By Elijah Mckenzie
Following the attempted assassination of United States Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Ariz., many are left asking themselves, “How could something like this happen?”
The incident, which left Giffords in critical condition, also resulted in the death of six people, including John Roll, a federal judge, and Christina-Taylor Green, a nine-year-old girl. The attack has also ignited a passionate debate among politicians and citizens alike about the current climate of political discourse.
One such debate arose when U.S. Rep. Robert Brady of Pennsylvania announced that he would be introducing legislation to ban the use of language that could be interpreted as threatening to federal officials. According to a press release from the U.S. House of Representatives, the purpose of the law would be to expand the same type of protection that is currently provided to the president.
Allison Martens, a political science professor at the University of Louisville, pointed to Brady’s proposal as an example of a political reaction to the Tucson shooting.
“One of the things to look for whenever there is a crisis of this nature is if Congress decides to create new laws for civil liberties to correct for whatever went wrong,” said Martens. “Often these kinds of proposals fail before becoming law, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
Jay Hill, a U of L graduate and the former campaign manager for Louisville Republican congressional candidate Todd Lally, said that while there will always be knee-jerk reactions to events like this, it stems from the desire to prevent future disasters from occurring.
“I do believe that in every situation – in school, in your job, in an internship – you have to mentally prepare yourself for every possible scenario,” said Hill. “Public officials and their staff members that make public appearances will certainly try to do the most diligent job they can to prevent an incident like this. Sadly, in our day and age, mindless tragedy will occur. Nobody can possibly be prepared for every bad situation that will happen.”
Politically-driven violence has often plagued the livelihood of Rep. Giffords, as was evident when the door to her Tucson office was destroyed shortly after she voted in support of the health care bill.
According to Hill, this type of hostility is an unfortunate side effect of a political career.
“I remember the entire time we were on the campaign trail, the security of Mr. Lally was always placed as a high priority,” said Hill. “It’s mainly because we live in such a polarizing society where emotions run high, especially in politics.”
Despite the political mudslinging that has occurred as a result of the shooting, there are some who believe that there are positive lessons to be learned from tragedies.
“Initially, I was shocked at the fact that the assassination was not only targeted toward politicians, but to children and other innocent bystanders too,” said Gerome Stephens, coordinator of student leadership at the Office of Civic Engagement, Leadership, & Service.
For Stephens, the shooting can serve as a reminder to everyone that they have the ability to step away from harsh rhetoric and improve the political attitude of the world around them.
“I think that, through the tragedy, the shooting is something we can all learn from,” said Stephens. “It is a meaningful example of how we impact our community and how we can make it a better place to live.”
