is said on talk radio - 'equal time' will be the refrain.

There are those who are going to continue on the 'vitriolic' bandwagon. They say that the discussion is not productive. Here are a couple of things to consider - if the freedom of speech is restricted, what other outlet will people of dissenting opinions have? No, talk radio and its ilk serve a purpose - a place to vent. A place to dissent... peacefully. Secondly, the discussion (even if you want to label it 'vitriolic') was, and is productive. Just ask the Representatives and Senators who lost their seats in the 2010 elections.

Loughner is full of crap - and so are his accomplices on the left.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims.