Waters’ resolution condemning the Arizona shooting incident adopted

HARRISBURG, Jan. 25 – State Rep. Ronald G. Waters, D-Delaware/Phila., today offered a resolution condemning the Arizona shooting incident that took place earlier this month and reaffirming the bedrock principles memorialized in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. House members unanimously adopted the measure.

An alleged assassination attempt against U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford, D-Arizona, took place on Jan. 8 in Tucson. A lone gunman opened fire during a “Congress on Your Corner” event. In all, 13 people were wounded and six people killed, including the Honorable John Roll (a federal judge and Pennsylvania native) and 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green (granddaughter of former Philadelphia Phillies manager Dallas Green).

"This was a senseless loss of innocent life that the country witnessed in Arizona," Waters said. "We are deeply saddened by these events, and supportive of the victims and their families, who were both emotionally and physically harmed and will bear those wounds forever.

"When something like this happens, the families are directly affected, but in a way, all of us are touched by such a tragedy."

Waters compared the Tucson shooting to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.

"The fact that the Tucson tragedy took place a week before the birthday of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminds me that Dr. King, like some of the victims in Tucson, was taken from us by an assassin’s bullet, and like Representative Giffords and Judge Roll, had received death threats," Waters said. "Dr. King stood for peace, and for settling differences through nonviolence rather than bloodshed. I think we can learn a great deal from this in 2011."

The resolution (H.R. 18) not only expressed the sympathy of the House of Representatives for the victims and hope for the rapid and complete recovery of those wounded, but also applauded the bravery and quick thinking of those who stopped the gunman.

“As elected leaders, it is imperative that we fight for a democracy in which all can participate and in which intimidation and threats of violence cannot silence the voices of any American,” Waters said.

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