On the morning of January 8, the United States witnessed a horrendous incident of mass murder. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic Representative from Arizona’s 8th Congressional district, was holding a constituent meeting in the parking lot of a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona, when Jared Lee Loughner, a 22 year old Tucson resident, barged in with a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol and started shooting at Ms Giffords. The Congresswoman was hit and so were 19 other people, of which six succumbed to their injuries. The victims included John Roll, Chief Judge of the US District Court for Arizona, and Christina Taylor Green, who was one of the 50 "Faces of Hope" representing children from 50 states who were born on September 11, 2001. Ms Giffords escaped death and was hospitalised in a critical condition.
Both traditional and new-age media began the coverage of the shooting with a bout of name-calling. The left-liberal commentators immediately reasoned that the shooting was the result of the right-wing rhetoric spewed out by talk-show hosts like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and the political positions adopted by the Republicans and the Tea Party movement. Sarah Palin was criticized for creating a map in which the Congressional district represented by Giffords was shown in cross-hairs as a ’target’ to be retaken. Paul Krugman in his New York Times column titled "Climate of Hate" wrote that he was "at some level, expecting something like this atrocity to happen" since "right-wing extremism was on the rise, with a growing potential for violence".
Rejoinders came thick and fast from the conservative columnists. A number of them like Charles Krauthammer, George Will, David Brooks and John Hayward pushed back at the allegations from the left about the tragedy being the result of conservative polemic. Some of them fished out quotes from leading Democrats (including President Obama) and argued that they may be equally guilty of creating the rancorous political environment. The Right and the Left put on a disgraceful display of irresponsible partisanship that dominated the airwaves for several days after the incident.
While it is true that the quality of political debate in the United States has deteriorated considerably in the last few years, it was appalling that all the blame was assigned to the climate of hate while little attempt was made to verify the antecedents of the shooter. As more and more details about Loughner came out, it became quite clear that he suffered from mental health problems which many experts now speculate range between schizophrenia and paranoid delusions. He was suspended from the local Community College pending psychiatric evaluation after authorities were forced to call campus police five times to the classroom because of his outbursts. Loughner was rejected by the army and was unable to hold even a voluntary job. It was reported that his online postings were "hostile and incoherent, with certain themes repeated - a distrust of government and his college, the Constitution, illiteracy and lucid dreaming". Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto were among his favourite books. According to the statements given by his friends, Loughner was angry with Congresswomen Gifford as he felt that she did not respond seriously to his question "what is government if words have no meaning". Federal Investigators have found a handwritten note in Loughner’s house signed by him which says "I planned ahead" and "My assassination" along with the name "Giffords."
President Obama’s response to the tragedy was exceptional. At the memorial service in Tucson, he delivered the best speech of his presidency and dexterously used his oratorical skills to soothe a grieving nation. While the speech was low on content, it was high on gravitas and emotion. The President sought to dispel the notion that the rhetorical warfare was the trigger and pointed out that "none of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind". The speech was appreciated across the spectrum in the US and even habitual Obama-baiters like Glenn Beck and Newt Gingrich were all praise for the President. His speech stood in stark contrast with the infamous "blood-libel" video released by Sarah Palin. As one commentator put it, while "Obama was pitch perfect, Palin was tone deaf". Obama was spot on when he called upon the Americans to make sure that they are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.
One issue that must raise serious alarm in the aftermath of the Tucson shooting is the lax gun laws prevailing in the United States. While it is virtually impossible to make iron-clad laws to prevent gun-abuse, it is important to have some kind of effective monitoring mechanism to prevent undesirable and dangerous people owning guns. In the absence of an up-to-date database and strict laws, it is possible for almost anyone to walk into a store and purchase a gun- even an automatic capable of firing multiple rounds in one go. Statistics are staggering-there are about 300 million guns in the US-nearly one for every citizen and 30,000 deaths occur a year from gunfire. Worse still, in some states like Arizona, it is perfectly legal to carry and conceal loaded firearms without a permit. Though the Congress temporarily prohibited the sale of high capacity ammunition clips that carried more than 10 rounds, the ban was not renewed when it expired in 2004.
However, with the near mythical status enjoyed by the concept of gun ownership and guns being an integral part of the American cultural milieu, it is difficult to foresee any meaningful change in this regard. Incidentally, gun sales surged in Arizona after the shooting. The National Rifle Association of the United States (NRA), one of the most powerful lobbying organizations, also works against significant legislative measures against gun ownership. There is also the issue of Second Amendment rights which gives US citizens the "right to keep and bear arms". In two recent decisions, viz. the District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010) the US Supreme Court has further bolstered the Second Amendment rights. The Court ruled that an individual’s right to possess a firearm is unconnected to his service in a militia and that the Second Amendment’s guarantee of an individual right to bear arms also applies to state and local gun control laws, not just the federal laws.
The Tucson tragedy raises a question mark on the American healthcare system in general and mental healthcare system in particular. Jared Lee Loughner’s psychiatric troubles were so obvious and yet he somehow slipped through the cracks. According to a survey released by the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC), Arizona ranked next to last among all states in the number of psychiatric hospital beds per capita. As pointed out by Dr Fuller Torrey of the TAC, the restructuring of the mental health facilities which started in the US during the 1960s has led to a situation in which most inmates were released from hospitals but no mechanisms were in place to ensure that the released patients received treatment after they left.
President Obama briefly mentioned gun laws in his memorial speech though he did not elaborate. Though he advocated gun control during his election campaign, he has avoided the issue once he took office. Obama has in fact signed a couple of laws allowing guns in national parks and Amtrak trains. Because of the strong influence of the pro-gun lobbies, bipartisan action is essential to make meaningful changes in gun laws. The Congress should work with the administration in this regard and one can only hope that the "attack on one of their own will finally galvanize members of Congress into action." The administration shall look at raising awareness among the American public that restrictions on assault weapons, strict implementation of background checks, requiring a waiting period for purchase or a limit of clips to 10 rounds are not in contravention of the Second Amendment. The right to bear arms which was granted almost 200 years ago when automatic assault weapons did not exist and local militias were the norm must be seen and understood in a proper perspective and historical context. While "guns are as American as covered wagons and the infield-fly rule", unless there are sensible gun control measures, the tragedy of Tucson won’t be the last of its kind.
The author is an Associate Fellow at Observer Research Foundation
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