In memory of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

By Jane Jamison

 Remember the half-Mexican/half Yaqui Indian guy, Carlos Gonzales,  who gave the very bizarre ‘feather blessing’ – ( blessing reptiles, the door, whatEVER) prayer at the Tucson “T-shirt rally” funeral for the people who were killed by Jared Loughner? 

There is PC “fallout” from that freaky multi-culture mukkity-mash, which was nothing but the precursor to Obama for President 2012. 

An attorney who was a regular contributor to a conservative blog has been “fired” from his blog  by his law firm bosses for daring to say that the “blessing” was weird and Mexi-Yaqui featherbrain  was…. an idiot.  ( even though  he WAS / IS an idiot!!)

Watch the video here.

SHAME, shame on Akin, Gump law firm….politically-correct wimps to their Indian clientele.  Gonzales was a BUFFOON.  He had no business blathering on about himself at this ceremony for slain victims.  Where was a priest for the Catholic victims, or the rabbi for the Jewish victims, or the pastor for the Christians who were shot?  Why the need for some mix-master culture hat tip who meant nothing to the grieving families?

For the record, here is what Blogger Paul Mirengoff wrote at Powerline Blog about Gonzalez’ weird/gross display:

ICTMN:

From PowerLineBlog: “An evening in Tucson — the good, the bad, and the ugly” by Paul Mirengoff:

“As for the ‘ugly,’ I’m afraid I must cite the opening ‘prayer’ by Native American Carlos Gonzales. It was apparently was some sort of Yaqui Indian tribal thing, with lots of references to ‘the creator’ but no mention of God. Several of the victims were, as I understand it, quite religious in that quaint Christian kind of way (none, to my knowledge, was a Yaqui). They (and their families) likely would have appreciated a prayer more closely aligned with their religious beliefs. But it wasn’t just Gonzales’s prayer that was ‘ugly’ under the circumstances. Before he ever got to the prayer, Gonzales provided us with a mini-auto biography and made several references to Mexico, the country from which (he informed us) his family came to Arizona in the mid 19th century. I’m not sure why Gonzales felt that Mexico needed to intrude into this service, but I have an idea. In any event, the invocation could have used more God, less Mexico, and less Carlos Gonzales.”

From Richard Falknor at Blue Ridge Forum, we learn how the politically-correct police eventually stifled a voice of free speech after President Obama’s speech in Tucson:

Can We Learn From a Major Conservative Blogger’s Exit?

Paul Mirengoff, a well known blogger at distinguished and conservative Power Line, has left the field. 

Dan Riehl “Mirengoff Out At Powerline” (who initially drew our attention to the details of this matter) and Stacy McCain “Power Line Gets Scalped: Did Indian Tribe Money Influence Akin Gump Decision?” comment on the lamentable developments that resulted in Mirengoff’s departure from blogging.

William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection develops the story. He explains –

“So why is Mirengoff no longer at Power Line?

It all resulted from this blog post Mirengoff made after the Tucson shooting memorial service, in which the service was opened with a prayer, of sorts, from an American Indian tribal leader:

‘As for the ‘ugly,’ I’m afraid I must cite the opening ‘prayer’ by Native American Carlos Gonzales,’ Mirengoff wrote. It ‘apparently was some sort of Yaqui Indian tribal thing, with lots of references to ‘the creator’ but no mention of God. Several of the victims were, as I understand it, quite religious in that quaint Christian kind of way (none, to my knowledge, was a Yaqui). They (and their families) likely would have appreciated a prayer more closely aligned with their religious beliefs.’”

Law professor Jacobson cites the outcome at Akin, Gump –

“. . .Bruce McLean, chairman of the firm, issued the following statement: ‘We sincerely apologize for the blog entry posted by Akin Gump partner Paul Mirengoff on his personal blog, powerlineblog.com. Akin Gump is neither affiliated with, nor a supporter of, the blog. We found his remarks to be insensitive and wholly inconsistent with Akin Gump’s values. Mr. Mirengoff regrets his poor choice of words and agreed to remove his post.’ “

We urge our readers to review the many comments at Cornell Law School’s Jacobson’s post, Big Law Firm Takes Down Big Conservative Blogger.

The back-and-forth in these comments gives the reader an often gut-wrenching sense of what “Big Law” in the nation’s capital is all about.  Here are three samples (scroll down in the link to see them all) from different voices.  They speak for themselves:

“Dear Professor Jacobson- I do not talk out of turn by the way. I have been involved for over twenty-five years with rather large law firms and it is absolutely de rigeur that all employees and partners are required to go through hours of sensitivity training.”

. . . . .

“I am a practicing attorney (former BIGLAW) who has conservative to libertarian leanings. Periodically I post comments on conservative websites. I only post under a pseudonym due to concerns about career issues.”

. . . . .

“Akin Gump is an amazing and amorphous creature, almost unique on the American legal scene in a number of respects . . . .I am absolutely and positively certain that Mirengoff has partners who would have been very sympathetic to his predicament. But you’re looking at the result of a negotiated compromise that presumably reflected Mirengoff’s own assessment of his relative strengths and vulnerabilities vis-a-vis Meggesto and his other partners. And as an institution, they’re superbly well experienced in juggling competing interests; they’re counsel for presidents, princes, and occasionally paupers, and they navigate conflicts like the best Olympic kayaking teams.”

Yes, we know that the Founders would be astounded at the vast governmental influence of “Big Law” — and that these giant law firms are light years from Justice Marshall’s world.

But our question is whether Big Law’s tribal ways — as inferred through these comments — are also the tribal ways of too many in Washington’s much larger Political Class.

Think of all those often quoted GOP “aides” and “consultants” who can be counted on, following the norms of the Republican wing of the Political Class, to talk down such independent legislators as Senator Jim DeMint or Representative Michele Bachmann or the former governor of Alaska.

Perhaps all the talk of “clients” and “money” in the Mirengoff case, and “electability” among the GOP branch of the Political Class, instead masks a kind of generational herd-think.

One thoughtful academic reflecting on today’s university students may also be describing a phenomenon that has already been shaping many of Washington’s younger movers and shakers for two or three decades.

“[T]hey are imbued with the idea that their highest objective should be to get credentialed and connected so that they can enter the Ruling Class so aptly described by Angelo Codevilla in the American Spectator last summer. They are also a product of a society that reinforces the baneful lessons they are taught in school; a society in which: lack of feasance to the prevailing wisdom is punished by marginalization and scorn; morals are relative and no value system is more worthy than any other; deference to professional authority is encouraged and individual curiosity, initiative and responsibility is demeaned; and respect is due to those who help one to gain entry to the Ruling Class, while contempt is reserved for those who stand in one’s way.“

Even though we conservatives have all done our bit to elect a largely congenial majority in the House of Representatives, we still need to take the measure of this opposing but skilled and diligent Political Class whose ways are clearly not ours.

Indeed one is struck, in contrast, by this particular comment appearing on professor Jacobson’s post –

“I’ll tell you whose career is toast: whoever values it more than truth, more than love, more than loyalty, more than duty, more than shame.”

One wonders, moreover, how much freedom of action a conservative blogging (not anonymously) would realistically have if employed in the Federal career service.

These three accounts of the Mirengoff case — Jacobson’s, McCain’s, and Riehl’s — may give us a snapshot of the prevailing Washington, D. C. mindset we face.

Let’s try to learn from this unexpected revelation as we work to turn America in the right direction!

The Palin family has been working hard all year and it is paying off.   Going “private” to stop the nuisance lawsuits from the Democratic party while she was governor was the wisest thing Sarah Palin could do.  Despite the fact that she gets criticism for being a “quitter,”   she outfoxed the trial attorneys who would have bankrupted her or worse.  She has a Fox News contract, a reality TV show, books, speaking fees, and her political action committee.

Bristol, meanwhile, is making good use of her “15 minutes” of fame.  She is moving to a new life in Arizona and leaving a lot of the sadness behind. 

Good for her.

Politics Daily:

After bringing in $279,000 during the final six weeks of last year, Sarah Palin’s political action committee’s total fundraising for 2010 topped $3.5 million, according to a financial disclosure filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission.

Nearly all the money raised by SarahPAC from Nov. 23 to Dec. 31 came from individual donors — mostly in amounts less than $200, The New York Times reported. Of 600 itemized donations, only eight were for $1,000 or more, the newspaper said.

SarahPAC spent about $2.6 million last year, leaving about $1.3 million in the bank for 2011.

Politico pointed out that Wednesday’s FEC filing betrayed no signs that Palin is gearing up for a White House run. She’s hired no new staff and the PAC’s expenses aren’t close to campaign-ready levels.

——-

Mix 96.9 in Phoenix, Arizona  is offering Bristol – the single mom most recently celebrated as a finalist on Dancing With the Stars — a slot as co-host on the station’s morning show. The current host said he and others met with the 20-year-old last week.

“She seemed like a really nice person,” Mix 96.9 a.m. host Mathew Blades told ABC15 in Phoenix. “The ball is in her court, but she seems interested.”

Bristol recently bought a five-bedroom house in Maricopa, Ariz., and told the Palin family’s favorite Alaska talk show hosts at The Bob & Mark Show that she loves the new place (especially this time of year, we bet).

“It made Dancing With the Stars worth it, for sure,” she said of paying $172,000 in cash for the house.

Apparently, she’s also trying to get her son Tripp’s father, Levi Johnston, to relinquish his parental rights so she can change Tripp’s last name to Palin and Johnston can quit paying child support. Bristol said she’d allow Johnston visitation rights with his 2-year-old son, though.

In addition to talking on the radio, perhaps for a living, Bristol has been invited to bring her abstinence talk to Washington University in St. Louis as part of the school’s “Sexual Responsibility Week” in early February. The school’s student union is budgeting $20,000 for a keynote event featuring Bristol.   Outed by her mom as a pregnant 17-year-old during the 2008 presidential race, Bristol earns between $15,000 and $30,000 talking about abstinence to youth groups.

Shirts are seen on chairs before a memorial service for the victims of Saturday's shootings at McKale Memorial Center on the University of Arizona campus Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011, in Tuscon, Ariz. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

By Abraxas

I swear, I would give my right arm to get a picture of that. 

 http://newsflavor.com/politics/world-politics/white-house-insider-obama-celebrates-shortly-after-delivering-tucson-memorial-speech/ 

“Here is something that you will never hear from the media but that some witnessed shortly after the (Tucson) memorial service had finished.  Behind the staging area, Obama gave Michelle a “high five” and shared a laugh with her.  So within minutes of seeing what is Obama’s finest moment as president it is followed by one of his worst.  It is this easy and always there contradiction in the president that concerns me very very much.  He was just thrilled at his performance.  That was priority #1 for him.  It always is.  The motivation for his speech was not to heal following the tragedy, but to further appeal to the public and get their approval of him.” 

This is spoken by the mysterious individual calling himself “White House Insider” who’s been spilling the beans about the Obama Administration to an equally mysterious online reporter called ‘Ulsterman’.  The Insider’s revelations have dwelt with everything from President Obama’s drug use in treating his depression, to the President’s abandonment of important White House meetings, to Michelle’s racism.  The Insider campaigned for Obama in 2008 but is now so disgusted with him that he’s rooting for Hillary to get the nomination in 2012.  The latest example of Obama’s moral failure is his cynical use of the blood of innocent victims to bolster his political fortune.  As the Insider puts it, “Even by DC political standards the human element in Obama seems to be utterly absent.  I don’t get it. I don’t understand it.” 

I also am disgusted – but it’s from having to listen to the Insider whine that he “doesn’t get it” about Obama’s moral corruption.  Oh, come on!  He expects me to believe that this is all a big surprise?  For God’s sake, two years ago Obama’s corruption was staring the whole world in the face.  Back then, his best friend was a Weatherman terrorist who whined he didn’t get to kill ‘more’ American soldiers; his pastor for 20 years was a racist who screamed ‘God D*MN America’ from his pulpit; his political sponsor was a sleazy slumlord; and, most of all, Barack himself had voted three times to deny medical aid to babies who’d survived late term abortions.  For crying out loud, in 2008 everyone saw Barack Hussein Obama paddling the backstroke in a sewer of filth and corruption.  But only now the Insider is ‘Shocked!  Shocked!’ the President isn’t smelling like a rose?

Yes, this picture of Obama high-fiving Michelle after that Tucson speech is disgusting.  But what I find even more disturbing is the picture of a blind follower who two years ago stared a corrupt, lying morally bankrupt politician in the face – and didn’t see a thing.

Jared Loughner

By Abraxas

Andrew McCarthy of the National Review explains the peculiar intricacies of indicting a man who shot bullets into the head of a judge and a 9 year old girl in Tucson.

 http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/257665/loughner-indictment-andrew-c-mccarthy 

The first thing to explain is why the federal indictment did not indict Loughner for murder, despite the presence of corpses littering the ground of the mall where he opened fire.  Instead, the indictment charged him only with attempted murder of Representative Giffords and her two aides, Ron Barber and Pamela Simon.  The answer lies in the Speedy Trial Act which demands that the federal government indict a defendant within 30 days of the crime. 

It doesn’t take a legal mind to realize that this is way too small of a period in which to gather evidence against the accused.  Worse, it’s not enough time to run the tests and do the investigation in order to determine if that evidence is accurate or not.  Even the smallest misstep can result in defendant’s attorney making a motion at trial to throw out the entire body of evidence and thus secure an acquittal for his client.  The prosecution is thus caught between a rock and a hard place; he must satisfy both the Speedy Trial Act and also the need to indict a gunman with evidence that won’t fall apart in court.  To solve this dilemma, the federal prosecution employs a legal sleight of hand.  McCarthy refers to it as a “stop the clock” indictment wherein the prosecutors cite only the most absolutely rock solid evidence in their charge against the accused.  This easily satisfies the 30 day requirement and frees the prosecution to now take all the time it needs in order to assemble the really devastating evidence – blood tests, eyewitness accounts, expert testimony, etc.  Once this later evidence is obtained, it will then be added to the charges in what is called a “superseding indictment”. 

A clue that this is the government’s intention was given in their press release when they did something unusual in citing the indictment as “an initial three-count indictment”.  This was a clear signal they are going to be adding much deadlier charges to it in the weeks and months to come.

One final note – most people will be very surprised (and upset) to note that the prosecution did not seek the death penalty.  Part of the explanation is given by the histrionic outburst of Sheriff Dupnik attacking anyone except the gunman for his actions.  This signifies the presence of an extremely liberal base in Arizona, one which is always opposed to the death penalty.  But the real hindrance to seeking such a penalty lies in Loughner’s mental state.  The jury (so to speak) is still out as to whether he is or isn’t insane.  On the surface, it would seem obvious from his assault on innocent people in a shopping mall that Loughner is unbalanced; not to mention the fact that he was kicked out of university months earlier due to fears his mental state might endanger his fellow students.  But insane acts do not make an insane person.  It is a given, of course, that his attorney will plead insanity but the truth remains that it’s still not clear whether his client can be classified as such.  Until that determination is made, the indictment will be missing a call for the death penalty.

These therefore are the legal intricacies up to now in this case.  For the time being, we can only watch and wait – and pray for the recovery of those individuals harmed by this person called Loughner.

Sheriff Dupnik Finally Muzzled

By Dell Hill

In a move that should have taken place on January, 8th, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County Arizona, has finally been stifled. 

The man directly responsible for blaming political debate for the shooting deaths of six people has finally been told to put a lid on it and the order comes from the Country Prosecutor’s office — essentially, Dupnik’s boss.

“The Pima County Sheriff‘s Department has suddenly turned off the flow of information in the January 8th mass shootings in Tucson.  Shortly after noon Tuesday Sheriff’s Public Information Officer, Jason Ogan released this terse, one-line statement: 

“Until further notice, due to a controversy between the Sheriff’s Department and the County Attorney’s office, no further information reference the January 8, 2011 shooting will be released.”

 Sheriff Clarence Dupnik – Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic

Unfortunately, that same County Prosecutor stood silent for 12 days as Dupnik went on a liberal media whirlwind tour, repeating his political philosophy at every stop.  Every time you looked up, Dupnik was on TV, saying exactly what his liberal Democrat fellow politicians wanted to hear.  By the time he was done, every Conservative (and Conservatives ONLY) in America was being blamed for the outrageous actions of a deranged young man, who – as it turns out – doesn’t appear to have any real political party axe to grind.  All of the evidence thus far indicates he was strongly opposed to the U.S. government in general, but Dupnik has stuck to his guns (sorry, for the highly inflammatory language) and he’s tried to justify it by telling AZ Central  ”I’m 75 years old.  Thirty years sheriff, 52 years a cop.  Maybe I’ve earned the right to speak my mind.”

If only that were true, sheriff, and we both know it’s not.  No one cares how many years of experience you have or what your political opinions might be.  You’ve crossed the line from independent criminal investigator into an area that’s forbidden.  Pretending to know what goes on in a criminal’s mind is a job for doctorate level experts, not the local sheriff who also has a personal axe to grind.

What Sheriff Dupnik didn’t say is as important as what he did.  Dupnik is a card-carrying Democrat for his entire adult life.  He’s generally considered as the leader of the Pima County Arizona Democrat Party and this isn’t the first time he’s allowed his political opinion to spill over into his professional judgement.  Dupnik became a celebrity of sorts by refusing to enforce Arizona’s SB 1070 law because, in his opinion, that law was unconstitutional.  (Note:  Dupnik isn’t a judge; he’s not an attorney, nor is he medically trained to the level that would qualify him as an expert witness in any court of law.  His actions constitute ‘selective law enforcement’, which is seriously frowned upon by the entire law enforcement community.) 

No one is questioning Sheriff Dupnik’s right to speak his mind.  He’s an American citizen and we all have that same right.  However, introducing his political opinion into a murder investigation just a few hours after the fact is a serious malfeasance of his sworn oath and a violation of the ethical standards to which he is also bound.  He made the same mistake that all law enforcement officers make from time to time — he allowed his personal admiration for the victim(s) and his political beliefs to overrule good judgement and a fair, independent investigation of the facts surrounding a six count murder.  The fact he was allowed to hit the talk-show circuit to continue his tainted rant is even more troubling.  He should have been muzzled immediately.

Dupnik has unknowingly handed defense counsel a truckload of ‘causal connection’ petition material.  In essence, the good sheriff has said ‘we arrested the shooter but it wasn’t his fault’.  In the coming weeks, he’s going to hear that same excuse repeated time and time again as a plausible reason for Jared Loughner to go on a killing rampage.  He may very well have planted the initial seeds of ‘reasonable doubt’ in the mind of a prospective juror, which could lead to an acquittal.

Sheriff Dupnik innocently revealed his personal involvement in this case almost from square one, telling AZ Common “(he) was leaving a sheriffs convention in Palm Springs, Calif., a week ago Saturday when he got word of a shooting just outside Tucson 

“Seven people shot. That’s all we knew,” he said.

On the six-hour drive back, he heard more details on the radio.  That it was at a town-hall meeting outside a supermarket.  That U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot point-blank in the head and was clinging to life.  That the gunman, young and possibly mentally unstable, kept firing and killing and wounding others before being tackled and disarmed.

“I just got angrier and angrier on my way back to Tucson,” said Dupnik, a longtime family friend of Giffords’ and her parents. 

He arrived at headquarters and about a half-hour later was standing before reporters to give a briefing.  He started speaking about his friend, Giffords, and about his sadness and his shock.  Then, he gave voice to his anger.”

And it was at that very moment that Dupnik should have referred this investigation to the Arizona State Police and/or Federal Bureau of Investigation authorities.  He didn’t recognize the fact that his personal involvement was seeping over into his profession as a law enforcement officer, instantly tainting anything and everything he did from that point on.  The very same prosecutors office that stifled Dupnik today should have done so on January 8th.  Every single piece of his work in this case is tainted by his personal affection for one of the victims and his personal political beliefs.  Neither of which is acceptable in law enforcement.

The Democrat response to the Tucson massacre, one week ago today, is to immediately make moves to take guns AWAY from us.   REAL Americans living Tucson are flocking to a gun show this weekend and buying everything in sight.

Note:  Crossroads of the West is having a gunshow in San Francisco this weekend.   Here is the calendar of upcoming shows.

Reuters) - Thousands of shoppers browsed for guns at a trade show in Tucson on Saturday, a week after a shooting rampage that killed six people and raised questions about permissive gun laws in the United States.

“People see it as either guns are going to get banned, or I’m going to get shot,” said stall holder Randall Record, 27, explaining the mood at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show on the outskirts of the city. “Either way, it drives sales.”

The show was held a week after college dropout Jared Lee Loughner allegedly opened fire on a crowd gathered outside a grocery store with semi-automatic pistol, killing a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl and four others.

Thirteen people were injured by the hail of bullets, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who remains critically ill in a city hospital, shot through the head.

Private citizens in the United States are the most heavily armed in the world, according to a study issued by the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, and gun ownership is a cherished constitutional right.

In 2009, the FBI ran more than 14 million criminal background checks on people seeking to buy firearms, although no record is kept of the number of guns actually sold.

As a stars-and-stripes flag fluttered at half-staff outside the show to honor the dead, shoppers picked over stalls crammed with AR-15 assault rifles and semi-automatic pistols, including the popular Glock 9mm model police say was used in last weekend’s shooting.

Others bought hunting and target rifles or pistols for self-defense, or bought and sold antique weapons for the love of collecting.

“It’s just a hobby,” said chemist Donald Macaulay, 62, who hoped to sell several reproduction flintlock and cap lock rifles at the show. “I get a lot of pleasure from it.”

‘WAKE-UP CALL’

Loughner, 22, is charged with five federal counts, including the murder of a federal judge and the attempted assassination of Giffords.

The shooting highlighted permissive gun laws in the United States — and in Arizona, where a state law allows citizens at least 21 year of age to carry a gun in their pocket without special training or permits.

Gun control advocates said they would like to close one loophole in the law that allows the purchase of guns at gun shows, such as the one in Tucson on Saturday, without going through a background check.

Some in the U.S. Congress want tighter regulation of some semi-automatics and the extended magazines of a type Loughner is accused of using to fire dozens of shots in just a few seconds.

But some people at the Tucson trade show drew the opposite conclusion and said the deadly spree showed that Americans need to go out and buy more guns for self-defense.

“This incident shows very, very clearly why it is so vital to have more people armed and ready and prepared to defend” themselves and others, said Charles Heller, 53, a founder of the Arizona Citizens Defense League, a group that advocates the right to bear arms in the state.

Jim Hague, a 50-year-old nurse, said of last weekend’s shooting: “If a responsible person carrying a gun had been there, he could possibly have helped control the situation.”

Loughner has had a history of emotional problems that have emerged since the shooting. Calls by some groups have focused on the weaknesses of the system used to prevent people with mental illness from buying guns. Loughner successfully bought a gun from a store in November.

“I’m in favor of possibly doing a bit more of a thorough background investigation before just handing someone a firearm,” said Steve Smith, 53, a commercial collections investigator carrying a Beretta carbine strapped across his chest, and a Colt pistol in a holster.

Note:  Crossroads of the West is having a gunshow in San Francisco this weekend.   Here is the calendar of upcoming shows.

Do you feel lucky, Punk?

The Democrat response to the Tucson massacre, one week ago today, is to immediately make moves to take guns AWAY from us.   REAL Americans living Tucson are flocking to a gun show this weekend and buying everything in sight.

Note:  Crossroads of the West is having a gunshow in San Francisco this weekend.   Here is the calendar of upcoming shows.

Reuters) - Thousands of shoppers browsed for guns at a trade show in Tucson on Saturday, a week after a shooting rampage that killed six people and raised questions about permissive gun laws in the United States.

“People see it as either guns are going to get banned, or I’m going to get shot,” said stall holder Randall Record, 27, explaining the mood at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show on the outskirts of the city. “Either way, it drives sales.”

The show was held a week after college dropout Jared Lee Loughner allegedly opened fire on a crowd gathered outside a grocery store with semi-automatic pistol, killing a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl and four others.

Thirteen people were injured by the hail of bullets, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who remains critically ill in a city hospital, shot through the head.

Private citizens in the United States are the most heavily armed in the world, according to a study issued by the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, and gun ownership is a cherished constitutional right.

In 2009, the FBI ran more than 14 million criminal background checks on people seeking to buy firearms, although no record is kept of the number of guns actually sold.

As a stars-and-stripes flag fluttered at half-staff outside the show to honor the dead, shoppers picked over stalls crammed with AR-15 assault rifles and semi-automatic pistols, including the popular Glock 9mm model police say was used in last weekend’s shooting.

Others bought hunting and target rifles or pistols for self-defense, or bought and sold antique weapons for the love of collecting.

“It’s just a hobby,” said chemist Donald Macaulay, 62, who hoped to sell several reproduction flintlock and cap lock rifles at the show. “I get a lot of pleasure from it.”

‘WAKE-UP CALL’

Loughner, 22, is charged with five federal counts, including the murder of a federal judge and the attempted assassination of Giffords.

The shooting highlighted permissive gun laws in the United States — and in Arizona, where a state law allows citizens at least 21 year of age to carry a gun in their pocket without special training or permits.

Gun control advocates said they would like to close one loophole in the law that allows the purchase of guns at gun shows, such as the one in Tucson on Saturday, without going through a background check.

Some in the U.S. Congress want tighter regulation of some semi-automatics and the extended magazines of a type Loughner is accused of using to fire dozens of shots in just a few seconds.

But some people at the Tucson trade show drew the opposite conclusion and said the deadly spree showed that Americans need to go out and buy more guns for self-defense.

“This incident shows very, very clearly why it is so vital to have more people armed and ready and prepared to defend” themselves and others, said Charles Heller, 53, a founder of the Arizona Citizens Defense League, a group that advocates the right to bear arms in the state.

Jim Hague, a 50-year-old nurse, said of last weekend’s shooting: “If a responsible person carrying a gun had been there, he could possibly have helped control the situation.”

Loughner has had a history of emotional problems that have emerged since the shooting. Calls by some groups have focused on the weaknesses of the system used to prevent people with mental illness from buying guns. Loughner successfully bought a gun from a store in November.

“I’m in favor of possibly doing a bit more of a thorough background investigation before just handing someone a firearm,” said Steve Smith, 53, a commercial collections investigator carrying a Beretta carbine strapped across his chest, and a Colt pistol in a holster.

Note:  Crossroads of the West is having a gunshow in San Francisco this weekend.   Here is the calendar of upcoming shows.

Do you feel lucky, Punk?