Badger, Maisch, Salzgeber and Zamudio: Bystanders Who Stopped Gunman

Empowered Americans, (even the unarmed), tend to react towards instead of disassociating from drastic situations. However un-empowered Americans, (even the armed), tend to disassociate from instead of reacting towards drastic situations. When empowered or given self-worth, (i.e. encouraged), a person, (unless by personal choice), tends to feel more relevent, and in the process becomes more integrated in the social structure of any society. When un-empowered and given a lack of self-worth, (i.e. degraded), a person, (unless by personal choice), tends to feel less relevent, and in the process becomes more disassociated in the social structure of any society.

This was a very sad incident. A shame, however, let's keep in mind that this person was likely a mentally ill person. If anyone has seen his youtube you would probably agree. So, with that said, how does this correspond in the slightest with our civil rights? There shouldn't even be a discussion about it. What if he had slayed them with a knife or a hammer? Would we ban those, or if he was a big guy, would we ban strength? A tool is a tool, but please, this has nothing to do with normal people. He should have gotten help from his community.

I think people have the right to carry a weapon precisely because of these incidents of violence.
Criminals think twice before committing a crime when they know anybody around them might be armed just as well.
Places where weapons are prohibited thrive in criminal activity, such as California.

Praise be to The Lord, it shows how Americans act with out thinking of themselves, this has been shown by men and women since 1770. In Wars the women would take there husbands cannon station, in Iwo Jima and the other islands, men, former mechanics and shoe salesmen, farmers, took arms against unbelievable odds, most did not come back. These men are a shining example of the American person we all hope we would be. If they need a job or anything, they should have a priority as we vets do. Pray for all the families.

It seems odd to me that Ms. Baranauckas fails to mention the reason the real hero, Joseph Zamudio, came to aid and subdue the suspect is because Joseph was carrying his gun at the time and he knew he could help. When he saw the shooter wasn't able to fire immediately, Joseph attacked him without having to draw his weapon. Had a person outside also been armed, who knows if anybody would have had to die from this tragedy. Guns deter crime and protect citizens hundreds of times daily in the USA.

kudos to the bystanders that stepped in and avoided a worse situation, it's tough to say what any of use would do in that situation but they stuck their necks out (literally) and made an impact! we need more people in this country to do the same, regardless of the consequences!

I think anyone buying guns under 30 years of age should have a psychological evaluation....that seems to be the age group of most of these shooters.

Its a sad day, I read no mention of murder charges in this terrible act. What about the innocent victims like the 9 year old girl or the other citizens that lost their life? Its political because the target was a congress woman. I'm praying for everyone that God will comfort you. In my opinion I think we will see more of these terrible actions played out because our Congress is intoxicated with to much power. I hope not, but again today another woman lost her life in a accident or homicide? She was the wife of a White House Aid. Some people are sick of Congress members stripping away their right's, creating laws that control their lifesyle. Let's go back 20 years when life was good!

I am a native to Arizona and I think the sheriff was expressing something that many living in Arizona feel. Arizona has become an extremely divisive state.
Hispanic citizens and legal residents, military veterans or not, have been subjected to public expressions of discrimination and hateful comments since the famous immigration law was signed by Gov Brewer. The topics on talk radio have become everyday water cooler conversation. Many consider talk radio to be hate radio. This is scary because many areas within Arizona are hotbeds of militia groups that are preparing for the coming war. These groups are anti-everyone except those that hold similar views. People in Arizona law enforcement are aware the cauldron here is boiling. Its time people reassert themselves to work cooperatively with all parties to solve the problems that affect our state and nation.

I'm not sure our elected representatives hold the answer to gun control. On one hand, a disturbed 22 year old can buy a high capacity 9mm hand gun that is easy to conceal. A gun whose sole purpose is "anti-personel" for use in close quarters. On the other hand, the State Department declined to allow South Korea to sell 750,000 WWII vintage M1 Garand rifles to collectors in the US. My father was a WWII infantry company commander and always talked about how superior it was to the Lee-Enfield, the 98 Mauser and the Moisin Magant. George S Patton said that the Garand M1 was the most important piece of equipment in the war,,(at 10 lbs empty and about 12 lbs loaded and with a 24 inch barrel, they're virtually impossible to conceal). Whenever an untreated, undiagnosed, mentally ill person spirals into some psychotic reality known only to them... and they "go off".. especially using a gun on innocents, gun control always becomes part of the story.

Guns will always part of the USA. Hunters and sport or target shooters abound, as do collectors and war re-in-actors. Hell, when I went to college we had an intercollegiate shooting team. Most people come by their guns legally. Gangs and criminals will always find a source...thats why they're criminals. However, for the most part, they shoot each other, or brandish them in a robbery.

Shooting 20 or 30 people at a time... for no apparent reason is insane. Whether it's an Army psychiatrist in Texas, A Virginia Tech student or a 22 year old in Tucson, they all developed and lived in their own realities, isolated and filled with self thought. They all reached the breaking point and snapped....psychosis...shooting 20 or 30 somehow made sense.

I feel badly for what happened in Tucson. Innocents killed and maimed and a twisted and tortured 22 year old looking at the death penalty or life.. his life is over one way or another.

The vast majority of gun owners are responsible people that value their investments. This issue seems to me more of a failure of mental health screening. Of course it's hard to believe that an Army Major would have any trouble getting a Beretta side arm. No government can fix individual people and determine their current mental status. More and more real human interaction is replaced by social networking, perhaps a cause of more isolation and a little less reality, depending on how much it's used. Sometimes it's hard to make friends, be friends, and keep friends. It takes effort. But being a friend means you don't want to let another friend down.. and shooting 20 to 30 people might do that.

If anything positive can come out of this travesty, I hope it's in depth look at our detection, diagnosis, treatment and supervision of mental illness. I also hope everyone enjoys and appreciates their friendships, they can be cherished all life long!