Guns don't kill people. Until they do. (Or almost do.)

Courtesy of the Newsminer:

Fairbanks police are investigating a report that a 5-year-old boy accidentally shot his 3-year-old sister in the chest with a .357 revolver Friday afternoon in an apartment near Party Palace on Peger Road.

The girl was in stable condition as of Friday evening and had been flown to Anchorage, officer Alana Malloy said. 

The girl’s parents drove her to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where police were called at 2:42 p.m. The gun belonged to the children’s parents and it was not immediately clear why the boy had access to it, she said.

You can already imagine what the father's argument was for purchasing this weapon. 

"We need to for protection.  The world is a dangerous place. Think of the kids."

Yes think of the kids.

A day ago this 5 year old boy was just a regular kid who had NOT just blown a hole in his little sister's chest with a .357 handgun.  And the suddenly in the blink of an eye, and the twitch of a finger, he was.

The good news is that it sounds like the little girl will pull through.

The bad news is that she will undoubtedly be returned to a family that clearly cannot protect her from their stupidity.

Keith Olbermann's "Worst Persons in the World" includes Michele Bachmann and the Pima County Republicans.

Arizona Republicans to raffle off same model of handgun used in the attempted assassination of Gabrielle Giffords!

From Raw Story:

The Republican Party in Arizona's Pima County, which is represented by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), is in the midst of a fundraising raffle, $10 per entry. 

The prize: the same model of gun that delivered a near-fatal blast to the Democratic lawmaker's skull outside a Tucson grocery store in January.Tucson is in Pima County. 

The local party sent out its e-newsletter late last week advertising the raffle. On the third page of the seven-page document, a large illustration of the gun appears with the headline "Help Pima GOP get out the vote and maybe help yourself to a new Glock .40." 

The winner of the gun will also receive a case, three 12-round magazines and grips for the firearm."Tickets will go quickly for this firearm!" the blurb in the newsletter warns. 

The $1,250 raised from the raffle tickets will go toward get out the vote efforts for the party. 

The gun is a Glock 23, an updated model of the Glock 19 Jared Loughner used during his January 8, 2011 shooting spree that killed six and injured 13 others, including Giffords

Oh my God! What the fuck is wrong with these people?

How can ANYBODY, even Republicans, be this completely insensitive and hateful?

I'm sorry, but I am literally so pissed off by this that I am shaking and can't even type any more.

The mother of Christina Taylor Green: "I didn't know what had happened, but I knew it was bad."

I will warn you ahead of time that this story about the death of little Christina, and how her mother and family dealt with it, is heart wrenching.

However I feel it is an important story for people to read, especially for those who have a hard time understanding the devastating effect that easy access to handguns and assault weapons have on our citizens.

From AZ Central:

To the gunman, they probably looked about the same size - Hileman, tiny at not quite 5 feet, and Christina-Taylor, the tallest kid in third grade. Maybe he didn't know he was shooting a child. It doesn't matter. He did. 

Hileman was hit three times trying to shield her young charge. Christina-Taylor was shot once. The two fell to the pavement next to each other, bleeding. Hileman looked into the little girl's eyes and, in her best mom voice, admonished, "Don't you leave me, Christina-Taylor Green. Don't you die on me." 

But the 9-year-old was one of six people killed that day. Their names are written on six white wooden crosses that stand in memorial across Ina Road from the Safeway. Christina-Taylor's name is on the fifth one. Thirteen other people, including Hileman and Giffords, were shot and lived. 

A surgeon entered then, trailed by three nurses. He was crying, and so were the nurses, and then Green knew for sure. The surgeon sat next to her and said, "We tried the best we could." His voice caught, and he choked out: "We tried the best we could. Your daughter passed away." 

Green pinched her arm again and again. It still hurt. But this wasn't real. It couldn't be real. 

"This is the worst dream ever," she thought. 

And yet, ever the mother, ever the nurse, Green thanked the surgeon, repeating his words: "I know you tried your best. It's OK. Thank you." 

She looked into the face of her son sitting beside her, his eyes searching her face. 

"Can we see Christina now?" Dallas asked.He had heard the police officer, and the surgeon, but maybe he needed to hear the words from his mother for them to be true. 

"Christina is in heaven, Dallas," Green told him, and then she cried, holding her tearful son. 

Every death caused by a handgun in this country seems senseless, but this one, at least for me, just seemed especially unnecessary.  And especially painful.

However if the anger we feel over such a senseless act of violence translated into citizens demanding that lawmakers create laws making access to handguns significantly more difficult for those people who simply should NEVER have access to a weapon whose sole purpose is the ending of a human life, then perhaps little Christina's death would serve some higher purpose.

By the way speaking of senseless acts perpetrated on the citizens of this country, and I am not saying the two are directly related, today is the third anniversary of John McCain's announcement that he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate.

One cannot help but wonder how much better the country would be right now if he had NOT allowed himself to be bullied into making such a regrettable choice.

Gabby Giffords receives standing ovation during first public appearance.

Wounded Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords made her first Houston public appearance Monday night since being shot in the head in January by joining her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, at a Houston awards ceremony where he received the Spaceflight Medal.

Her communications director, C.J. Karamargin, confirmed her attendance, late Monday but could provide no further details.

According to a report from ABC News, Giffords was pushed into the auditorium in a wheelchair and received a standing ovation from the crowd of hundreds assembled at Space Center Houston.

Giffords reportedly rose from her wheelchair to hug and kiss her husband. The couple held hands for most of the event. The Arizona Democrat appeared to chat with people sitting around her, and laughed when the crew of STS-134, the Space Shuttle Endeavour’s last mission, was introduced, ABC reported.

Karamargin said he was not surprised his boss was out and about in Houston.

“You have to keep in mind that the congresswoman was just in Tuscon … for a Father’s Day visit. She met with the staff there and she climbed a flight of 18 stairs. I think it’s no surprise the congresswoman is getting out more and more … She’s showing greater physical strength, greater cognitive abilities and greater verbal skills, so it’s not a surprise.”

I don't know about all of you, but when I think of "steel spines" and "thick skins" THIS is the person who I picture.

Gabby Giffords is a true inspiration, and I am beginning to think that she might very well return to House someday and be a force to be reckoned with.