Arizona State Legislature Provides Comfort and Aid to Future Jared Lee Loughners

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Disturbing, but not surprising. The Arizona State Legislature is controlled by Republicans, and Giffords is a Democrat. The right-wing has been actively promoting violence against their enemies; this is just another policy in line with that. Are you surprised that Republicans are shameless, horrible hatemongers who seek to gain power through fear and violence? Really?

jambalaya on March 4, 2011 at 10:42 AM

I certainly don't have a problem with that. Good for them.

Fifty-Two-Eighty on March 4, 2011 at 10:51 AM

Gun nuts believe that the problem with Tucson wasn't the presence of too many guns, but rather, too FEW guns. Because, you see, if everyone was armed, Loughner would have been far too scared to even try shooting Giffords, and if he did actually try it, he'd be gunned down by law-abiding citizens before he could get off a second shot.

These people are completely immune to obvious illogic. The mentality is that of a bunch of 13-year-old boys all pumped up from seeing the latest Hollywood shoot-em-up.

schmacky on March 4, 2011 at 10:53 AM

Fucking stupid. So much so that for a moment I thought this came from The Onion.

I'm coming to appreciate Olympia a bit more by comparison.

Terry Nguyen on March 4, 2011 at 10:55 AM

The 2nd Amendment isn't there to protect the face-shootings we like, but rather the face-shootings we don't like.

Ziggity on March 4, 2011 at 10:55 AM

lol @ arizona

sikandro on March 4, 2011 at 11:01 AM

The Failed State of Arizona is indeed America's new armpit. They're bankrupt despite being one of America's welfare states (receiving much more Fed largess than they pay in taxes), they're at or near the bottom in most indicators like education and public health, their Potemkin wealth is all in real estate that's worth a third what they paid for it, they have an official state policy of murdering the sick and harrassing the poor, they're all angry, and they're all walking around packing heat. They think it's the Mexicans' fault, but they should try looking in the mirror.

Fnarf on March 4, 2011 at 11:03 AM

*Sigh* Another round of "the answer to any question involving guns is MORE GUNS!"

I am not anti-gun, and I am not anti-gun owner. We have a constitutional right to firearm ownership in this country, love it or leave it. But I find the constant refrain of "More guns will solve all problems!" to be tiresome and stupid. Look, I know there's no guarantee that this law will cause problems. And there is no guarantee that there will be another Loughner-esque incident in Arizona. And yes, sometimes legal gun owners do successfully use their firearms in self-defense or in defense of others. However, I'm sick of militant gun advocates spinning every violent tragedy in this country, from Columbine to Tuscon, into some hackneyed demand for MORE GUNS.

Hernandez on March 4, 2011 at 11:04 AM

I'm curious how they are defining "public event" in this. Concealed carry is already legal in AZ (and WA for that matter). There is nothing that would have prohibited somebody from legally carrying at the Giffords event before now.

Amnt on March 4, 2011 at 11:05 AM

I wouldn't be surprised if some kooky AZ legislator proposed a law mandating the carrying of guns at public events, at least where it involves an issue of providing social services for the poor or empowering immigrants. And the penalty for failure to carry would be lockup in one of Sheriff Arpaio's 100+ degree jail tent cities, pink underwear & all.

Vadt on March 4, 2011 at 11:08 AM

Any sane person should be able to recognize that our country's gun culture does not solve more problems than it causes. Again, it's a condition that we have to live with as U.S. citizens and residents, but it's not like our country would cease to exist without gun ownership rights, and it's not like having gun ownership rights makes our society categorically better.

Hernandez on March 4, 2011 at 11:08 AM

can they bring pit bulls?

meanie on March 4, 2011 at 11:18 AM

Stephen Colbert's take

biffster on March 4, 2011 at 11:21 AM

I'm sensing multiple potential Darwin Awards...

COMTE on March 4, 2011 at 11:50 AM

So will Gov. Brewer have a public signing ceremony, where attendees will be armed?

Sir Vic on March 4, 2011 at 11:51 AM

Now that I've vented most of my partisan outrage, I can hear my bullshit radar beeping a little. What's the number of that bill, and why can't I find reference to it on the AZ Republic?

Terry Nguyen on March 4, 2011 at 11:52 AM

Well, I won't be going to the next Super Bowl that state hosts.

Matt from Denver on March 4, 2011 at 11:59 AM

Florida is still the number one shit hole in the world.

Nothing can surpass Florida in terms of sheer idiocity.

But yes, Arizona certainly has some issues of its own.

Urgutha Forka on March 4, 2011 at 12:17 PM

SB 1201

JFP on March 4, 2011 at 12:17 PM

A friend calls Arizona "White Somalia."

Original Andrew on March 4, 2011 at 12:18 PM

With this bill, I'd worry way less about the future Jared Lee Loughners of the world and more about the Good Samaritans.

Zamudio, 24, had his finger on the trigger and seconds to decide.

He lifted his finger from the trigger and ran toward the struggling men.

As he grabbed the older man's wrist to wrestle the gun away, bystanders yelled that he had the wrong man - it was the man on the ground who they said had attacked them and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords...

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/article_…

Dougsf on March 4, 2011 at 12:18 PM

Precisely @22. Imagine if there had been dozens of wannabe Dirty Harrys there, all drawn and unsafetied; - it probably would have ended up looking something like this...

COMTE on March 4, 2011 at 12:34 PM

I think I've found the common denominator between the stupidity in Florida and the stupidity in Arizona: retirees.

And they vote. Consistently even!

Justin on March 4, 2011 at 12:49 PM

Arizona has always been idiotic, it's just that no one was paying attention until Giffords was shot. Do an expose on Kingman and I'll say 'I told you so'.

gnr8r on March 4, 2011 at 1:05 PM

ONE PERSON WAS SHOT BY A CRAZY PERSON WITH AN *ILLEGAL*! LEGAL GUNS MUST BE THE PROBLEM!

on March 4, 2011 at 1:10 PM

A couple of years ago, they OK'ed bringing guns into bars. Even in the Wild West, they'd make you check 'em at the door.

Those people spend too much time out in the sun.

Toe Tag on March 4, 2011 at 1:20 PM

@25 is right. Arizona *has* always been idiotic (with the exception of Tucson.) I lived there for 30 years and I must say the last couple of years they really started drinking the kool aid for the crazy conservative/Beck rhetoric. That and the heat has completely melted the brains of those in the greater Phoenix Metropolitan Sprawl.

Guybrarian206 on March 4, 2011 at 1:29 PM

It's very simple. If everybody in that Tucson crowd had been armed, the resulting crossfire would have killed the guy who otherwise would've gone on to invent a line of time-traveling cyborg Hitlers.

RonK, Seattle on March 4, 2011 at 3:54 PM

This is the state that gave us (the old crazy) Barry Goldwater and (the always crazy and adulterous) John McCain.

In response to which we got LBJ and Obama.

Thanks, Arizona!

kk in seattle on March 5, 2011 at 1:13 AM

When the only tool you understand is a murderstick, every problem looks like a job for some murderin'.

balderdash on March 5, 2011 at 2:14 AM

jesus fucking christ

Simone on March 5, 2011 at 9:16 AM

So happy my home state keeps giving me more reasons to not go back.

Renton Mike on March 5, 2011 at 10:35 AM

Arizona State Legislature Provides Comfort and Aid to Future Jared Lee Loughners

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