First Post!

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2042172,00.html

I recently read this article about the shooting that occurred in Tuscon last week and it highlighted a lot of issues for me. I did not know much about the shooting before reading this article and it was suprising to see how many issues concerning the 1st amendment were invovled.

First, Sarah Palin exercised her right to free speech by encouraging voters to "arm up" and go after elections that were up for grabs for her party. Second, Congresswoman Giffords read the 1st amendment out loud the day before the shooting and was exercising her right to free speech by speaking outside the safeway that day. Third, the response of the media, attacking both sides, was an exercise of free press and very much a part of the political discourse of America. All of these are incidents of people exercising their 1st amendment rights, but the outcome of the shooting was obviously not something that was intended.

These are simply observations I made while reading the article and I think there are many different levels of analysis that could happen from the Tuscon shooting that happened. I think it is a good example of how many different types of 1st amendment rights exist and how they do not always produce a positive result.