A Massacre is a Terrible Thing to Waste

A horrible massacre occurred this past Saturday morning at a "Congress on Your Corner" political rally in Tucson, Arizona. A crazed, pot-addled, Devil-worshipping, paranoid- schizophrenic, antisocial, anti-Semitic scary loser pulled out his Glock 9mm semi-automatic handgun and shot U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords in the head at point-blank range. He then went on to shoot another 20 people, killing 6 as of the last reporting. Fortunately, a few brave souls in the crowd estimated at several hundred jumped the murderer, holding him down until the police could take him into custody. That would seem to be the end of it. In fact, it's proving to be just the beginning.

The Sunday morning "talking head" political programs were ablaze with the world-class spin being offered up. Jared Loughner, the 22 year old killer, was, they almost universally stated, a right-wing Tea Party member who was incited to take this unspeakable action by the exhortations of the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. His actions were the direct result of the hateful rhetoric so popular with those on the right, we were told. We have to tamp down this propensity for hate speech, they offered, or we will have many more such massacres. How do we do that? Oh, let's see now. Maybe we take charge of the Internet to insure "Net Neutrality," some suggested. Then we rejigger the First Amendment to prohibit inflammatory speech. And, most of all, we rewrite the Second Amendment of the Constitution to outlaw the private ownership of guns. Very predictable reactions from these knee-jerk lefty weenies. As ex-Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel once famously stated, "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste." I submit they've now expanded this approbation to include stepping over the bloodied and twisted bodies of men, women and children shot down like rabid dogs to finally get their way.

Arizona has among the best, meaning least intrusive, gun laws in America. Any person over the age of 21 who is felony-free may buy and keep a firearm. So it is in California and most of our other states. But in Arizona last year they passed a new law making it unnecessary to obtain a permit to carry a weapon concealed. In fact, Rep. Giffords supported such laws, and is herself a concealed carry supporter. In California, as an example, it depends upon which county you reside whether you have this same right. Riverside County? No problem. Visit your local Sheriff and you'll walk away with a permit. Orange? Unfortunately, our Sheriff was schooled in L. A. County where only gang members are armed, so qualifying to carry concealed here is almost impossible. But back to Arizona. There's no reason why many or even most of the attendees at this political function on Saturday weren't armed. They should have been. And before this cretin could get off the second shot in front of that Safeway store someone in the crowd should have dropped him like a bad habit. Extreme?

Remember back to November, 2009. Maj. Hassan, the Army shrink who loved Islam and wanted American soldiers to die at the hands of homicide bombers started shooting up Fort Hood. He was armed with more than 250 rounds of ammo. You would think the last place a killer would wish to begin such carnage would be at a military fort. Yet, President William Jefferson Clinton, in an executive order signed into law in 1993, declared all military posts gun-free zones. The only soldiers armed at Ft. Hood that day were Military Police, numbering a dozen or so who generally guard the gates and knew nothing of the shooting by then underway. Maj. Hassan wound up taking four bullets from a pistol being carried concealed by an off-duty civilian female police officer who just happened to be shopping in the Post Exchange that day. Otherwise, this poster child for peaceful Islam would still be shooting up Fort Hood.

I find it astounding that bad guys have a better chance being shot down in a Texas Wal-Mart than they do in a Texas Army fort.

I say arm everybody. And especially arm our Representatives and Senators and their staff members. Don't you think it might make a prospective evil-doer think twice about his proposed actions if he knew he'd likely be dead before he could get off the second shot? Good luck to Rep. Giffords and the others who were so needlessly assaulted in Tucson. Bad luck to Jared Loughner and anyone else who chooses such a course of action. And bad luck to the media who seeks to place the blame for the actions of the Loughner's of the world where it doesn't belong…