WASHINGTON – The wounding of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a Tucson, Ariz., shooting spree that killed at least six people, including one of her aides and a federal judge, follows a dramatic increase in threats against members of Congress over the past year.
In the first three months of 2010 alone, officials reported 42 threats to federal lawmakers, nearly three times the cases reported during the same three months a year earlier. In March, someone either kicked in or shot out a window in Giffords’ Tucson office just hours after the Arizona Democrat voted for health care reform.
A day later, Giffords also was among 20 House Democratic supporters of the health care bill who were the subject of a posting on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s Facebook page encouraging people to organize against their re-election.
The posting featured a map of the United States, with the cross hairs of a gun scope imposed over each of the 20 Democrats’ districts, all won by the John McCain-Palin GOP presidential ticket in 2008.
In a March 25 interview with MSNBC after Palin’s posting, Giffords said political leaders should be cautious about how they reach out to supporters. She said political leaders need to get together and say, “Look, we can’t stand for this.”
“We’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list,” she said at the time. “But the way she has it depicted she has the cross hairs of a gun sight over our district.”
She warned: “When people do that, they got to realize there are consequences to that action.”
After news of Giffords’ shooting, Palin offered the lawmaker and the other victims her condolences. “On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice,” Palin wrote on her Facebook page Saturday.Unrest over the sweeping health care bill, now law, prompted a rash of threats and vandalism in the spring. Bricks were hurled through Democrats’ windows, a propane line cut at the home of a congressman’s brother and menacing phone messages left for lawmakers who supported the bill.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.