WHAT MOTIVATED JARED LAOUGHNER?         

            If you don’t know who Jared Laoughner is, chances are you don’t watch the news.  He’s the guy who in attempting to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords killed 6 and wounded 14 at Tucson, Arizona January 8, 2011. 

            A few liberal pundits have attempted to find right wing political motivation behind the shooting.  The political exploitation of this tragedy by a few members of the left is irresponsible.  To suggest Sarah Palin or Glen Beck should be culpable is laughable.  Nevertheless, in watching the news accounts it is rather obvious where confrontational political activists are going with this.

            First, they are going to want criticism of politicians censored or made a crime.  But many times when legislation is suggested the proponents seldom reveal their primary motive.  In this case I suspect it is to silent or stifle the opposition, outspoken critics like Glen Beck.

            When influential liberal, political pundits by inference blame people like Sarah Palin for the despicable acts of psychotics like Laoughner they are doing the very thing they accuse their opposition.  To suggest Palin or Limbaugh is culpable is to plant ideas in unstable minds like John Hinckley Jr. who attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan. 

            Second, they will want stiffer gun control.  The more radical anti gun activists would like to see guns totally outlawed.  The problem with that is, because of the millions of guns already in the hands of Americans, it will be impossible to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and individuals like Laoughner, personalities with psychotic thought disorders Zealots of all ilks, regardless of politics or religious persuasion, if they want a gun are going to get it.  To deprive law abiding Americans of owning and possessing guns is to make them more vulnerable to criminals.  However, I am in favor of limited gun control.  I don’t mind background checks if it helps keep guns out of the hands of fanatics and lunatics.  I have been around guns all my life, guns provide a sense of security, but I can’t see why average John Doe citizen needs military assault weapons.

            Why own a gun?  Shotguns are for hunting ducks and pheasants.  Rifles are for hunting deer, elk and moose.  Hand guns are defense weapons.  As a cop I carried a .38 revolver for 23 years.  All ranchers possess guns for coyotes, predator dogs, and even for butchering mutton or steers for meat.  Cowboys carried pistols and saddle rifles to shoot snakes and predators. With all the crazies and drug addicts walking around I think a home owner is justified in keeping a defense weapon at his disposal. A lot of gun owners like to shoot tin cans and clay pigeons. Back in the sixties I remember psychologists theorized that with some men who collected guns it was interpreted as an extension of the penis. I agree. I’ve known some cops who have an exaggerated fascinations with guns and even after leaving law enforcement, surreptitiously carry around a pistol, they say for protection.  And I have noticed that in those cases they like a big pistol, like a .45 automatic.  In any event, guns, especially in the west, are part of our heritage.  It is quite normal for a man to be interested in guns even though now days there is very little need for one, unless you are a hunter of game.  You might think I’m a little abnormal but to me there is nothing prettier than a model 94, lever action, .3030 Winchester.

            Third.  If Loughner had a political motive, or wanted to make a political statement, as is customary in such cases, he would have by now made his message known.  But no such message or statement seems forthcoming.   With what information we have so far, he was an angry psychotic individual who wanted to strike out.  Or, he may be a psychotic individual who craved fame, a nobody who by targeting a well know political figure, became somebody.