Soul searching and knee-jerk responses won’t prevent gun massacres

LAST Saturday’s attempted murder of Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic Party congresswoman from Arizona, and the shooting dead of six onlookers by deranged gunman Jared Lee Loughner has triggered a fierce debate about the health of American democracy and gun laws. For some in Europe the tragic shootings only confirm their prejudice that America is a violent and uncivilised society.

Certainly, the blogosphere was immediately full of accusations that the American right had created a climate of hatred where this could happen. Sarah Palin, in particular, has been fingered. Congresswoman Giffords had been one of 20 names on a “hit list” issued by Palin, complete with graphics of a rifle-like telescopic sight.

Palin meant, of course, nothing more than that Giffords was to be targeted by voters in the mid-term elections but the congresswoman herself had warned of the danger posed by the website.