I have to admit I didn't expect the media to grab onto this story as hard and fast as they did. The President is going to be visiting UofA today.
The event is tragic there is no doubt about that. But it seems like people are shot every day all around the country; is it *this* much more important that one of the people was a congresswoman?
Maybe I'm just callous, but I would rather see this airtime devoted to some of the other victims especially the little girl who will never have the chance to grow up and become a congresswoman herself.
14 comments:
You know, I have to agree with you here. Not only were 6 people killed, but like 14 others were ALSO injured in the shooting. If I was one of the other injured, or the family of another person killed, I think I would be pretty upset with how the media is covering the tragedy. Apparently if you aren't a government employee, it doesn't matter if you were involved.
Well I can see your point, but you also have to look at it a different way. These politicians constantly put themselves in very open places exposed to thousands of people who disagree with them. Now most of the people who do disagree have the sanity to express there displeasure safely. However, there are certainly people who take politics very seriously and who are mentally imbalanced. When those two combinations meet something like this could easily happen to be honest I am shocked it does not happen more often.
Now in terms of getting "coverage" of it I believe that probably varies by family if they like it or not. Either way I rarely watch the news because it is ultimately depressing and 90% I don't give a shit about.
Okay. I completely understand your points about people not being mentioned that much. But what you have to understand is that this is like the first time since 1978, when Congressman Leo Ryan was killed in Jonestown. This is a huge deal. I think the press is pointing blame in the wrong direction. But also you have to understand that kids getting killed happens everyday, a Congresswoman getting murdered is rare. Shitty to say but it is there. What scared me the most is that a staffer got killed. That is what is getting to me. I got a little sick to my stomach when I heard about the staffer.
But Jae you are not callous, because my first thought was not if Giffords was ok, but when the special election was going to be held.
Giffords is still alive and in critical condition. Doctors are optimistic about her prognosis. We can't say the same about the six who died.
Agree with Jae on this one.
Look, she is a public official. So of course she is going to be the center of attention, especially since she appears to be the main target. Should everyone who was injured gotten equal coverage, of course. But one is a little more high profile, and at least she is high profile for doing something good with her life, and not like the normal TV coverage where Paris Hilton gets the most coverage.
Unfortunately I agree with you Drew might not like it, but it is the truth.
I think ultimately the biggest tragedy is that the shooter is still alive. Even if he didn't want to end it himself, law enforcement should have done us all a favor and wasted this fool. Does Arizona have the death penalty? If so...step right up!
not sure about the death penalty. we do have fairly loose gun-control laws here. i am surprised that nobody else in the crowd was carrying. if it was a group of repubs there would have no doubt been someone there to put this guy down.
apparently i was living in a dream world because i was amazed this weekend when alex & jen told me you can't holster-carry in fl.
i always thought that holster-carrying was fine and you needed a license to conceal. apparently you can never holster-carry in fl and you need a license to conceal (but if anyone can make out that you are carrying, you are breaking the law).
here you could always holster-carry and just recently they passed the law where you can conceal carry w/out a permit.
i hope that this tragedy isn't used as reason to tighten gun control laws out here.
Yeah, open-carry is pretty rare these days. Personally, as a gun owner, if I decide to carry I would carry concealed even if I had the choice. Just because a person has a gun doesn't mean it is always the right situation to pull it. I would like to keep that decision to myself. You figure if you have a gun on your hip and shit goes down...guess who everybody is looking at to save the day? Not to mention that since you are KNOWN to be armed...guess who is getting shot first? Sometimes the best move is to keep your head down and do as you are told or run like hell...gun or no gun. Just my .02.
true, but to play devil's advocate...
let's say this guy pulls up to a crowd where everyone is open carrying. think maybe he thinks twice before going through with his plan?
Possible, but a specific example like this nut...might not make a difference anyway. He had his target and wasn't going to be denied. Now obviously, if the population was armed...maybe he only takes out 1 or 2 and many lives are spared. So I definitely see your point.
Your two cents gained some interest on my end Bryan, i think if anybody rolled deep on me an my fellow gathers i wouldn't want to look like an enemy right away to this fool. An hopefully the most experienced of shooters would think the same. Ergo, the assailant would be aware of some of the open carries but not of the concealed. But i see Jae's point as well. Though i think with this kind of extremist its not about the consequence its about the effect. So maybe he just does a better job instead of hitting all those other people, then gets taken out before he gets shoveled into the prison system.
Variety is the spice of life, open or concealed, and an armed citizen is a prepared citizen.
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