Today we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy and dream of non-violence and inclusion
By louisehartmann
Congresswoman Giffords’ condition was upgraded over the weekend from critical to serious. Unfortunately – the community that experienced the shooting is still critically wounded. At a town hall event in Tucson on Saturday – one of the victims of the shooting rampage – Eric Fuller was arrested for disorderly conduct and making a threat. The incident occurred after local Tea Party leader Trent Humphries suggested there should be no debate about gun control until after all the victims were buried. Fuller – who was shot twice by Loughner – was unpleased with the remarks and reportedly stood up and said, “Your dead!” to Humphries. After the town hall – Fuller was arrested and involuntarily committed to undergo a psychiatric evaluation by the police for making the threat. The target of Fuller’s threat – Trent Humphries said last week that Congresswoman Giffords is to blame for her own shooting since she chose not to have any security present at the event.
Congress is likely to side with Humphries on the gun control debate as Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer pointed out yesterday that there are simply not enough votes to pass gun control legislation on Capitol Hill. So it looks like our nation will once again NOT learn the appropriate lesson after another tragic act of violence. Maybe we should spend this day reflecting the message of another American hero who died by way of a gun. Today we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy and dream of non-violence and inclusion. A message that has been lost in America in recent years – culminating in the horrific events of last Saturday in Tucson. As plagued as our politics are today – and as futile as reform seems in the future – King reminds us that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice. A particularly poignant message during these dark American days.
Comments
#2
War is An Enemy of the Poor
"A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, 'This way of settling differences is not just.'... A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." - MLK
#3
"psychiatric evalution" ? By what criteria ? Let me see, I have two bullet holes in my body and I don't want another one and anyone standing in the way of my wish needs assistance in showing me the way to the loony ben. Over stated perhaps but still and all , really , who's nuts ?
#4
#5
If you seek to do a dirty deed and you don't wish to get your hand dirty you go looking for a weak mind to stand for the task.
#6
Contrast the truly irrational extremes to which we go to protect people from a whiff of tobacco smoke with the lengths to which we go to essentially liberate gun owners from rules and increase their capacity to efficiently kill. Think I'd rather run into a puff of tobacco smoke than some enraged character with a gun that holds 30 rounds of ammo, but I'm just speaking for myself here.
On the psychiatric evaluation issue, many Americans misunderstand what this is about. It isn't used to determine mental illness per se, and indeed, the US is one of the only countries on Earth that does routinely imprison people who are verifiably seriously mentally ill. The intent of the evaluation is to determine if the individual even had the capacity to understand that shooting someone is against the law. If he understands that it's against the law, yet maintains that (for example) a "higher power" ordered him to shoot, he can stil be imprisoned. It must be determined that the shooter honestly had no ability to understand that the shooting was wrong, and this is almost impossibe to establish in court. Furthermore, no one has ever evaded legal responsibility by the "insanity defense." Under these laws, severely psychotic people will simply be sent to a mental hospital UNTIL it is determined that their psychosis has been brought under control, at which time they are then returned to the courts/prison. They are kept in seperate quarters specifically for the criminally insane which, by necessity, is very prison-like. If the individual is clearly permanently insane, he is likely to remain institutionalized for the rest of his life.
#7
Wow, I guess the author of this "article" holds her agenda and advancing her left wing idealogy over the truth. Incorrect fact #1: Trent Humphries NEVER made any statement that even closely resembles the claim the Gabrielle Giffords was responsible for her own shooting. Note how there is no specific link to a reference. That's because it DOES NOT EXIST. Check out the video link. No such statement even close. But why let the facts get in the way of a good propaganda opportunity. Incorrect fact #2: The lesson you arrogantly claim has not been learned by the American people is completely falacious. We've had strict gun laws on the books since Reagan was shot and it has not and will not ever stop a lunatic from obtaining a gun and murdering innocent people. But leave it to liberal Democratic socialists to want to try and control the masses with a massive, overbearing Federal government. I loathe people like you. It is your type of rhetoric that is harming the fabric of this country and will most certainly lead to the complete and utter defeat of the Democratic party in 2012.
#9
Tranquilizers and prayers were my only options. I tried to watch some movies about MLK but it was too hard.
#10
Democracy Now special for the whole hour: Martin Luther King Jr. in his own words. Excerpts from MLK's speeches one year and one day before his assassination by haters.
Today's topic was "What is the liberal agenda?" The Democrats will continue to lose the support of the left, their supposed base, until they sieze hold of and clearly stand for MLK's principal goals: Peace and Justice. The two are inseparable. The current Democratic leadership and most Dem representatives do not make a steadfast demand for peace - instead they continue wars of aggression and ridiculous levels of war spending - greater than the rest of the world combined.
Try the truth ... your incorrect facts not only try the truth you try patience and tolerance. You directly spew fear, hate and blame - little else. Humphries clearly implied that Giffords was to blame. There are NO strict gun laws in Arizona. The lost message in the OP is MLK's call for Peace and Justice which is not a message about gun control but a message of self control. If you fear and loathe liberals you must have really hated Bush who committed torture, indefinite detention, warrantless witretapping and searches, right?
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So, if stricter gun control laws were implemented... criminals would'nt be able to get guns. I believe Congresswoman Gifford supported the right to own guns... correct me if I'm wrong. Also, I find it strange that it was a "TeaParty" leader who was threatened... and we're just not talking too much about that...hhmmm..ok?