Giffords shooter shows pattern of psychiatric derangement; no clear political affiliation

Saturday, January 08, 2011 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: Gabrielle Giffords, shooting, health news

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(NaturalNews) Of all the senseless acts of violence we've seen over the years, today's shooting at a Gabrielle Giffords public event in Tucson really strikes home. I spent time in the company of "Gabby" Giffords and met many members of her staff during her first run for Congress. I saw her as a "balanced" representative (a former Republican turned Democrat who still, for example, supported Second Amendment rights) who I thought could bring some new energy into Washington, which seems to perpetually suffer from "Good 'Old Boys" syndrome.

That she has been violently attacked by an individual who is obviously mentally deranged is shocking and extremely disturbing. Almost as disturbing is how the mainstream media has latched onto this story as a way to demonize anyone who believes in the U.S. Constitution. The shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner, is, by any sensible interpretation, mentally deranged. Yes, he mentioned the Constitution among his various ramblings, but he also listed the Communist Manifesto as being among his favorite books. In addition, he released a YouTube video containing unintelligible ramblings of repeated nonsense phrases, including references to the government taking away "grammar," of having a colorful bird on his shoulder, brainwashing and what he called "conscience dreaming."

The utterly false and irresponsible accusation floating around certain circles on the 'net that Loughner was some sort of extreme right winger who targeted a Democrat is extremely irresponsible and hateful. Giffords was pro Second Amendment and publicly supported the right of the People to keep and bear arms. She's actually a gun owner who urged the U.S. Supreme Court to protect Second Amendment rights. She was also a huge supporter of a stronger border with Mexico, which has traditionally been one of the key positions of Arizona conservatives. Giffords can't be pigeonholed into a label, you see. Her views are far more complex than "Democrat" vs "Republican." She is certainly no "left-wing liberal," and the attack on her doesn't appear to be politically motivated at all (see below).

A pattern of psychiatric intervention?

What's clear from the shooting is that Loughner was gunning for EVERYBODY, not just Giffords. He unloaded multiple rounds (15 - 20 rounds, according to press reports) on anybody and everybody standing nearby: Children, adults, etc.

Does this ring a bell for anyone? A young white male, disillusioned, confused, mentally deranged... and opening fire on innocent people? That's the pattern we saw in the Columbine High School shootings in 1999, and it turned out that the shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were on psychiatric medications. (https://www.naturalnews.com/025826_Antidepres...)

In fact, numerous public shootings have been carried out by those who are either on psychiatric medications or who have recently stopped taking them (which can be just as dangerous in the short term). Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold talked about how their world had become like a dream, where they couldn't tell the difference between the dream world and the waking world. Those are now virtually the same words as Jared Lee Loughner who, in his various ramblings, talked about "sleepwalking" during the day and "conscience dreaming [sic]" at other times.

While we have no proof yet that psychiatric drugs are involved here, we do see a very suspicious pattern of mental instability that suggests a likely connection. The sleepwalking behaviors Loughner describes are, in fact, common side effects of psychotropic drugs such as Ambien, which is famous for causing people to actually "sleep drive" into town and suddenly awake in the middle of the road, driving their car in their pajamas, with no knowledge of how they got there (https://www.naturalnews.com/019413.html).

I must stress that we don't yet know whether Loughner was on sleeping medications or psychiatric drugs, but his behavior fits the pattern of someone who was: The lack of touch with reality, the violent and indiscriminate shooting, and the interweaving of the dream world with the real world. These are red flags of someone who is either suffering from a severe nutritional deficiency that affects brain function (vitamin D, for example, is important for preventing schizophrenia) or someone whose brain has been chemically altered through pharmacological intervention.

The phrase "young white male" should scream out the obvious statistical link to ADHD drugs, by the way. NaturalNews is attempting to determine whether Loughner was previously on psychiatric medications.

What is VERY clear at this point is that Loughner was not of the presence of mind to be rationally affiliated with ANY political party: Not on the left, nor the right. His apparent psychosis takes him way out of the realm of rational participation in any particular philosophy. Even his favorite books listed on his Myspace page adhere to no particularly consistent overriding philosophy. He was, however, fascinated with the question of what is real versus what's just an imaginary dream. He was a fan of Alice in Wonderland, for example, as well as George Orwell's Animal Farm.

Don't be fooled by the MSM coverage of this story

Although there is still much more to emerge from this tragic event, it is clear that this is not some simple story about a disgruntled patriot who wanted to kill a Democrat. In fact, Loughner was no patriot at all: He openly talked about burning the American flag.

Rather, this is really a story about mental illness in America, and the roots of this mental illness are undoubtedly partly found in these elements:

• The chemical contamination of our food and water (fluoride, food additives, etc.)
• Widespread nutritional deficiencies that promote mental illness
• The scourge of the psychiatric drug industry and the widespread drugging of teens and children

... and also, quite possibly:

• The "programming" of young males with extremely violent video games which are now also used in the military to desensitize young adults to the violence of killing. Loughner, by the way, was reportedly a military recruit.

As more facts emerge from this story, we will do our best to cover them here on NaturalNews. I am personally angered by these events as well as the mainstream media's outrageously dishonest attempts to twist this story into some sort of "gun nut" angle, which it most definitely is not.

I am also extremely saddened at the loss of life that occurred today, right in Tucson, virtually right next door to where I used to shop for organic produce at the Whole Foods on Oracle (used to be Wild Oats). That was not a "bad" part of town. That whole section of Tucson is actually the safer part of the town. In many ways, it is the "yuppie" part of town where the wealthier folks lived, with their high-end schools. Loughner attended one of those high schools on the northwest side of Tucson, I've been told. He was not part of the far rougher schools on the South side of that city.

My heart goes out to Giffords, her family, and the other victims of this senseless crime. Most especially to the young child who was reportedly shot, and the federal judge who was reportedly killed. Several Giffords staff members were also harmed or killed (we don't have solid details yet). I can tell you that, from my personal experience, the Giffords staff members are very dedicated, hard-working honest people and none of them deserve this kind of treatment. I may not agree with all the political decisions of Giffords (she voted for Obamacare, for example), but neither do I condone any use of violence to settle such disagreements.

But remember, this was not an act of political activism. This was an act of madness carried out by a mentally deranged individual. I do not believe Giffords' political positions had anything to do with it at all. After all, Loughner shot at all the other people in the crowd, too, and he had no way to know their political views either.

Tucson cops, concealed carry firearms and more

There is a report that one individual in the crowd was carrying a concealed firearm and managed to bring it to bear in an effort to stop Loughner from committing further violence. This may have been a lifesaving action. Many people in Arizona carry concealed firearms legally, acting as a sort of "citizens response team" to prevent such violence from taking place. In fact, the Tucson police department, for which I helped raise thousands of dollars as part of my non-profit volunteerism there, is desperately short on cash and actually recruits citizens to help law enforcement do their jobs more effectively there.

I will write more about the dynamics of this, and the Tucson police force, in follow-up articles right here on NaturalNews. As someone who used to attend law enforcement meetings in Tucson, I know many of the high-ranking police officials on a personal basis, and I know them to be some of the most dedicated local law enforcement professionals I've ever met. Watch NaturalNews for more follow-up reports as we attempt to dig into this story and find out what could have possibly led to such an act of senseless violence.

We will also take part in any fundraising efforts that get organized to help the victims of this shooting. But the most important thing we can do right now is try to get to the bottom of what's behind this shooting and then take action to prevent such a terrible act of violence from occurring again.