'A Safeway in Arizona' looks at the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, one year later

[ellisonz]

Published: Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 11:46 AM Updated: Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 11:54 AM
By Jeff Baker, The Oregonian

A SAFEWAY IN ARIZONA
Tom Zoellner
Viking, $26.95, 288 pages

One year ago, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot through the head as she greeted constituents at a Tucson, Ariz., shopping center. The gunman moved down the line of people waiting to speak with Giffords, aiming and firing a Glock 19 9mm pistol that held 32 rounds in an extended magazine. Six people, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge, were killed. Thirteen others were wounded.

--------

In the other direction is Arizona. Zoellner, like Giffords (and Loughner) grew up in Tucson and spends much of his time trying to understand whether the culture of his home state produced conditions that made what happened outside the Safeway at La Toscana Village possible. He talks to shooting victims, politicians, immigration experts, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, gun enthusiasts, psychologists, talk-show hosts, businessmen, historians and anyone else he can find. The answer he comes up with is a qualified yes, and it's best expressed by James W. Clarke, a professor emeritus at the University of Arizona and the author of "American Assassins."

Clarke tells Zoellner that the idea that the acrimonious 2010 elections didn't influence Loughner is "pure nonsense."

"The toxicity of this campaign was beyond anything I've ever experienced, and I've lived here 30 years," Clarke said. "I don't think (Loughner) had a clear political rationale. It may not have been defined in liberal-conservative terms, but he was clearly anti-government, and the anti-government rhetoric was a major part of the campaign against Gabrielle Giffords. ... The political white noise provides a facilitating context, especially for someone outside the conventional social structures. Such things can be thinkable."

http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2012/01/a_safeway_in_arizona_looks_at.html

[SteveW]

1. Okay, what are you views? Questions? Discussion points? nt

[ellisonz]

3. You're not interested in new books about major issues in the gun control debate?

Here's another good one that's coming out:

Guns and money power the story behind 'Glock'
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL | Associated Press – Wed, Jan 11, 2012

"Glock: The Rise of America's Gun" (Crown), by Paul M. Barrett: An exploration of the ubiquitous firearm, "Glock: The Rise of America's Gun" works best as a corporate history of its creator and the money machine spawned by his invention. The book fires its only blank when it unconvincingly loads cultural and social messages into the story of Glock's success.

-------

Selling the Austrian army was the easy part. Getting the pistol in the hands of Americans, the big time in terms of the firearms market, was beyond Glock the inventor. He lucked into hiring people who understood that winning over law enforcement agencies would open the door to massive sales. Even moviemakers got on board, helping turn the simple black pistol into the fearsome ugly duckling of action movies.

Barrett, a journalist for Bloomberg Businessweek, provides an eye-opening look at such matters as Glock's practice of buying old handguns from police departments that "Glock up" and then reselling them on the market. Less enlightening are his descriptions of his forays into Glock culture and his analysis of the role of Glock in the handgun debate. His conclusion — that Glock "is not a particular villain within the fraternity of firearms. Nor is it a hero" — sounds like a way to avoid an argument.

Powered by an incredible fortune, the Glock story includes corporate skullduggery, office politics with a dash of sex and betrayal, and even an attempted murder. It makes one think: Money doesn't kill people — people kill people.

http://news.yahoo.com/guns-money-power-story-behind-glock-173337085.html

Clearly, the gun control debate is alive and well in America.

[ileus]

4. I'd love to have a G23 or 36....

[SteveW]

5. Well, the book's content might beat your usual stuff...

"Clearly, the gun control debate is alive and well in America."

The "GOP/NRA" will be reassured.

[ellisonz]

6. "The "GOP/NRA" will be reassured."

But will they got royalties?

[SteveW]

7. Yes.

[X_Digger]

12. Lol, I don't think that book will say what you want it to..

Here's a transcript from Barrett giving an interview today-

[div class='excerpt']BARRETT: Yeah. No. No. It's a terrific question and it's an essential question. I think the way to start that conversation so that it has the possibility of being productive is accepting various realities. And the foundational reality is we have a Second Amendment, which the Supreme Court has now interpreted to mean that people have been individual right to possess handguns.

The second thing, I think, you got to accept, is that most of those gun owners are law-abiding citizens, and most of them are doing no harm with those guns and many of them are very, very attached to them. If you deny the reality of the cultural importance of guns to many Americans, whether they've been in the military or in law enforcement or they grew up hunting, or they just like action movies. If you don't accept that then you are rejecting reality. Beyond that, I think there's plenty of room within the Second Amendment and within a respectfull attitude toward people who enjoy guns, to regulate their use in a very reasonable ways. In fact, we already do it. We have background check laws. We have a federal law that makes the crime for a felon, or someone who's been adjudicated mentally ill, to acquire a gun.

The problem often is, is those laws are not really enforced effectively, and as a result you end up with a lot of gun crime. We have a lot of gun crime in this country and there's no denying that.

As far as common sense solutions, my approach is that we ought to focus on controlling crime, not controlling guns. Focusing on enforcing laws that are on the books, that the vast majority of Americans already except - such as felons should not be allowed to walk around with guns - and make sure those laws get enforced well.

[ellisonz]

14. I know that. I also know he's glorifying the gun industry, a topic that doesn't get much play. n/t

[Atypical Liberal]

17. Nothing quoted seemed to reflect any major issues.

I, too, was confused by this drive-by posting.

There did not seem to be much to actually discuss in the quoted material, nor in the article, for that matter.

OK, a new book is coming out. What do you think about it? Why is it important? What issues does the book bring out that you think are important to discuss here?

[ileus]

2. Becks fault! I knew it.

[friendly_iconoclast]

13. Listening to Glenn Beck causes schizophrenia? Who knew?

[E6-B]

8. I'll wait for the .99 used version on Amazon.

[Wistful Vista]

9. Does the fact that Gabby Giffords is a Glock owner and a "pretty good shot" according to her

own public comments a couple years ago impinge in any fashion on this discussion or your agenda?

[ellisonz]

10. I'm well aware of the facts of the case and the debate. n/t

[Wistful Vista]

11. That's a rather loquacious response to a "yes or no" question.

Are you a spinmeister for one of the anti-Constitutionalist thinktanks?

[friendly_iconoclast]

15. I see your poli sci professor and raise you with a psych professor:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-01-11-1Ashooting11_CV_N.htm

...Jeffrey Lieberman, chairman of the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry in New York City, says, "The path that led to Jared Loughner's horrific actions is, sadly, neither uncommon nor unprecedented. "He is a troubled youth who has exhibited signs of serious mental illness for years, which in his case were cast in the context of political ideology and rhetoric. ... The limited information that has emerged about him strongly suggests that he suffered from a treatable psychotic disorder. These tragedies can be prevented but require the social and political will to do so."

[Remmah2]

16. The author forgot to interview the second most important person in this crime.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/02/nation/la-na-loughner-20111102

"A lawyer for Jared Lee Loughner tells an appeals court panel that forcing antipsychotic drugs on the Tucson shooting suspect violates his rights"


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/psycho_stalked_pol_for_years_HBSCJ3HN9Iq0eykMUWjeSL

"Loughner stalked Giffords for three years"

[montanto]

18. So, it's neither the guns nor the schizophrenia that causes these problems. It's the talk.

ok.

[friendly_iconoclast]

19. Looks like *someone* has added another amendment to their 'dislike' list...