Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Shot

The most important element of a free society, where individual rights are held in the highest esteem, is the rejection of the initiation of violence. Ron Paul

On January 8, 2011, Gabrielle Dee Giffords was one of more than 1 people shot at a Safeway supermarket near Tucson, Arizona where she was meeting publicly with constituents. A 9-year-old girl was among those confirmed dead, as was John Roll, chief judge of U.S. District Court of Arizona. The alleged gunman, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, was wrestled and held by people in the supermarket parking lot. Giffords took a gunshot to the head, and at this time is recovering in the SICU.

There’s been a rush to determine what provoked the bloodbath in a state that has been roiled by combustible debate over illegal immigrants and become ground zero for the Birthers questioning Obama's birthplace. Arizona gun law allows concealed weapons without permit  There’ve been several hubs published right here on Hubpages regarding Gabrielle Dee Giffords.

Gabrielle Giffords is serving her third term in the United States House of Representatives, after a reelection in the 2010 midterm elections. Her standpoint on health care reform and illegal immigration was a source of attention for those opposed to her candidacy, and has made her a recipient of criticism from various conservative groups.

A native of Tucson, Arizona, Gabrielle Dee Giffords was born on June 8, 1970. She is a graduate of Cornell University, Scripps College and Fulbright scholar. Giffords is the wife of NASA astronaut Mark Kelly and has two children. She is an American politician and the U.S. Representative for Arizona's 8th congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Party, and was the third woman in Arizona's history to be elected to serve in the U.S. Congress. The district encompasses the southeastern part of the state. It includes all of Cochise County and parts of Pima, Pinal, and Santa Cruz counties.

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The people shot and killed today are/were real people with families, friends and co-workers. The nine year old girl that died was an innocent. She didn’t belong to political party and never had the chance to vote. Christina Taylor Green, the little Tucson girl killed in the shooting Saturday, was herself an office-holder, having just won a seat on her elementary school's student council.  Human life has value. "Violence has been Nicaragua's most important export to the world." - Ronald Reagan What is the United States export?

The democracy process provides for political and social change without violence. Aung San Suu Kyi

Interesting people’s reaction and comments after the shooting:

• Congratulations Republicans, Tea Party, and birthers- w/your inflammatory & hateful rhetoric you've succeed in almost killing a public servant.
• Apparently this guy has been posting rhetoric for quite some time about 2nd Amendment Remedies since the election...Idea came from somewhere!
• All of you turning this shooting tragedy, in #Tucson, into something political, should be ashamed.
• Really? @SarahPalinUSA ; Her shooting is just "Unfortunate? 
• Thoughts are with Rep Gifford's family in AZ. What a sad day. This quote seems right for moment: overcome hatred with love
• NASA Administrator issued this statement about the shooting in Tucson, AZ of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others: http://bit.ly/frWo4H
• For those that don't know. Rep. Giffords is the wife of Mark Kelly who is an Astronaut on STS-134.
• Hoping this tragedy will be a wakeup call. Politicians pushing fear and hatred as a way to gain popularity will kill our country
•  I wonder if Repubs are still thinking that Palin is presidential material, maybe from now on she is too hot to handle
• It's possible to hold two ideas at once: 1. The shooter was mentally ill, his politics don't matter. 2. Palin’s scrubbing of rhetoric matters.
• Hey, Sarah Palin, how’s that hatey, killy, reloady, crosshairs thing working out for ya? @sarahpalinusa
• Don't tell me not to politicize an assassination attempt on a POLITICAL leader. I'm talking to you
• I am goddamned sick & tired of "don't jump to conclusions" crowd. Words & rhetoric have consequences, deal with it.
• Thanks to Gov. Brewer since July 29, 2010 a 21 yr. old is allowed to carry concealed handgun w/o permit
• Student drew crosshairs over a pic of a teacher - was suspended & had to go to court. Palin should be held to same standards
• The "Republican-appointed judge" who was shot today was the subject of right-wing death threats last year
• Arizonans can buy guns w/o background checks (private sales) and carry them in public w/o a permit.
•  If an American Iranian group had placed those gun sights on a map, @sarahpalinusa would be calling them terrorists right now
• Earth would open up if someone had website w/Republicans in their crosshairs and someone got shot...

Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit. Mohandas Gandhi

The perception of the First World first originated during the Cold War, where it was used to describe countries that were aligned with the United States. These countries were democratic and capitalistic. After the decline of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the term "First World" took on a new connotation that was more appropriate to the times. Subsequently the term First World has come to be largely synonymous with developed countries or highly developed countries.

 First World countries in universally have been very advanced economies and very high Human Development Indices. On the other hand, the United Nations defined the First World on the wealth of the nation's Gross National Product (GNP). The definition of First World is now less concrete than during the Cold War.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a combined statistic used to rank countries by level of "human development" and separate developed (high development), developing (middle development), and underdeveloped (low development) countries. The statistic is collected from data on life expectancy, education and per-capita GNI (as an indicator of standard of living) composed at the national level. There are also HDI for states, cities, villages, etc. by local organizations or companies.

At the end of the day of January 8, 2011 what made the United States more developed and educated.  As of 1996, editions of Crime in the United States are available on the FBI’s Web site www.fbi.gov. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program staff provides an annual publication so that the data they collect can meet the needs of law enforcement, criminologists, sociologists, legislators, municipal planners, the media, and other students of criminal justice who use the statistics for varied purposes.  The United States can keep tracks of crimes like the one committed today.  

The problem to me is violence. It's not cool to kill somebody or hurt people.  Mark Ruffalo