Tucson town-hall meeting ends in arrest of man

[ProudProgressiveNow]

Source: Arizona Republic (Azcentral)

A man attending a special town hall in Tucson designed to promote conversation and healing a week after the grocery-store shooting was arrested after his outburst at a guest who spoke in support of gun ownership. The identity of the arrestee was still unknown Saturday afternoon.

The incident took place near the end of a taping of ABC's weekly "Town Hall" with news anchor Christiane Amanpour. The program, which airs Sunday and is called "Tragedy in Tucson: An American Conversation Continued," reunited many victims, initial responders to the shooting scene and witnesses. It was also open to the public.

Most of the of taping was calm and at times emotional as witnesses recounted the events in which a gunman opened fire at a local Safeway, killing six and wounding 13, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Toward the end of the taping, Amanpour brought up the issues of gun safety and mental health. As one member of the audience stood up and expressed his support for gun ownership, a man seated near the front in an area reserved for victims and special guests appeared increasingly frustrated and agitated.



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/15/20110115gabrielle-giffords-arizona-shooting-tucson-forum.html

[notadmblnd]

1. doesn't make sense. An anti-gun nut making death threats?

aren't people against guns because they kill needlessly? Must be another lone looney.:shrug:

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

2. sounds like it was someone in the section

reserved for victims that was upset

[Alexander]

6. The man who was arrested was wounded in the shooting.

My guess is that he's traumatized from recent events.

[rfranklin]

8. where does it say he made death threats...

You are just making shit up.

[notadmblnd]

11. Pardon me for following links and reading more before I responded

According to sheriff deputies at the scene Fuller took a photo of Humphries and said "You're dead"
http://www.kgun9.com/global/story.asp?s=13849741

Apology accepted.

[Duer 157099]

14. He was probably demonstrating how easy it is to "point and shoot" n/t

[notadmblnd]

16. Fine example of the problem. People so on edge

that they don't even think things through before they respond viciously.

[rfranklin]

18. Read it and still don't see any serious threat....

Unlike the people who take guns to town meetings.

[notadmblnd]

33. Did I say serious?

You've totally missed the point. I've explained it one post up. For whatever reason, you felt you had to lash out at me. It's ok, and I do hope you're feeling better now. The quote is in the link I provided. It was a threat- whether you feel it was serious or not; someone at the event decided to use the outburst to paint the left to be just as violent and threatening as those who have been encouraging nuts to pick up their guns and deal with political issues violently.

[ProudDad]

20. THINK ABOUT IT

This guy was shot in the back by a poor crazy son of a bitch...

Who, thanks to assholes like Trent Humphries (who's fucking WELL KNOWN AROUND HERE by anyone, like Mr. Fuller, who pays attention to politics in this town)...

And who was able to buy a gun and HIGH CAPACITY 33 shot magazines...

over the counter...

And bullets at Wal-Mart the morning of the murders...

And carry the fucking thing concealed

All LEGALLY!!!

Here's what Trent Humphries is about:

Tucson Tea Party Founder Blames Giffords For Getting Shot: ‘The Real Case Is That She Had No Security'

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/435825/tucson_tea_party_founder_blames_giffords_for_getting_shot%3A_%E2%80%98the_real_case_is_that_she_had_no_security%E2%80%99?page=entire

Humphries should have kept his fucking mouth shut at this event...

but he's too much of a big mouth fucking fascist to be able to know when he shouldn't spout off...

Humphries is a fucking professional right-wing agitator...

[notadmblnd]

31. At the time I wrote my post, I wasn't aware that the protester was one of the victims

But my point was that it did not sound right and made no sense- who ever it was. The reason? I really didn't think that anti-gun people made death threats. I know that there are other weapons that people can kill with, but aren't they the people who generally are against senseless death? The other poster jumped on me and accused me of making things up in regards to the poster making the threat. He was wrong about that. And that's all that my post was really about.

I do think the reply is an example of how quick to anger people are in general. He could have responded in a more civil tone and chose not to. That in my opinion is a big part of the problem. We have to address the issues that are causing people to behave this way. It is provoking dialog.

[ProudDad]

34. I think Mr. Fuller has been traumatized by events...

And a gunshot wound from a Glock...during a massacre...

And who knows who the execrable Trent Humphries is...

And that said Humphries IS one of the worst of the worst in this town...

And Mr. Fuller became incoherent and didn't mean what he said literally when he reacted to Humphries' self-serving tea-bagger attempt to minimize the fact that this is a fucking gun-crazy and gun-filled state...Which makes it VERY dangerous...

Thanks directly to people like Trent Humphries...

And there WAS a time when Mr Fuller's remark would be understood in context and he would NOT HAVE BEEN ARRESTED...

But we live in a knee-jerk police state now...

---------------

As for you and me...no problem :hi:

[pinboy3niner]

3. Another story identifies him as J. Eric Fuller, one of the shooting victims

See the thread posted by RamboLiberal in GD:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x208337

[LisaL]

12. We already have a couple of threads going on the things he said

and did. He is the one who tried to visit Loughner's parents.

[pepperbear]

4. he was apparently one of those wounded in the shooting. n/t

[PoliticAverse]

5. Article with some additional details:

http://www.kgun9.com/global/story.asp?s=13849741

DU thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x208337

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. ?

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[elleng]

10. Hope he gets help. This is a test,

[Alexander]

13. Another DU thread explains that he tried to visit Loughner's parents today.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4697352

I do not think Mr. Fuller is mentally well at all. He clearly needs help.

[ProudDad]

21. Well, now, you get shot in the back

thanks in no small part to assholes like Trent Humphries...

Who make this fucking state the easiest in the union to get assault power over the fucking counter...

And legally carry it around...

And then come back and talk about this...

OK?

[Downwinder]

24. Who paid his medical costs? Did he have to pay them himself?

[slackmaster]

29. You're always financially responsible for your own medical expenses

Even when they're the result of someone else's criminal act or negligence.

The injured party and his or her insurance company have the right to sue the responsible party or parties for damages.

[Downwinder]

32. So now he is possibly lined up for bankruptcy or for closure.

He got shot again.

[ProudDad]

36. Another good reason to demand universal, comprehensive health care

Enhanced and Improved Medicare for All...

[Downwinder]

38. That or attach a liability policy to every gun and gun owner

like automobiles.

[ProudDad]

39. That still leaves the execrable insurance corporations in charge

and making huge profits...

[Lucinda]

40. Someone posted the other day about state assistance for crime victims in AZ

I think it addressed medical expenses...didnt save the link

[mbperrin]

15. Yes, arrest the guy with the camera and who got shot.

Meanwhile, do and say nothing when people with loaded guns show up at public events, do and say nothing when public officials "target" "reload" "find second amendment solutions."

[freshwest]

26. This is what's wrong today. Attack the victims, let the perps go free.

[slackmaster]

30. Generally you get arrested for a minor crime only when a cop sees you do it

If you're going to do something illegal and stupid, it's best to do it when there are no cops present.

[bushisanidiot]

17. Republican tea baggers are DESPERATE to show anyone on the left as violent right now.

they will try their best to instigate something.

it sounds like a tea bagger tried to push the victim's buttons and he got EXACTLY the response that was desired.

the tea bagger will most likely get a raise from whomever is paying him to be there.

[ProudDad]

22. I know that asshole Trent Humphries and he IS a professional button pusher! (n/t)

[ProudDad]

19. Trent Humphries doesn't deserve to be in the same room as Mr. Fuller!

I know Humphries...

I've conversed with him (ironically as part of a 4 person focus group at KGUN channel 9; our reactions were filmed during Obama's first State of the union address and were broadcast during the following "news" coverage)...

He didn't have much good to say about Obama except that he feared more "socialism"...

Of course, once a democrat showed up, he and Trent were deep in conversation fixing the ills of our town government and had no more time left for we two Green Party members.

Here's what I had to say about this execrable Trent Humphries in response to Alternet's coverage of his lame attempt early last week to blame Gabby Giffords for getting herself shot!

---------------------------------------------------

I know Trent Humphries.

He is an articulate, intelligent individual hampered by a seriously myopic view of everything. He's a classic example of a "free-market" libertarian geek.

He's got his and doesn't want the "government" (or any one else) to get any of it...beyond the war machine, police and prisons and roads and highways, that is...

He's LDS. As a Mormon, within the church he practices the Socialist/Communist maxim "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs". He pays his tithe to the church proportional to his income. When needed, he receives health care, education support, "welfare", etc. from the church.

However, he is EXTREMELY, irrationally irate and feels seriously put upon by having to also pay taxes and FICA payments to the Federal Government to support non-LDS people who can't "pull themselves up by their own bootstraps." He doesn't need any "government help" and if anyone else does they should join the church.

He, like Grover Norquist, would like to shrink government to the size of a bathtub and then drown it.

The concept of government by, for and of the People is foreign to him.

-----------------------------------------------------

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/435825/tucson_tea_party_founder_blames_giffords_for_getting_shot%3A_%E2%80%98the_real_case_is_that_she_had_no_security%E2%80%99?page=entire

[Catherina]

23. Shouting "YOU WHORES" to the audience doesn't sound very stable

He's now been involuntarily committed. Eric Fuller is a disabled vet for "military service leading to non-physical disability" according to his information page at Hynothoughts.com

Loughner's rampage can't possibly have helped his stability. This man needs help. So many of our citizens need it and the vet population even more so. Why are we creating more victims of our system's madness?

This is all so wrong. I had such hopes when Bush left office but nothing is changing. It's still broken lives for corporate profit. I'm beyond disgusted and beyond ashamed.

Stop the wars and start taking care of our own now!

[ProudDad]

35. Stop the corporations and the wars will stop too...

Stopping the corporations is within our power...

If enough people stopped buying their crap, they'd wither away...

As for the rest, vote for the right people and then nationalize the most critical resources...


Move your Money
http://moveyourmoneyproject.org/

and Move to Ammend
http://movetoamend.org/

[ProudDad]

37. I'd suspect that he was referring to KGUN noise

and ABC...

Who are corporate whores...

And everyone in this town knows it...

[populistdriven]

25. Not a death threat. Fuck the Tea Party.

Pressed on whether he was concerned when he heard Giffords's warning about Palin's use of gunsights and calls for supporters not to retreat but "reload" in fighting Democrats, Humphries did not retreat. "It's political gamesmanship. The real case is that she had no security whatsoever at this event. So if she lived under a constant fear of being targeted, if she lived under this constant fear of this rhetoric and hatred that was seething, why would she attend an event in full view of the public with no security whatsoever?" he said. "For all the stuff they accuse her of, that gun poster has not done a tenth of the damage to the political discourse as what we're hearing right now. There are people who are genuinely confused, scared, and I understand it. But there are also people who are deliberately manipulating this event and tragedy for political ends."

----

Eric Fuller is a 63-year-old military veteran who was shot in the back last Saturday while attending Rep. Giffords’ “Congress on Your Corner” event. Toward the end of the town hall meeting Saturday morning, Fuller took exception to comments by Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries. According to sheriff’s deputies at the scene, Fuller took a photo of Humphries and said, “You’re Dead.”

----

I don't see this as a death threat... this was a huge fuck you to this asshole Humphries for his remark blaming Gifford's lack of a security detail, the point being that fuller's camera could just as easily have been a gun.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

27. But Beck, Palin and Limbaugh NOT arrested for inciting threats

depends on who is doing the crime as to whether it is labeled a crime.

[Darth_Kitten]

28. Seems pretty convenient....

but remember, Palin, Beck, Limbaugh and all the right-wing morons who support them are the TRUE victims of this. :sarcasm: