I realized this would become one of those “where were you when” moments as I sat shocked into silence. I had casually turned on the TV Saturday only to see massive headlines of shootings and repeated ambulance scenes. It took a few minutes to realize that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) had been shot point-blank in the head and that a federal judge, an unknown child, and possibly many others were lying dead or wounded in front of a supermarket in Tucson.
One of the first things I heard was a report that Giffords was dead. The first tweet I read was from Shelby Knox, a fellow women in history (#wmnhist) tweeter: “@ShelbyKnox: If I’m not mistaken, Giffords is the 1st female US politician to be assassinated. Saddest #wmnhist I’ve ever tweeted.” How glad I was when minutes later we found out the report was wrong and that Giffords was alive.
Like thousands of Americans, I was unable to tear myself away from reports of the event, whether watching the news on TV or reading about it online. I learned that Chief Judge John Roll, who was in the neighborhood and simply stopped by to say hello to “Gabby,” was shot and killed. As CNN later reported, the others who died were “Gabe Zimmerman, 30, a Giffords staffer who was engaged to be married; Dorwin Stoddard, 76, who was fatally shot in the head while trying to shield his wife; Dorothy Morris, 76; Phyllis Schneck, 79; and a 9-year-old girl, Christina Taylor Green.” Twenty, all told, had been shot.
My mind had a hard time getting around what happened. As the shock wore off, I must admit that anger set in as the news reports identified the alleged shooter, Jared Lee Loughner. Angry tweets abounded saying inflammatory images and/or messages on political web pages or by particular candidates or parties may have led the shooter to act as he did. And then there’s the component of gun control, or lack thereof, another part of the conversation to be had. It was so easy to pass quick judgments, and I found myself getting caught up in the moment too, forming strong opinions without full factual information.
Well, we still don’t have all the information and won’t for a while. I listened with awe as I heard stories of the heroes of these moments. Of Daniel Hernandez, a Giffords intern only five days on the job, who used knowledge from his brief stint in the medical world to take action and save his boss’s life. Of 65-year-old Patricia Maisch, who under threat of fire grabbed the magazine of the shooter’s gun. How many other unsung heroes haven’t received media coverage yet?
And tears flowed when I learned more about Christina Taylor Green, the girl with political aspirations who went with her neighbor to meet her congresswoman. She was already in elected office at age 9, serving on the Mesa Verde Elementary School student council. This hit home especially hard, since everything we do at AAUW is all about empowerment. Christina embodied the spirit of what we daily try to teach young girls.
Representative Gabrielle Giffords, our thoughts and prayers are with you and with the other victims.
[…] wrote an earlier blog, “Reactions to Tucson” for AAUW covering my initial reactions to the events in Tucson that found Congresswoman […]
I disagree with Kay. My patience with the “we can’t ban guns completely” crowd has run out. Other countries do it; we can do it. Let’s take away the guns.
Our love goes out to the victims and their families and we pray that those who were seriously injured become fully recovered and new again.
How ironic that Representative Gabrielle Giffords read the First Amendment about free speech and the shooter claims that her answer to his question at a “meet the Representative meeting” some time ago was something like not satisfactory!
This event is beyond shocking.
How can we protect our public servants?
I ask myself, if the army would not allow the shooter to be enlisted because he was “mentally unstable,” why was he allowed to purchase a gun?
We cannot ban guns completely…we can do a better job of controlling who gets them and limiting their access to ammunition!