Giffords shootingShaken lawmakers weigh additional security measures
Following the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona), more than 800 participants — members of Congress, their spouses, and staffs — take part in a conference call Sunday; the FBI, House Sergeant at Arms Bill Livingood, and U.S. Capitol Police Chief Phil Morse detailed security measures lawmakers and their family members should take both in Washington, D.C. and in their home districts; another security briefing for lawmakers is scheduled for Wednesday; the last time a member of Congress was shot and killed was in 1978, when Representative Leo Ryan (D-California) tried to leave Jonestown, Guyana, with members of Jim Jones’s cult; six members of Congress have been murdered as well as two senators — Huey Long in 1935 and Robert Kennedy in 1968; five members of Congress were injured when Puerto Rican nationalists shot up the House chamber on 21 March 1954
Giffords with Speaker John Boehner // Source: telegraph.co.uk
A “solemn” and “unique” conference call Sunday among House members and officials on Capitol Hill emphasized security in Washington, D.C., as well as at home for lawmakers jarred by the Saturday attempted assassination on one of their own.
Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona) is in critical condition after being shot in the head by a gunman whose motives are still being uncovered, but lawmakers, their spouses, and staffs convened a conference call Sunday afternoon to discuss ways to beef up security.
“The primary thing here is to make sure all members are coordinating their efforts with local police officials, which a lot of members do routinely,” but also designating a special coordinator in each congressional office to deal with emergency procedures, Representative John Larson of Connecticut, who heads the House Democratic Caucus, said after the conference call of more than 800 participants.
One Democratic leadership aide said the call was the most bipartisan moment he had witnessed in almost a decade of working on Capitol Hill. The aide said House Speaker John Boehner spoke beautifully about standing together as one body in this dark time. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke about her conversation with Giffords’s husband, Mark Kelly.
Also speaking on the call were House Sergeant at Arms Bill Livingood, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Phil Morse, Giffords’s chief of staff Pia Carusone, and Dr. Christina Malekiani of the Office of the Attending Physician.
Only one member, Representative Susan Davis (D-California) asked a question during the briefing — on what lawmakers could do to help Giffords’s district during her convalescence. A source said that the discussion of traveling to Tucson to offer assistance to Giffords’s staff was considered not a good idea right now with so much already taking place there.
Fox News reports that normal business of the House of Representatives is postponed this week, but House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) announced that in consultation with Democratic leadership, he will submit a resolution on Wednesday honoring Giffords and those killed, including U.S. District Judge John Roll and Gabe Zimmerman, a member of Giffords’s congressional staff.
Cantor said he would like the resolution to be a voice vote though “we cannot assure that a recorded vote will not be requested.” Cantor also urged lawmakers to return to Washington for the vote and “to receive any necessary security briefings from the U.S. Capitol Police.”
Giffords was one of nineteen people shot in a Saturday attack outside a Tucson Safeway that
