What would cause a young person to snap?

The Tragedy of the Arizona Shooting.
This weekend’s tragic shooting at a Safeway district meeting in which United States Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was seriously hurt and a dozen more injured and a District Court judge John Roll, a nine-year-old girl born on September 11th, and a congressional aide were killed has left us all stunned. Nick Baumann has an interview with a friend of the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner. The friend describes Loughner’s obsession with Gifford as starting when she d...

Poll: Most Say Rhetoric, Killings Unrelated
From a deeply saddened CBS News: Poll: Most Americans Feel Rhetoric, Tucson Shooting Unrelated Posted by Daniel Carty January 11, 2011 Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country’s heated political rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampage that left six dead and critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll. So either our media master has better ratchet up their efforts or move on to their fall back position - Gun Control. In the wake ...

The 2nd Amendment helped end Arizona Shooting, it didnt cause it
Twenty-four year old Joe Zamudio quietly stood at the Safeway counter waiting to buy a pack of Cigarettes as shots rang out in Tucson Arizona Saturday.  As most followed their natural instinct to run to safety, Zamudio put his hand on his gun and ran towards the chaos.   Zamudio was not an off-duty Police Officer nor did he possess Military training, he was merely an Arizona resident who was legally carrying a Concealed Weapon who believed he could stop the carnage.  In an in...

CBS News Poll: Most Americans Feel Rhetoric, Tucson Shooting Unrelated
A new CBS News poll shows that Americans are not falling for the Left’s attempts to exploit on the Tucson tragedy for political purposes: Most Americans Feel Rhetoric, Tucson Shooting Unrelated Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country’s heated political rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampage that left six dead and critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll. In the wake of the shooting, much focus has been put on the harsh tone...

Missing From Loughner Debate: Soul Searching
Jared Loughner (Credit: Personal Photo) There's been quite a bit of back and forth this week about who should share the blame for the actions of alleged Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner. Some on the left have pointed to incendiary Rhetoric from Sarah Palin and others on the right, while some on the right have sought to tie Loughner to the beliefs of the left. Palin was blamed in part for using of a bullseye icon to identify political targets - including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords - before the ...

Krauthammer: Lefts Attempts to Blame Right for Tucson Shooting is Truly Scurrilous Video 1/10/11
Charles Krauthammer condemned the Left’s attempts to blame the Tucson Mass Shooting on political Rhetoric from the Right - calling the attacks “scurrilous.” Krauthammer, who in addition to being a syndicated columnist is also a trained psychologist, said it is clear that alleged shooter Jared Loughner is “psychotic,” exhibiting signs of “schizophrenia,” and “severe thought disorder.” ...

Missing From Loughner Debate: Soul Searching
Jared Loughner (Credit: Personal Photo) There's been quite a bit of back and forth this week about who should share the blame for the actions of alleged Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner. Some on the left have pointed to incendiary Rhetoric from Sarah Palin and others on the right, while some on the right have sought to tie Loughner to the beliefs of the left. Palin was blamed in part for using of a bullseye icon to identify political targets - including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords - before the ...

Giffords Breathing on Her Own, Doctors Say
Like this Story? Share it: Last Friday Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who remains in critical condition, expressed the need to tone down Rhetoric and Partisanship in Congress in an e-mail. Katie Couric reports from Tucson. Only On The Web: CBS News digital Journalist Arden Farhi spoke to Tucson-area residents as they reflect on Saturday's shooting and the impact it's had on their community. In light of the recent shooting rampage which critically injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, concerns have...

Loughner's Parents Blame Themselves
It's always the same old story -- everyone knew Jared Loughner was unbalanced but no one chose to do anything. Loughner's father is expected to release a statement. Meanwhile, the right and the left battle it out over what motivated Loughner to shoot. The left contends that Sarah Palin had some sort of influence over him and that the right's anti government Rhetoric helped create Loughner. But Loughner's "politics," if you want to call it that, were erratic. He is registered to vote as an inde...

Letting Crazies Loose
Mental Illness and Mass Murder How many more tragedies like the Tucson shootings will we have to watch before we start facing the harsh truth? Personally, I consider it a kindness to institutionalize those who are mentally incapable as it provides them with needed care and protects innocents (like 9 year old girls) from being brutally murdered. Just sayin'. AND "If you see it on the news one night, know that I got out fast..." AND this from Jerry Pournelle Back in 1971 when I started the shoote...

Why Arizonans Can Buy Guns Made In-State Free of Background Checks, and Other Issues in Gun Control
ProPublica, Jan. 11, 2011, 11:30 a.m. The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and more than a dozen of her constituents in Tucson this weekend has sparked criticism of Arizona’s lax Gun Control laws and renewed calls from some to tighten those restrictions. Six individuals were confirmed dead. Here’s our attempt to briefly break down a few of the issues at play: In the Arizona case, the gun used by accused shooter Jared Lee Loughner was a Glock 19—a semiautomatic weapon with a ...

Sherrod Brown: Tucson Tragedy Highlights Poor State Of Mental Health Safety Net
Sherrod Brown: Tucson Tragedy Highlights Poor State Of Mental Health Safety Net This morning during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) argued that the Tucson tragedy highlighted the the poor state of the nation’s mental health safety net and said that the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, “should have been identified at the community college when he was thrown out”: BROWN: It’s only going to get worse because of state Budget cuts. ThatR...

Poll: Most Americans see no connection between Ariz. shooting and political rhetoric (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller We're probably alone in the universe, or else they're out to get us Mark Halperin: Conservatives should turn the other cheek when scapegoated for Murder Could Jon Huntsman really be the Republican presidential nominee in 2012? Auburn wins it all: Sights from the BCS National Championship [SLIDESHOW] Pucker up: Celebrities recall their first kiss [SLIDESHOW] A majority of Americans don’t see a connection between vitriolic Rhetoric and Jared Loughner...

CBS Poll: American Public Not Buying Democrat, Media Spin on Arizona Shooting
From CBS News: Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country’s heated political Rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampage that left six dead and critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll. In the wake of the shooting, much focus has been put on the harsh tone of politics in Washington and around the country, particularly after a contentious Midterm Election. Rhetoric and imagery from both Republicans and Democrats have included gun-related ...

Dr. Harold Koplewicz: Arizona Shooting: Treating Mental Illness Before it Kills
In the Mass Shooting in Arizona Saturday there were heroes who prevented even more bloodshed. We need heroes to intervene before lives are lost. The three people who wrestled Jared Loughner to the ground and disarmed him outside a Supermarket in Tucson are being hailed as heroes, and rightly so. They prevented further loss of life at the hands of the 22-year-old, who had, in little more than an instant, killed six people and wounded more than a dozen others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords....

Jared Loughner, Gabrielle Giffords, Mental Illness, and the Unabomber
The AP says: "He was obviously disturbed... He disrupted class frequently with nonsensical outbursts," said Lynda Sorenson, who took a math class with Loughner last summer" Involuntary commitment laws did begin to change twelve years ago at the state level when 32-year-old Kendra Webdale was pushed to her death in front of an oncoming New York City subway train by Andrew Goldstein, a young man with untreated serious Mental Illness. In reaction to this incident and similar ones across the cou...

5 Steps for Congress to prevent more Giffords shootings. Call for Congressional Action
1) Prioritize the seriously mentally ill. Federal mental-health dollars now go to an astonishing variety of social programs for the worried-well, with little left for the seriously ill. Congress should establish a federal definition of "serious Mental Illness" that covers no more than 5 percent of the population and require all programs that get federal mental-health funds to use at least 60 percent of those funds for the seriously mentally ill. 2) Eliminate the Substance Abuse and Mental Hea...

Story Blaming Acquaintances for Not Committing Loughner Underplays AZ Cuts in Mental Health Services
According to the Washington Post, Arizona has a law on the books that enables anyone to identify a potential Victim of Mental Illness, and remand them for treatment: Under Arizona law, any one of Jared Lee Loughner’s classmates or teachers at Pima Community College so concerned about his increasingly bizarre behavior could have contacted local officials and asked that he be evaluated for mental illness and potentially committed for psychiatric treatment. That, according to local mental h...

The Tucson Tragedy: Is the Mental Health System at Fault?
From a psychiatric standpoint, there is not yet enough information available to answer the key question surrounding Jared Lee Loughner: At what point, if any, in the last few years did the mental-health Surveillance and treatment systems break down? Were there periods along the way where Loughner could have justifiably been coerced into treatment? We simply don’t know yet. Typically, people who end up at the center of tragic stories such as these — the 2006 Virginia Tech shooter; And...

Could Arizona shooting have been prevented?
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON | Mon Jan 10, 2011 4:51pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jared Lee Loughner, the 22-year-old Arizona man charged with killing six people and injuring 12 others, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, clearly scared more than a few people. Instructors at his college, as well as friends and neighbors, have said they expressed concerns about Loughner's behavior in the months before he opened fire at a gathering at a Tucson Shopping Mall on Sa...

Democrats Foiled Again?
Posted by John at 11:01 AM So far, at least, my prediction that the Democrats' effort to exploit the Tucson Murders for political gain will fail seems to be accurate. A CBS News poll released this morning finds that by a 57-32 percent margin, respondents don't believe that the nation's "harsh political tone" had anything to do with the murders. While some of those 32 percent are undoubtedly Democrats who feel obliged to back up their party's line when talking to pollsters, even most Democrats--...

How California can prevent violence by mentally ill, save money, and improve care: Laura's Law
That's not surprising. New York has the largest collection of data on AOT (known there as Kendra's Law) and the savings have been even greater than expected. Among people with Mental Illness enrolled in AOT in New York: 87% fewer experienced Incarceration. Money saved. 83% fewer were arrested. Money saved. 77% fewer experienced psychiatric Hospitalization. Money saved. And length of hospitalizations was reduced 56%. Money saved. Rather than saving money, California sends the mentally ill to...

Tucson and the Left's Online Orgy of Accusation
The Left's effort to link Jared Loughner's actions to conservative Talk Radio, Hate Speech, Sarah Palin's targets, etc. had nothing to do with urging us all to consider the consequences of political statements and symbols. Rather, it's part of a constant campaign to use the Web organize and energize its base around sensational narratives consistent with an ideological or cultural view as substitute for facts or events as they really unfold. The deliberate use of the Web to create instant mobs or...

Treat the Mentally Ill
While everyone is arguing about a map on Sarah Palin’s Facebook page, we should be talking about better ways to get treatment for the mentally ill. From the website of the Treatment Advocacy Center: Ten years ago Monday, January 10, the shooting death of College Student Laura Wilcox, 19, by a man with untreated Mental Illness made headlines in California and inspired passage of “Laura’s Law ” in California. The law authorizes court-ordered treatment for individuals with s...

NYT's Bob Herbert: Examine Tucson Murders Within A Broader Context
New York Times columnist Bob Herbert has written an interesting essay regarding the recent Murders in Tucson, Arizona. Herbert argues that Americans must view the killings within a larger societal context of violence and murder. Herbert uses several statistics to portray violence in the United States: According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, more than a million people have been killed with guns in the United States since 1968, when Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther ...