Gabrielle Giffords Oakland Candlelight Vigil Draws Rep. Barbara Lee

On the night of the Tucson, Arizona memorial for U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the 18 others who were shot and six killed by Jared Lee Loughner, the East Bay Young Democrats organized a well-done candlelight vigil in front of Oakland City Hall.

About 200 people came out by my estimate, and including U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, and Oakland Councilmembers Jane Brunner, and Rebecca Kaplan, and new Oakland councilmember Libby Schaaf.

Congresswoman Lee said she would support New York Congressman Peter King's proposal to ban guns from within 1,000 feet of any congressional event. A no-brainer there. Rep. Lee is against the use of guns, period and see "no reason why" anyone would want to bring one to such an event.

Amen.

It was great to see our Congresswoman at the vigil, but I felt the event should have been more about our support for her as much as for what happened in Arizona.  Regardless of what she says, Congresswoman Lee certainly has to now wonder what this all means for her safety.  Letting her know she's valued and protected should be an objective of her supporters, and that's us.

Mayor Quan Calls For Gun Violence Reduction

Mayor Quan said that she's committed to the reduction of gun use in Oakland, and an increase in police presence. Indeed, she said that there would be a return to "beat cops" in various areas of Oakland.  Mayor Quan noted that violent crime had been at lower levels over the last four years, and hoped the six homicides in the last 11 days were just a blip.

Councilmember Kaplan (At-Large) said we have to work to reduce violence both locally and nationally.  "I want to make clear that 30,000 people a year are victims of gun violence," she said, "We have a lot of work to do to make sure we're not promoting violence."

Councilmember Schaaf (District Four - Montlclair, Oakland Hills), an Alum of Emerge California in 2009, said that Gabrielle Giffords was one of the first legislators to join the Advisory Board of the Arizona chapter of the organization formed to bring more women into elected office, and has always been a strong supporter of it.

A Need To Connect

I think it's via tragedy like this that people need to connect with each other, or just escape the whole deal.  I've wavered between both feelings for this entire week.  For the most part, I've chosen the former.   As to where we go from here, we just have to be nicer to each other.   We also must crack down on hate speech, flaming, and Internet trolling.

Enough is enough.

Some argue for "free speech," but look, that's for a public place; the vast majority of Internet sites are privately owned.   So, "free speech?"  Think again.  We're in a position to curb hate speech, and we must do so before it destroys our society.

(As a note, for those not familiar with such things, the elected officials are presented in order of standard protocol: President, Senator, Congresswoman, State Reps, Mayor, Councilmembers, New Councilmembers.)