Before everyone had “rights” it was hard to get into college, and meaningful, honest references from people who knew you were required. That was when only 10-20 of high school students went on to post secondary education. Now it’s close to 60%.

I confess to suffering some quandary on this.

a) I consider it a sad thing in single human terms. As an individual human being, it is bad that anyone suffer in this manner.

b) In the larger context of our government’s continued and determined ignoring of the expressed wishes of its constituency, it is both inevitable and desirable that this KIND of thing occur, although it should only impact the official and not bystanders — certainly not a nearby innocent such as a nine-yo girl.

c) This is clearly not a good case of the above, however, as it appears that Jared, the shooter, was a total nutjob. That is, this is not a rational response to an overweening governmental encroachment on power, as firing at random into the surrounding crowd shows.

Was the police presence similar to the police presence at the Coptic church in Alexandria maybe (iow, withdrawn to give the attackers opportunity)?

AFAIK congresscritters warrant USSS protection, but I’m not certain about that. If so, and they weren’t paying attention, they must have been under orders not to see the threat approaching.

a) State and local governments are going to be broke even sooner.

b) The common folk will have less protection as policing resources are shifted away from common crimes.

I doubt we have enough impulse-controlled and psychologically stable humans to meet our current policing needs. Increasing demand for police means more wackos behind badges.

An increase in chaos is in a sense an increase in liberty. But the unpredictable application of force means that such liberty doesn’t feel as nice as I would like.

Such increased “security” comes at the cost of liberty, a price we will all perforce pay.

Whaddaya think, Artfldgr?

There is some indication that this young man was known to be disturbed by the junior college he attended, but he may not have received any counseling or referals to mental health care. Identifying and treating, even if treating means putting dangerous people in custody for public safety, mentally disturbed people should be a higher priority in a free society. Of course it’s possible this young man never raised any alarms to the extent that people would see him as possibly dangerous. Time will tell.
This is a major tragedy, but that would be true if the target had not been a Congresswoman. There will be calls for gun control, security for public figures, no public gatherings without security arrangements, etc. None of which, IMO, will improve security in a free society.

Too many dead and wounded people. The grief and suffering are overwhelming. They and their families are in my prayers.

Giffords Shooting Is an American Tragedy We Need to Urgently Address

The &$#*% ghouls never miss an opportunity to use a heinous crime or senseless tragedy to push their agenda, do they?