[QuadCityImages]

It has been interesting to go back and read this thread for the first time a few days later.

A few things I think we should be able to agree on.

1. Regardless of your views of guns overall, this kid should not have been able to walk into a store and buy one as easily as those of us in the realm of the sane. If he hadn't been able to buy one at a store, I don't think its a given that he could have found one illegally. I doubt he could just walk into a bad area of Tucson and start asking people if they had any illegal guns for sale.

2. The crime was "politically motivated", but the politics aren't possible to define. Which party does someone belong to if one of their big worries is "mind control using grammar?" Its like trying to guess what hockey team is someone's favorite when they say their favorite goalie is a stick of butter.

3. Is the political climate in the US, and especially Arizona, very fired up right now? Yes.

4. Did that crazy climate contribute to this crazy guy's actions? Maybe, maybe not. There were plenty of nuts on Coast to Coast worrying about mind control 10 years ago that this kid would have fit right in with. McVeigh wasn't a product of the current situation, so this kid may have just gone crazy the old fashioned way. Or he could have been influenced by people saying that the government is out to get us. No real way to know, at least yet.

5. That said, is the toxic political climate good for America? This is more opinion than the rest, but I'm going to say no.