Shooting in Tucson

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9 January 2011

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona meeting a constituent at a previous Congress on Your Corner event

Awful news from Arizona this morning: Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-08) was shot at a public event outside a Tucson Safeway today. The bullet, allegedly fired by 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, went straight through her brain, and Giffords is in critical condition and being operated on by a team of neurosurgeons. Seventeen others were injured in the attack, and six people, including John M. Roll, an Arizona judge and a nine year old girl, were killed.

CNN is currently reporting that surgeons are optimistic Giffords will recover.

Any killing whatsoever is horrific, and a public shooting of this sort would be news regardless of who was involved. That Giffords was targeted, however, is particularly disturbing; not only was the shooting the attempted murder of an American politician, but it was aimed at a Congresswoman while she was engaged in the actual work of representing the people of her district. Meeting with constituents is fundamental to American democracy, and this element of the attack adds an extra layer of horror. It is not hyperbolic to say that being able to peacefully conduct events of this kind is critical to a free American society.

Coincidentally, Giffords stood out to me in a New York Times article yesterday, on the reading of the constitution on the House floor the new Republican leadership arranged:

“I just read the First Amendment!” Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, said gleefully as she exited the floor.

“I wanted to be here, I think it’s important,” Ms. Giffords said. “Reflecting on the Constitution in a bipartisan way is a good way to start the year.”

I liked that; inside Capitol Hill, congresspeople seem larger than life, while in the rest of the country, they are frequently spoken of disparagingly. This moment was a nice glimpse of the simple humanity of American people's representatives.

Tags: Arizona, Gabrielle Giffords, Jared Lee Loughner, Shooting, Tucson