I read that she is still hanging on and I read that she has died

[madokie]

She being Representative Giffords. Which is it?

All I know for sure this morning is I'm sick to my stomach over this

madokie

[MH1]

1. She is alive ... early news stories yesterday said she had died.

She is alive but a bullet passed through her brain. The doctors chose their words carefully, saying they were as optimistic as possible for a situation like this.

[SoCalDem]

2. yesterday they mistakenly reported that she had died

and then someone from the hospital called & said she was alive..

[dipsydoodle]

7. That was an appalling situation

when some nut job reported she had died and the worldwide news media then reported that being so only to retract it a short while later.

It would be interesting to know exactly who the culprit was.

[justiceischeap]

3. There were reports late last night that she was talking to her husband after surgery n/t

[dipsydoodle]

8. Normally speaking

you're lucid immediately following brain surgery and so that is at least a good sign. Hopefully, fingers crossed, her mobility will not have suffered.

[undeterred]

4. The recovery from this type of injury takes years

of rehabilitation. And it costs a fortune in health care dollars. How much would be saved if we reduced gun violence?

[LAGC]

5. How do you propose we reduce gun violence?

The shooter wasn't a felon, so he could legally purchase his guns.

I don't see any way this could have been prevented unless he was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital beforehand, in which case he wouldn't have been able to pass his background check.

Apparently nobody caught him in time.

[undeterred]

10. Its a complicated issue.

But we seem to have more of it than Canada and most European countries. A LOT more. So maybe we should have some of whatever it is they're having.

[madokie]

12. Its not the guns that are the problem

Its the hatred that causes things like this. its the rightwings rhetoric thats to blame.
just so's you know :hi:

[eowyn_of_rohan]

14. Guns & Hatred, anger, stress, fear, hopelessness, instability, etc. Don't Mix.

[undeterred]

21. I am so tired of this debate.

What are the legitimate purposes for which a civilian needs this type of police weapon and and ammunition?

Is there anything good that can come of it? Sport and hunting weapons have their place, but this type of weapon is for KILLING HUMAN BEINGS.


YES THE GUNS ARE THE PROBLEM.

[madokie]

30. NO the guns is not the problem

recently we've had a few instances here where homeowners have had to use their weapons to protect themselves and their families from home invaders.

I'm happy to read you're tired of this debate so maybe I won't have to read what you have to say about this anymore :hi:

Personally I don't own guns but I don't push my personal decision off on others as you seem to want to do
have a good day anyway

[LAGC]

20. Canada and most European countries also have less poverty and income disparity than we do.

I think that feeds into a lot of the violence. I really do.

[Chan790]

23. This may surprise you but...

we also have a lot more gun control than Canada and much of Europe. (though public-carry laws tend to be stricter and carry heavier sentences in Europe than here) I'm not sure the issue is one of control versus one of culture.

I do wonder how much the violence of our culture plays into this, both Canadian and European TV tends to be less-violent than American TV; much of what violence there is tends to be implied and off-screen. (I once watched the "shocking finale" of a British police procedural...what was shocking? A major character was shown being shoved off a roof and falling to their death. The 8PM weeknight basic-cable programming here in the US tends to be more violent than that. The films and literature produced in those nations tend to be less violence and action oriented, more drama and slightly more sexual in nature as well. Likewise, their news tends to be more graphic and brutally-honest...if the Giffords shooting had occurred in Manchester, England or Tirana, Albania instead of Tucson, Arizona the dead bodies would have been on the 6PM news. The net result of both of these cultural differences seems to be to create a fetishized and romanticized American cultural notion of violence at odds with the brutal acknowledgment of violence elsewhere in western society.

When I visited rural Scandinavia (Norway mostly.) there was literally a gun in every home, every home. The government still hands them out to able-bodied civilian males "for the national defense". Canada has significantly more guns per-capita than the US does. Both have far far far less gun crime.

Of course this is merely my impressions based on limited knowledge, I'm open to other explanations as well. I just want a more-just and civil culture. A less violent culture. I would be amenable to more depictions of nudity on TV...all genders of course, less titillating and a wider variety of body types and sexualities depicted as normal.

(I currently believe we have the appropriate level and types of gun control. Neither significantly-more-nor-less seems desirable to me and as a civil-libertarian I'm concerned by the limitations some seek to impose, while as a sane person I'm concerned by the utter lack of limitations others seek to impose. That said, I support a national ban on civilian concealed-carry, there is no need for a civilian to be packing in public. The sentences for violation should be significant and explicitly inclusive of restrictions on future gun ownership as-well.)

[CreekDog]

15. so everyone gets a free pass for their first time

as long as you haven't done it before, you can go buy a guy, cause mayhem, kill lots of people and it's all legal until you do it.

not a thing to slow you down, to prevent you from purchasing a horrific weapon, nothing.

this fetish of gun rights over everything else is ridiculous.

[LAGC]

19. Well, what do you suggest?

I'm honestly trying to picture what gun controls could have prevented this tragedy.

30-day waiting period? He could have just waited and then gone on his rampage.

Background check? He apparently wasn't prohibited from purchasing, so what could have been done different?

Concealed carry permits? Assuming he couldn't get one, I doubt he'd be deterred by a misdemeanor crime of unlawfully carrying concealed when he was fully willing to break that bigger law of CAPITAL MURDER.

Really, he should have been committed to a mental hospital by his family. But involuntary commitment is no easy process, maybe we'll learn what steps they've tried to take to get Jared help. I'm sure they'll be the focus for the next few days.

[CreekDog]

24. reducing the supply of both legal and illegal guns

making them far more difficult to get legally.

and there are too many examples around the world of stricter gun laws and control in democratic nations with incredibly low gun homicide rates.

[sendero]

31. It's too late..

.. it would sure be nice if people could focus on the POSSIBLE.

[elias49]

6. As recently as 10 minutes ago I saw a scrolling banner

on ABC news reporting she was dead. WTF??
Something is seriously amiss when - to paraphrase Mark Twain (I think) - reports of her demise appear to be a bit preemature.

Someone at ABC needs to get a new job!

[SoCalDem]

9. or they were running an old scroll

CNN had reruns of "BREAKING NEWS" all night long..without the obligatory "recorded earlier" on it.. If people are tricked into believing it's LIVE, they will stay for the commercials:(

[madokie]

11. Its a relief that I think I know now that she is still with us

but I still feel I don't know for certain

[pinboy3niner]

13. She's definitely still alive

But still critical. That's what all the live news reports are saying.

:hi:

[madokie]

17. Thank you bro'

Why, I don't know, but I want to say I love you man. It has nothing to do with this either, maybe its because you know where I am in life because you were there with me oh so many years ago. Maybe not at the same place at the same time but you were there.
Peace. :hi:

Oh and I don't use that l word easily either.

[pinboy3niner]

22. I love you, too, brother

I hope you're hanging in there okay. I know we could all use some good news soon...

[Still a Democrat]

16. Go to Google News

Top stories are constantly refreshed. You can search for her name or anything else. Stick with major mainstream sources.

[Ilsa]

18. Her Congressional buddies are saying the doctors wake her up

Periodically and she responds to her husband's voice and commands. Then they medicate her back to sleep.

[InvisibleTouch]

25. In her place, I doubt I would want to survive.

Sometimes survival isn't the best option, if it leads to a lifetime of physical and mental incapacity.

[madokie]

26. In my way of thinking nothing is as precious as life

So I hope she has many many more years, no matter the handicap.
Sometime think about what Christopher Reeves would have said about his life after the accident he had.

[Spider Jerusalem]

29. Christopher Reeve was paralysed. Not mentally incapacitated.

So I wouldn't make the comparison. Personally I wouldn't want to live with severe and mentally incapacitating brain damage. (Although it remains to be seen what her prognosis is, as well.)

[JI7]

27. it might depend, they said she was responding to commands

so we don't know where she will be. it's just sad all around. these things shouldn't happen. one can understand accidents happen but this wasn't just some accident.

[bluestate10]

28. Give it time.

She is responding to commands and she seem to know who her husband is. Maybe this will be one of the cases where a person suffers an open head injury and come back to live at a pretty much normal level. I wish that for the Congresswoman.

I read a profile on her this morning. She seem to be a remarkable person. Registered as a republican at 18 because she admired Sandra Day O'Connor, went to college out west and grad school back east. Spent a little time working for a Wall Street bank, but left after a few months. Took over her family's tire business while still a young woman and turned it around before selling it. Changed her registration to democrat in 1999 after becoming sickened with the rightward drift of the republican party, won a seat in the Arizona House, then won a seat as Arizona's youngest ever female state senator, won her seat to the US Congress in 2006 after Jim Kobe retired. Met her husband in 2003 while both were on a trip to China, married him in 2007. Quiet a remarkable, still young woman.