As Tucson and the nation mourn Saturday's massacre — allegedly at the hands of 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner — we're learning more about the former Pima Community College student whose bizarre behavior ultimately led to his suspension.
Tonight, Lawrence will be joined by a classmate who describes the Jared Loughner he knew, or at least tried to know. Were there any warning signs of the carnage that would follow? You can read about Loughner's first court appearance here.
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guns and bullets don't kill mental illness does. In China a man killed 20 kids in a school not with a gun but a knife. Is that next how about cutting off hands for we can't use our hands. I think you see where am going with this. we need more free mental help doctors. one apointment is 185.00 and hour!
I am asking that Wall Mart immediately remove "extended magazines" from their inventory forever. This is NOT an attempt at gun control. This is asking a major source which profits immeasurably from individual Americans to stand up and lead the way making America a safer place. Please contact Wall Mart and call for this move on their part. Please pass it on. Please repost. Please tweet...
WalMart does not carry "extended-capacity" magazines. Items like that are typically sold through firearms-exclusive companies like those advertised in The Shotgun News and other magazines (websites) devoted to firearms and firearms accessories.
But WalMart sold the ones he used to him, shortly before he used them. So even if they don't "typically" do it. They do it and I think it is reasonable to ask them to stop.
Unless there is part of this story I've missed, it was the ammunition he bought from Wal Mart. The magazines he loaded that ammunition into were purchased elsewhere.
"So shoot me," WalMart doesn't carry the magazines just the bullets! So I will loose the "kinder, gentler" approach. To me, NOONE's right to bear arm, constitutional or otherwise, should supersede protecting the welfare of our leaders, our children, our individual citizens. To me, the whole world has gone MAD anyway, and we seem to all agree that the MAD should not be allowed to acquire fire arms. So until there is some awakening of our appreciation of "peace among men" lets all put away our guns!
I have been against guns, since I was a small girl. I am the daughter of a soldier, an "army brat." I loved and adored, strong, viral men in my life that were avid hunters. In my adult life I loved and lived with men who carried guns for all the wrong reasons. As the most armed nation in the world, with all the lives we have allowed to pass or be shattered by our "right" to bare arms, I feel absolutely sane in saying THERE ARE NO LONGER ANY RIGHT REASONS.
I think it is safe to say, that giving up the guns would measurably reduce, not ever end, the violence we are capable of heaping on one another. America, Americans can stand to give up a little individually for the higher good.
Oh please, that guy that was in the shooter's poetry class wasn't serious. He just wanted to be on TV.
If he wants to wear a wig and look silly -- whatever. But what got me is he said his appearance doesn't "jive" in a small town. It's JIBE! I'm sick of people getting that word wrong.
Sir,
I seldom agree with you and usually watch your show only to see issues "through the eyes of my opponent." However, your discussion with Rep. Cleaver and Mr. Frum was quite balanced. Although they both seemed reluctant to address the issue of gun control, they did bring up the need for more civil discourse among all political parties and ideologies. You, yourself, were civil enough not to push them on the gun control question. I'm sure there will be much discussion of the issue in the days and weeks to come. They, like all our leaders, will need time to digest the issue and formulate articulate positions. Thank you for demonstrating the kind of civility decent people are clamouring for.
Why is everyone down playing the fact Sarah Parlin is the responsible for this shooting? Everyone knows she's damn well responsible for her role in the attempted murder of this congress woman and the murder of six others individuals. Lawrence, I am highly disappointed in your concept and theory the Sarah Parlin Bulleye Map played no role in the shooting of the congress woman....
Lawrence,
I was hoping you would get to the real issue-why didn't this 22yr old man get treatment for his mental illness. Why didn't someone help him before he went to Walmart to buy the ammunition. It is impossible to get treatment for someone with mental illness without their consent. And they don't think that they are mentally ill-they think that the rest of the world is mentally ill. This guy obviously needed treatment. I am sure his parents have begged for years to get soneone to committ their son and treat his illness. But is is impossible to committ someone just because we think that they are crazy. They need to be a treat to themselves or someone else. And we don't know that until it is too late. Out mental illness laws are seriously irrational. This is about the guy who shot the gun-not the gun itself. WHY WASN'T HE GETTING THE HELP HE OBVIUSLY NEEDED. When Gabby recovers, she will be smart enough to see this. Maybe she will start this discussion if you will not. Someone has to. It is not about the guns. It is about the person and the illness and the lack of treatment. If this guy had treatment he would not be out shooting people.
Hell he's know more mental than the rest of us.... the republican party and all the Tea party indivduals start all this @!$%# along with FOX news... they all are to blame...
So that's why YOU blame them... albeit with absolutely NO evidence this nutjob was even remotely associated with any right wing groups (evidence suggests he was a leftist)... yea, BLAME THEM... BLAME THEM WITH NO EVIDENCE... BLAME THEM WITH EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY... BLAME THEM TO COVER YOUR OWN ASS... BLAME THEM BECAUSE YOU HATE THEM... BLAME THEM BECAUSE YOU HATE THEM!!!
BLAME YOURSELF AND THE VENOMOUS HATE THAT SPEWS FROM YOUR SIDE!!!
No sooner Mr. O'Donnell anounced one Walmart had refused to sell the bullets to the shooter, but another Walmart did - and I hear Nick proudly pronouncing how lucky he is to be working for Walmart.
Please start this discussion. Treat the person with the mental illness before he goes out to buy a gun. He did not get the treatment he needed because our mental health system is so flawed. We give too much power to the person with the mental illness.
It's a delicate balance. Suppose there were laws that would have forced this man into treatment. Those same laws would force you into treatment for cussing out a driver who cut you off on the freeway. Or force me into treatment for telling my neighbor I could have KILLED him for playing his music so loud last night. The hard part about all this is having to admit that, every once in a while, a nut is going to get through and hurt people. If he had not been able to get a gun he would have just rammed a car through the event. In this world, good people die.... for no damn good reason. It's sad but true.
In all 3 news magazines I tune into, the news anchor made a reference to the shooter purchasing the ammunition at WALMART, immediately following by Nick considering himself lucky he works for WALMART.
While I am eternally grateful to WALMART for making this reporting possible (messages from our sponsors), I can't help but feel the retail giant is DIRECTLY connected to the reporting about the 6 dead and 14 injured bodies.
Had Loughner not been able to get his hands on the ammunition, there likely would not have been a need for WALMART to sponsor the reporting news agencies.
Is this Franz Kafka revisited?
Wal Mart sold the beer that a man drank who then got hammered-drunk, got behind the wheel of a car, and crashed into my cousin's minivan. He killed her and her child. Is Wal Mart to blame for that tragedy as well? The last time you allowed a friend of yours to drive drunk or stoned, were you responsible for the harm if they crashed into someone?
Really? Where is your EVIDENCE? Where in this nutjob's past did he ever listen to or even agree with Sarah Palin? No... YOU want there to be some kind of imaginary link because of YOUR HATRED fro Palin and all conservatives!
Loughner was a LEFTIST who, among his favorite books was MARX!
Sorry 007-2900044 but wishing for some connection to your personal target of your hatred doesn't make it so... it only ads to the hatred out there that YOU are instigating and adding to!
That gun did not grab Mr. Loughner by the nap of the neck and drag him down to the Safeway parking lot and force him to shot anyone. This man was going to do harm whether it was by gun, knife, ball bat or car bomb. It is illegal in the state of Arizona to sell a gun to someone who is mentally ill. The people in the sporting goods store did their duty by doing an instant background check and they are not, nor the people behind the counter at Walmart, qualified to assess a person's mental health. Where were the parents and friends that were with Mr. Loughner on a daily basis and watching him spiral out of control? No, he should have never been able to purchase a gun, but the people that were in his life on a daily basis should have taken responsibility and tried to get him some help. The signs were there. The situation at the college should have been the final clue that this kid needed help.
Here we go again. Another society screwup goes on a shooting spree and the gun control activists start their stupid talk about gun control AGAIN. When the hell are these "gun control activists" going to get it thru their THICK skulls, GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE WITH GUNS!!!! No matter what type of gun laws that are created, the only ones who abide by these are the law abiding citizens, NOT THE CRIMINALS! Do you really think a criminal is going to care what gun laws are out there??? Do you really think criminals get their guns at their local gun shop? NO. Banning large capacity magazines is not the answer. So you BAN large capacity magazines, SO WHAT? All that means is the criminal will have that many more smaller capacity magazines and still cause harm. The problem is the judicial system. Stiffer penalties need to be created including the death penalty to those individuals that commit crimes with a firearm. Make some strong examples of what will happen if you commit a crime with a firearm. STOP PUNISHING THE LAW ABIDING CITIZENS for the actions of the stupid and insane. I completely disagree with Lawrence O'Donnell's stance on gun control.
Amen! Two Glock 22's w/ standard mags instead of one w/ a high-cap mag. The end result would have been the same. The problem here is one of crowd proximity. If any of the armed citizens there that day had fired, they would have injured whomever was standing on the other side of the assailant (as the bullets passed through him). That's why no one took this nut out with a well-placed shot to his center-of-mass. The RESPONSIBLE gun owners knew it was too dangerous to fire, so the assailant was tackled when he stopped to reload.
I admire your (and MSNBC's) coverage and concern of this tragic event. I think you touched on many of the right points. Gun control issues and all the really nasty, violent, rhetoric based on lies and inciting hatred and blame towards those who are trying to change our broken system.
Lies and hateful rhetoric broadcast on our airwaves and amplified on the internet, approved of by many (mostly) right-wing politicians and leaders, creating a kind of atmosphere that cultivates and encourages confused, alienated individuals to lash out against "targets" such as Congresswoman Giffords and her supporters, helps puts the gun in their hand, and gives them moral justification, as well as delusions of grandeur (the quaility or state of being impressive or awesome, lofty, elevated, etc.) about the so-called patriotism or heroism of their heinous acts.
It seems to have gotten to a level where having a gun justifies shooting "liberal, socialist gun control advocates", as they are "our enemies", or "enemies of freedom".
Speaking of "freedom" that reminds me of the "war on terror". "The terrorists hate our freedoms", does this imply that anyone who disagrees with our point of view (or lives in the general area of those who might) deserve to be shot???
The U.S. , in abandoning and practically mocking international law by (preemptively or otherwise) invading any country it can manufacture enough false or questionable intelligence against, with no clear goal, no thought for our servicemen and women or least of all for the citizens of the said country, and no accountability for those who order or approve such actions sets a horrible example for our citizens in regards to resolving conflicts and misunderstandings and fails to set even a minimal moral standard upon which we can all agree not to violate.
Well, I could go on forever, but I'll end it here until you give me my own show.
Peace.
Last week, I watched part of this on CSPAN -Part 1: Grassroots Organizing - National Rifle Association Grassroots Director Glen Caroline talked about the NRA and how its grassroots organizing affects gun rights legislation. (American University Lobbyist Training Class)
Since Tucson, pundits have been making generalized statements about our mental health system. So far I haven't heard or seen anyone make the connection with the import of Health Care Reform as the House & several states seek to repeal it.
I'm concerned that time & energy will be wasted by stirring up the NRA & its resources. Shouldn't Healthcare Reform & integrating advances in our mental health system take priority?
oh ya lets ban all guns in the US, It seems to be working in Mexico right? Lawrence is a "tool". look at history. Every time they take away guns from citizens nothing good comes out of it, crime rates go up. Look what Germany did in the 30's, first the made everyone register guns, then they came and took them, and well the rest is history. I know the Government knows whats best for us and are here to protect us, nothing to see here move along. our politicians are so out of touch, most of them fit into the same profile as this "loon" Loughner. We need to vote out these career politicians that only think of their personal gains and not the "people". Both parties are tainted with these self centered air bags