What an Angle

Remember back during the campaign when Sharron Angle threatened those "second amendment remedies" if certain folks didn't get their way??  ...



I guess this is what she had in mind...



I understand that the Congresswoman is fighting for her life after being shot in the head at point blank range, at least six people are dead including a nine year old child and many others are wounded.  Who wants to bet that Jared Lee Loughner, the 22 year old gunman that is in custody, felt he was just exercising his second amendment remedy?  Perhaps Sarah Palin can cross Giffords' name off her "target list" now? (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/03/sarah-palins-target-list/37918/)

My thoughts and prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords and her family as well as the friends and family of all those shot during this horrible event. 

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords

My biggest fear, and I'm unfortunately not alone in this belief...is that this is only the beginning...

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/14/homeland-security-report_n_186834.html)

Those who incite this kind of vitriol need to understand, as Congresswoman Giffords herself said, that words have consequences.  You can't just spew anything you want to say and feel that you bear no responsibility for what comes as a result.  Just because you have a "right" to say something doesn't mean that you SHOULD say it.  Everyone who speaks on a public level knows (or certainly should know) that there are unstable people out there who can take what is said and act on it, for good or bad.  

If what you said was completely misinterpreted by the person who acted on it, such as when Charles Manson misinterpreted a Beatles song about a roller coaster to mean that they were directly telling him to start a race war, then the speaker is not in any way responsible for the actions of the madman.  However, there is nothing ambiguous about "lock and load", "don't retreat - reload", and people taking "second amendment remedies"...this wasn't misunderstood or misinterpreted.  The meaning was quite clear and the simple fact that they may not have MEANT for anyone to actually ACT on their words does not completely exonerate them or insulate them from taking responsibility for what their words eventually wrought. 

Words have consequences.